Dates on eggs / how long do they keep for?

27col

Use by dates need to be taken with a pinch of salt.(Pun intended) When I was a kid there was no such thing. Also, there was food rationing, you ate what you could get hold of, and unless it was rancid you had no choice. We used to keep the eggs from our chickens in a bucket of stuff called Isinglass sometimes for months on end.

nannyboo1

Have to agree they should be fine I never follow the dates use my smell and sight but as there is just hubby and me (only give in date food to childminded children if that makes sense as don't want to be sued if anything goes wrong).

Am eating yogurts dated beginning of Feb and eggs from mid January

DawnW

Ooh my chickens don't put dates on theirs! If they have been around a while I just crack and sniff. But I would NEVER use any raw (ie for mayonnaise or something like that) unless I was absolutely sure they were very, very fresh., and 'older' ones get baked in cakes.

JulieGeorgiana

I've used eggs over a month or two out of date!

Always use the float test, then crack the eggs into a cup before adding to the others... I've never opened a bad one since I stopped storing them in the fridge (a farmer told me that keeping them in the fridge shortens their life) so mine are kept in a ceramic chicken now.

[Deleted User]

27col wrote: »

Use by dates need to be taken with a pinch of salt.(Pun intended) When I was a kid there was no such thing. Also, there was food rationing, you ate what you could get hold of, and unless it was rancid you had no choice. We used to keep the eggs from our chickens in a bucket if stuff called Isinglass sometimes for months on end.

You must be around the same age as I am then we too never had sell by dates ,or best before dates, we were just damned glad to get anything on our plates at all with the rationing. My old Mum would be horrified at the waste of food that goes on nowadays.Unless it almost walked off the plate we ate it, and what didn't go into the kids, ended up in the dog:D
Definitely the float test

Farway

I am also of the older, rationing, no date stamped, generation. Believe me, if an egg is off you will smell it a mile away

Just eat them

Al1x

I always do the floating test ..

Kittendreich

I'd only think about it if I am going to eat them raw...otherwise I go for crack and sniff! I regularly eat eggs several weeks out of date and never had a problem (I can't remember the last time I actually looked at a use by date on a egg anyway!). The main difference will be that the egg white will be a bit more 'runny' than a fresh egg so won't hold itself together for a poached/fried egg, but is fine for most other things.

LandyAndy

27col wrote: »

Use by dates need to be taken with a pinch of salt.(Pun intended) When I was a kid there was no such thing. Also, there was food rationing, you ate what you could get hold of, and unless it was rancid you had no choice. We used to keep the eggs from our chickens in a bucket if stuff called Isinglass sometimes for months on end.

Isn't that a place in Lord of the Rings?

Rachel021967

I want to hard boil and paint them with my daughter. Though she might eat one. Would they be safe or should I go out and buy some more? They've been kept on top of the fridge in a warm kitchen.