It’s either feast or famine when it comes to eggs around our homestead…
After the long, egg-less wait while our chicks matured, we are currently slammed with eggs. Blue ones, brown ones, little ones, big ones, double yolkers… Eggs everywhere.
But eventually our chickens will molt and we will be hard pressed to find enough eggs to make breakfast on a Sunday morning… So what to do?
There are a lot of different schools of thought when it comes to preserving eggs. Obviously, our homesteading ancestors had this same dilemma, and worked to find ways to save their eggs for later.
You can use a method called waterglassing, which immerses fresh eggs in a chemical called sodium silicate. However, that can reportedly prevent the eggs from being boiled later (the shells will be too soft) and the whites no longer will become fluffy after beating. Plus, you risk ingesting some sodium silicate, since egg shells are so porous. No thanks.
You can also smother your eggs by packing them in large quantities of salt, or by rubbing them with lard, grease, boric acid, or a lime/water solution. The idea is that if you clog up the egg’s pores and make them airtight, you can slow down the aging process. But from what I can tell, all of those methods have inconsistent results.
But I have a freezer. And freezing eggs seems to be one of the most simple ways to preserve them.
How to Freeze Your Eggs
1. Select the freshest eggs that you can.
2. You can choose to freeze yolks and whites separately, or together. I chose to freeze the whole egg together.
3. Crack as many eggs as you wish into a freezer safe container (I used a tupperware-style plastic container with lid). Eggs cannot be frozen in the shell since they will expand and break. For this batch of eggs, I froze 2 cups of whole eggs per container.
4. GENTLY stir the yolks and whites together. Try not to beat a lot of extra air into the mixture.
5. *Optional Step* Add 1/2 teaspoon of honey OR salt to each cup of whole eggs. This is said to help to stabilize the yolk after thawing. I figured it couldn’t hurt, so I added salt to mine. Be sure to mark what you used in the label so you can adjust your recipes accordingly, if need be.
6. Label and freeze for up to 6 months (I’d bet you could go longer, but this is what the “experts” recommend. I like to push the limits, though. ;)) Labeling might seem like a waste of time to you. But do it. Trust me. You have no idea how many times I’ve come across a mystery item in my freezer. At the time of freezing it, I was SURE I would remember what it was…
7. When you are ready to use your eggs, allow them to thaw in the fridge.
3 Tablespoons of the egg mixture = 1 egg in recipes
***Alternate freezing method*** You can also pour the scrambled egg mixture into individual ice cube trays. Just pop out a couple cubes anytime you need just an egg or two for a recipe.
How to Freeze Eggs
Ingredients
- Fresh eggs
- (3 Tablespoons of the egg mixture = 1 egg in recipes)
Instructions
- Decide whether to freeze yolks and whites separately, or together-I chose to freeze the whole egg together
- Crack as many eggs as you wish into a freezer safe container (I used a tupperware container with lid and used 2 cups/container)
- GENTLY stir yolks and whites together to avoid a lot of extra air in the mixture
- Optional Step Add 1/2 teaspoon of honey OR salt to each cup of whole eggs to help stabilize the yolk
- Label and freeze up to 6 months
- When you are ready to use them, thaw in fridge
I still plan to look into more off-grid egg preservation methods, but for now, I’m happy to use my freezer.
How do you preserve your eggs?
A few more posts from the coop:
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This post is a part of Fight Back Friday, The Homestead Barn Hop, Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Simple Lives Thursday, Living Well Blog Hop, Topsy Turvy Tuesdays
what? wow!
Save your empty egg cartons, or get friends to, put your excess egg production in them and stick them in the freezer. Chicken eggs tend to crack when frozen, duck eggs do not. Doesn’t matter, nothing is leaking anyway, it’s frozen. if you’re going to need X amount of eggs, remove them from a carton, put the carton back in the freezer, put the eggs in a bowl, wait to thaw, crack open and use.
Misty?
Great post!
Do they thaw well to eat for scrambled eggs? Or are they best used for recipes where texture is not an issue?
Lea, they should be just fine for scrambled eggs or baking.
I have seen too where you can use an ice cube tray to freeze, then pop them into a ziplock bag! Each cube = 1 egg!! Too fun! Thanks for reminding me!
