Dates on eggs / how long do they keep for?

Olliebeak

I'd give them a go - crack em open and have a sniff! If they're off you'll soon know !

carolinosourus

My mum uses eggs that are well past the purported date on the box. She usually bakes with them so they're cooked at a high heat for a period of time, I would always make sure that if you do cook with them that they're well-cooked, I wouldn't eat them runny.

Remember that shops use dates to cover themselves! If you crack it into a cup you should be able to tell if it's off, you'll be able to smell if it's gone off.

Slinky_Malinky

I have used eggs well past their date, probaby older than I should have tbh. I`ve never actually cracked open an egg to find it is `off`. I hard boiled some eggs today that were out of date about 2 weeks ago - feel a bit guilty now so may bin them but I already ate two.

Dazi

I lived on my ex in-laws farm for a year, they had chickens

No eggs came out of these chickens with a date on them as others have said, crack it and errr........ smell, you will know if it is past cook by date

ChocClare

Good grief, yes!

I have only once had a bad egg. There was no doubt. It was like water, it was grey and it STANK. Would really make you heave.

As eggs get older they get more air in them (the shells are porous). If they sink in water they have very little air and are therefore fresh. If they sink but one end raises so that it stands on end they are still fine, but they have some air which is making them try to stand up. If they float, they are full of air - chuck `em.

I have eaten eggs that are a good three weeks past the stamped sell by date with no ill effects (though I did break them one by one so I didn`t end up ruining a bowlful). Now that I keep my own hens, they don`t have a date stamp so I can live in ignorant bliss! The only time I bother to test them is when I find an egg in an odd place (my hens are free range and sometimes lay in the oddest places) as I don`t know how long it`s been there!

Dazi

ChocClare wrote: »

Now that I keep my own hens, they don`t have a date stamp so I can live in ignorant bliss! The only time I bother to test them is when I find an egg in an odd place (my hens are free range and sometimes lay in the oddest places) as I don`t know how long it`s been there!

on the in laws farm the chicks ran about here there and everwhere, they herded most in at night to escape the foxes but not all made it, it was my lil ex SIL job to collect the eggs for her pocket money so she just collected what she found, in all the time I had eggs from there, many years after we lived on farm I can only remember having one that was off......and oh boy did we know it was off, the smell lingered for days! I guess when thinking should you eat by best before date you have to remember, they dont come out the chicken with a date stamp on

ChocClare

My mum ALWAYS breaks eggs separately into a bowl before adding them to anything - I think I've got this from her. Her job as a little girl was collecting eggs, and they used to find them ALL OVER THE PLACE. My grandmother would bung them in water and then break them separately. There's nothing like making a Spanish omelette for the whole family with ten eggs, and finding the tenth egg is off as you break it into the others...

babyshoes

I pay absolutely no attention to best before dates on eggs and have used some which were probably months past their date, and they were fine. If they have been in the fridge for a while, I do what others here do and break each one into a cup before adding it to the others. The water trick is also reassuring if you are anxious.

linz

Hi all,

I have a dozen eggs that I've not managed to use up. They were best before 18th Jan. I normally go over the date by about a week but there's no way i'm going to get these eaten or used up. How long is safe to keep eggs for before chucking them?

Thanks in advance

sooz

Put them in a glass of water (still in their shell).
Bad eggs float & good eggs sink.

Since you have a dozen to use up, you could make pancakes & freeze them.