“Eggs cannot be frozen in the shell as they will expand and break”…not so, at least not for duck eggs….. I use duck eggs only, won’t eat chicken eggs at all since duck eggs taste so much better and are better for baking, , and duck eggs have thicker membranes and thicker shells. This spring the ducks started laying early and we’d find eggs frozen solid, no breakage at all.
And if be the eggs are in a freezer bag, why does it matter if they expand and crack??
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Only thing I had were muffin tins, lined it with plastic wrap, froze, now 2 in each sandwich bag, all put in freezer bag. Just make certain you put a big enough layer of wrap that it almost touches each other. Found that line cupcake wrappers out of the oven it can catch at the top of the paper.
Never have tried this but just did it so I’ll see what happens. Had me nervous so I did not mix them as I would to scramble, just enough for yolk and white to mingle.
I have been experimenting with this!~ I have frozen them in ice cube trays, I have put fresh eggs into our extra fridge, and I have packed them in salt. I am curently using the ones I packed in salt. So far, so good! I am breaking them into another bowl first, but no problems yet! The ones I am using now are from July/August. I used plain stock salt to pack in, as it is inexpensive at bulk prices. Then, we can just feed it to the animals when done. I packed them into a Rubbermaid tub, layer by layer. One tub held 114 eggs. i love the freexing idea, too, but if we lose power (not uncommon) I wanted to be able to save some eggs. Also, we love “Belly” eggs for breakfast! Thank you for your post…just joined and look forward to searching your site! Blessings!
Judi, this really piqued my interest! Now I’m going to have to try the salt method- and I love the idea of giving the salt to your critters when you’re done with it. Thanks for sharing this!
Dont give the salt to your chooks as it will kill them, chooks are not salt tolerant!!!!!
What is a chook?
A chook is a chicken. Common slang in Australia I believe
When you say you salt them….you just have a bin full of salt {layer by layer} with eggs? That simple? I just want to make sure 🙂 I’m new at the ‘homesteading’ arena and learning as much as I can. Thank You for Sharing.
Did you find that the eggs you stored in salt had a strong salt flavor when you ate them?
What is “belly eggs”? I’m new at this freezing eggs for later use. But sounds like a Great way to save $.
What is a “Belly egg” ??
★★★★★
whites cooked and yellow still soft to dunk in
Can the salt idea work with store bought as the other options. No fresh eggs where I am.
What a fantastic and timely post!
Although my daughter is severely allergic to eggs, I have found it is one of the only protein sources my son WILL eat so we go through dozens each month. Our (population-dense) city has recently allowed some “test” hens, but it is still very hard to find reasonable high-quality eggs in our area. I am supremely jealous of your “real” eggs! Thanks for the great info… perhaps if we travel further into the country we can find a larger supply of high quality eggs and preserve them this way.
I think it’s great that your city is allowing “test” hens. At least it’s a step in the right direction! I bet if you keep looking you’ll be able to find a source of farm fresh eggs in your area soon!
I know this may sound silly but do you think maybe it could be that she’s allergic to the soy (even in some organic eggs) that is fed to some chickens. Traces of it end up in the egg.. as would any gmo grain(in conventional eggs) and any products made with those eggs.
I know this is an older post but I had to comment. My son *seemed* to be allergic to eggs in addition to his super high soy allergy. BUT, when we found access to soy-free eggs his egg problem 100% disappeared. We raise chickens now so that we can save on the $6 per dozen we were paying for his eggs. He’s eaten eggs for breakfast every day for 18 months with no reaction. It was definitely the soy protein getting into the eggs that he was reacting to, not the egg itself!
Wow! I find this very interesting! I thought I was allergic to eggs, then found that when I raised my own it was no problem. So, naturally I thought I can only eat very fresh eggs. But at the time I have no birds. I get fresh eggs from various people and sometimes still get sick, even when they are fresh. Makes me want to question the feed! Never even thought of that!
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I couldn’t eat store bought eggs because of the sulfa antibiotics that are fed to them vs. penecillin (due to so many people being allergic to that antibiotic) but now that I have my own chickens and they are free range with just a bit of organic feed, I have no problems.
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I am allergic to chicken eggs but have no problem with duck eggs. That couls be another solution to your egg problem
If you live in Chicago get Vital Farms eggs. If not look up Cornucopia Institute for their report on the best egg brand sold where you live.
I had no idea! Thank you for sharing this, I’ve got to pin it 🙂
Awesome, I was just looking up ways to preserve eggs without electricity. Just trying to be prepared. Please keep us posted on what you discover on that issue. I have done the freezer wiht ice cube trays, popped them into a baggy. They turn out really good scrambled eggs. But…then I forgot they were in the freezer. 🙂
Have never had a bad egg even when I had my own. I keep eggs for 5 months or more so can normally wait til they begin to lay once more. I have found a way to dehydrate them and that will be my choice since freezers can go out and freezers can burn items too. Thanks for sharing this, might be the one way folks can keep their eggs.
Hmmm… haven’t looked into dehydrating yet. Might be worth a try!
how do you dehydrate eggs?
I have dehydrated eggs, here is how I did it. After some online research, this is the method that sounded the easiest and most effective, so I tried it and it works great…
Crack your eggs into a bowl and beat just enough to thoroughly mix then whites and yolks. I didn’t use salt, since I was going to use the eggs soon on a backpacking trip, but it is probably a good idea if you are planning to store these for more than a couple weeks. Then simply pour out the mixture onto the dehydrator trays. I use an American Harvest electric dehydrator, but it would probably work well with a solar dryer as well. It didn’t take long to dry. I suppose you could then fine grind the resulting egg “cracker”, but I didn’t bother, I just broke it up into several chunks. To use them, I just poured boiling water over them, put them in a “cozy” to keep them hot and they cooked just fine. Mind you I used the dried eggs in a recipe than contained whole buckwheat, so the buckwheat soaked up the extra water. It was delicious and very easy. So easy I wished I had tried this before! At one point I had a note of, by weight, how much dried egg equalled one fresh egg, but I’m not sure where that is now. Maybe google has an answer. I think the dried eggs would be perfect for things like breakfast, such as scrambled eggs, but not sure if you would be able to reconstitute them perfectly for delicate egg dishes, though I have not tried yet.
FYI, I did this with organic store bought eggs. I would never do this with non organic eggs (most backyard flock eggs are probably fine) due to the fact that organic eggs repeatedly show in tests to be very low or non-existent in bad bacteria like salmonella. Also, the electric dehydrator I used has a temperature control for which I set it at the higher end, I think around 140F.
i freeze them in little plastic containers and when they are frozen i pop them out and vaccume seal them
I love to freeze eggs too. I oil a muffin tray then crack one fresh egg per muffin hole.
Once they are frozen I take them out, they slide out easily, then put them all in a container together.
Need one egg? Just pop one out the night before!
Hi Lisa. Do you have to break the yolk to freeze eggs in muffin holes? I hope not. I like the idea of being able to separate the whites and yolks after defrosting.
Good Morning SJ
Please tell me that you have tried to freeze the whole egg in a muffen pan and baked it as an egg, and the taste and look was the same as a real fresh egg?
I’m from South Africa and it is so hot, we can’t store eggs that long.
Please help by answering me by e-mail.
Have a good day
Mariana
This doesn’t make sense. The heat of your country is irrelevant to how long you can keep eggs unless the heat causes the fridge to break, but in that case it would also cause the freezer to break making freezing them equally not-good.
For that matter if you are only going to keep them for 6 months then what’s the point of anyone freezing eggs, since they’ll be fine in the fridge for about 6 months anyway?
It makes perfect sense. People in other countries don’t store eggs in the fridge as universally as Americans do. I don’t know about South Africa, but room temperature egg storage is common in Europe.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/09/11/336330502/why-the-u-s-chills-its-eggs-and-most-of-the-world-doesnt
If you rub an egg with a thin layer of vasaline you can store eggs for about two years. You just wash it off with warm soapy water. Eggs you get at a grocery store are several months old anyways.
Yikes, rubbing vaseline on the eggs is not a good idea. Vaseline is a petrochemical so it’s almos like rubbing motor oil on your eggs. You can expect to have the chemical in your eggs and you would be consuming that. Not good for your bealth.
I think a better option for preserving eggs is to ferment or pickle them. It would put probiotics into them which is very healthy. To ferment them, you hard boil them first. You should be able to find recipes online for fermented or pickled eggs.
I question your statement that eggs from the grocery store are ‘several months old anyway’……where are you shopping? I have bought organic and non organic eggs at many local markets and if I forget to let them ‘age’ a week, its nearly impossible to cleanly peel them. Tight shells are a sign of fresh eggs. My mother kept 260 laying hens so I grew up on farm eggs. Sadly havent time or space to keep chickens now.
In the US, farmers have 30 days to crate them and another 30 days to get them in a store.
put a teaspoon of baking soda in the water when boiling your eggs makes for easier peeling of fresh eggs
I steam my eggs instead of boiling. Plunge after 15 mins into an ice bath. I kind of bang them around a bit to crack the shell while they are in the ice bath…when they are cool, the shells practically fall off! Who knew!! Works with freshy fresh eggs!
Great idea. I will have to write this down so I don’t forget!
Loved reading this, never knew you could freeze eggs!
This is great info for making it through the winter when the silly chickens stop laying! I wonder how much longer I’ve got. . .
If you hang a light in the chicken coop and put a timer on it to come on around 6 and go off when the sun comes up and put the timer to come on just before the sun sets and off around 6:30 you will get eggs. They need more light in the winter time. Hope that helps
Not a good idea to force chickens to lay through the winter with artificial light. They need that time to recover in the same way women should have time between pregnancies. Egg laying is alot on chickens and we have already bred them to be insanely productive as it is.
Thats baloney. In countries with 12 hours of daylight 12 months a year (close to the equator), chickens lay all year long.
It is nothing like a woman needing a break between pregnancies.
I have tried both ways, extra light for winter eggs, and the “let their bodies rest” for the winter. I buy feed store chickens, so mass produced hens. I have found that letting them rest during the winter has increased their egg laying years considerably. From 1 or 2 yrs, to up to 4 years old. I’m not culling young hens out as much when I let them rest. Please remember, these are feed store chicks, not high quality breeding stock chicks.
I never knew that you could freeze eggs. Are they good scrambled or just for putting into baked goods etc.?
Thanks for sharing this idea! I can’t wait until we get our chicks in the spring and start getting our own eggs.
We don’t have chickens yet (hopefully next spring), so I don’t really have a need for preserving an abundance of eggs, but I think this is a great post anyways! I have heard about preserving eggs with lard, and I’m not entirely sure I would feel safe with that. Back in the day my mom used to buy egg beaters which we would use instead of eggs, since eggs were so “bad” for you. Do you typically only use the eggs in recipes, or do you thaw them for scrambled eggs as well? Just wondering if there is a large difference in taste 🙂
Heather- they should work for either scrambled eggs or in recipes.
Pavlova is one of my favorite desserts from my time in australia. Look for a recipie with a nice soft inside as some cook soild-top with freash cream and some tart berries and it’s everything. Perfect for egg whites.
Call me crazy, but I have NEVER realized you could freeze eggs before! I’m so looking forward to having my own chickens one day soon, so this is good to know!
Pavlova is a great dessert and way to use up egg whites. Top with sweet freash cream and sour berries. Delicious. Look for a recipie with a light crispy outside and soft center.
Wow, what a great idea! Thank you!
I didn’t know you can freeze eggs. Great! We recently started to purchase eggs from a farm near us. So as not to have to go every week, we wanted to buy a couple week’s worth if possible. We didn’t know how long they would be good in the fridge. When we asked the farmer, he said they would be good in the fridge for about a year! Seeing the dates on cartons at the store gives some perspective on their age. So thankful we have a truly fresh source. Maybe some day we will have our own chickens.
I haven’t had the chance to freeze ANY! Not getting enough around here. Having said that I do have about 3 cups of whites I need to do something with but keep not doing anything with (leftover from making birthday ice cream). I was thinking about macaroons but it’s been a few days and I keep not getting around to it… should probably freeze them.
Yum…. macaroons! The perfect way to use up extra egg whites. 😉
With 9 of us we don’t have a lot of extra eggs – but I think I might freeze some now – and maybe cut back a bit on what we are eating – so we will have our own yummy eggs this winter! I am glad you posted this!
Will these eggs fry up ok if you freeze them individually in muffin tins or ice cube trays? Or will the texture be off? This is a great post! Thank you.
They should be just fine for scrambled eggs. Not sure about other types of frying. Let me know if you try it!
I always wondered if I could freeze eggs! huh! Excellent post!
This is wonderful! Thanks for the post. We have the Homestead Blessings series in our home and they suggest pickling your eggs. It sounds strange, but they say it is great to use on salads, in potato salad and just sliced to eat. I’m interested in finding different ways to preserve our eggs too, freezing sounds great and I’m very interested in the dehydrating, and the salt method is great too, but pickling is another option 🙂 They use large mouth pint jars, so you don’t end up with too many, but if you family really likes it I’m sure you could use quart jars 🙂
Yes, pickling is another great option, although I’m not sure if my family would go for that right now… Maybe in a few years after their tastebuds have “matured” a bit! 😉
LOL to #6 (“I was sure I would know what it was”) me too! 🙂 so many times!
Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. This was very interesting! Hope to see you next week!
Be sure to visit RealFoodForager.com on Sunday for Sunday Snippets – your post from Fat Tuesday may be featured there!
http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/fat-tuesday-october-25-2011/
If you have grain-free recipes please visit my Grain-Free Linky Carnival in support of my 28 day grain-free challenge! It will be open until November 2.
http://realfoodforager.com/2011/10/grain-free-real-food-linky-carnival/
We do freeze them in the shell. Yes they crack,but we put them in baggies after they are frozen and figure the shell offers additional insulation from the cold. The cool things we’ve found is that you can rinse a frozen egg with the shell on in cold water and the shell comes off really easily. This leaves you with a frozen egg (in egg shape) We just pull out how many we need, rinse them and let them thaw.
Dana that is great! Certainly makes sense that the shell would provide protection from frost.
So cool I have been hoping I could find something about freezing eggs in the eggshell. I don’t care if they look cracked or not cuz my belly don’t care. Lol! I just enjoy sunny side up eggs. I have been stumped on the best way to freeze them. It has been said to break the yoke mixing yolks and whites together and then putting salt or sugar in for the freezing prosses. I would need different bags for I don’t want salt in my backing eggs but yet don’t want want sugar in my breakfast eggs. Then I need to figureout how much one egg would be etcetera etcetera. Feel like maybe I just can’t win. Wrong again cuz I just might win with cracked frozen egg shell’s lol. Though I would love any feedback on this because there are three households on my 20acres of family owned property who have there refrigerator full of eggs. Ty for any info sent
This is a great idea. I’m going to forward the link to my aunt and dad. There’s a farm that sells organic eggs…and now that we can freeze them, it’s now worth the trip out there to buy quite a few dozen eggs 🙂 🙂 Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂
Wow that is a good idea didn’t know you could freeze eggs!! Will have to try it
What a great post, thanks! Unfortunately I do not have my own chickens, so all my eggs still come from the grocery store, but with just me and my husband I am almost always throwing out expired eggs. Now when I go through my food to check expiration dates, if my eggs are getting close I will just freeze them and then always have some handy when I get that urge to bake!
Most definitely! It’s a great way to prevent wasting food!
Jill, you said to choose the freshest eggs you can, so would it be a good idea to freeze eggs close to their expiration date or not? Thanks.
i’m a new reader to your blog and i’m in love with it! you have inspired me to declutter and simplify my life, how much of the STUFF that sits around the house do we all really use anyway? prob not enough of it to justify keeping it….I had no idea you could freeze eggs i have a dozen in my fridge right now that expire on the 15th of feb and i prob would have thrown most away (we go through phases of eating alot and not hardly eating any) i’m gonna use my leftover breastmilk storage bags to freeze the eggs i hate tossing them when i paid for them and if they are good enough to store breastmilk then i’m sure they are good enough to store eggs and it will save me from spending money right now to buy containers. I have also bought all the ingredients to make my own laundry soap(i’m just waiting to finish the supply i have) and i cant wait till spring so my husband can put up a clothesline for me…. i just wanted to thank you so much for taking the time to write about all these things i feel relieved just thinking about all the stuff i’m going to get rid of 🙂
Great info…I never knew! Ive been toying with the idea of freezing eggs. With the turbulent times I think is approaching it would be vital to store up as much as possible. Thanks :0)
How do you feel about rubbing the eggs with mineral oil for long term storage. I assume, since the eggs is porous that it may soak up the flavor.?
I have heard you can and it works well but other healthier oils work the same as mineral oil without the toxicity.
I have tried freezing eggs and find them not to be my taste when thawed. The texture is off and they just don’t seem to work in baked things, course I am baking gluten free which doesn’t always work anyway. Fresh eggs keep for months in the fridge. I just finished up eggs that were purchased in October. Previously I have kept fresh ones until March. I’ll try the vaseline coating, maybe I can keep them until late April or May that way. Can’t eat chicken eggs, so use duck eggs which are hard to come by, so I buy as much as I can get in the summer and hope they last until fresh ones are available again.
Instead of lard or anything like that if you take and wash the eggs and put a little mineral oil in your hand and roll the eggs in that, make sure they are totally covered and can store them without refridgeration for 9-12 months in a cool dark area
My heart is smiling! I am so tickled to see that you made this post, to bring the awareness to so many that they can freeze their eggs. Especially now when most hens are laying more and more with good weather coming forth. I have been freezing eggs for over 30 years now. I freeze in several different quanities. Smaller amount to use while baking, 1/2 dzn for quiches, full dozen whites for angel food cakes, etc.
When egg production slows down, and it will, whether you have the chickens or friends, or farmers market, you wil always have wonderfull free range or cage free eggs to use in your recipes. 3 teaspoons of mixed egg = 1 egg 🙂
Dee M, 3 teaspoons or 3 TABLESPOONS = 1 egg?
I’d read that you can preserve eggs by rubbing them with mineral oil, too. We can’t raise chickens since I live in the suburbs, but sometimes I do buy a lot of eggs when they’re on sale. I’ll give this method a try! It’s certainly more waistline friendly than my previous method of preserving them (by making a bunch of creme brulee and freezing it without browning the top).
I wish I had thought of this or known this a few years back when we kept layers. We are getting chickens again next spring and I might get some layers to keep (we usually do meat birds) for eggs now that I know I won’t be faced with way too many eggs in my fridge. There are only so many batches of noodles you can make. LOL
When I find a good sale on eggs here in the city I will usually but several dozen then using my blender set on the slowest setting crack a dozen at a time with a teaspoon of kosher salt added per dozen blend till smoothly mixed. Then I have about 4 dozen Tupperware hamburger containers with lids that stack I will pore the eggs into them till just a 1/2 inch below the rim and snap 3 together with 1 lid till I have used up all the eggs I plan to freeze. Each container equals approximately 2 whole scrambled eggs total. I picked up the containers at yard sales, flee markets, and thrift shops for about a total of maybe $10.00 along with 1 hamburger press that I never uses being a vegetarian. I have used this method for about 20 years now and it works great for me.
Dawn
Great idea Dawn!
And here I thought eggs went bad when frozen! when I was a kid our fridge would always tend to over cool and my mom would throw out all teh half frozen ones saying they were inedible…learn something new everyday lol!
Thanks for the great information. I think I will try each of these methods and decide which will work best for us. I appreciate the time everyone took to contribute to this post! :0)
Thanks for all of the great ideas on preserving eggs. I am giong to try the various ways and see which works best for us. We have 24 chickens who have just started laying this last month or so. Now I am not going to worry about if we sell them roadside. I will freeze them for the winter when they are not producing as well. The Vaseline idea is very cool and will be a great science experiment for us. So, I will be sure to do that with the kids as well. Who will be the guinnea pig when it comes to test?? Thank you.
Yes- definitely a good experiment for the kiddos! You’ll have to let me know how it goes. 🙂
another good idea for families is to buy boil bags .. resurants use these for their egg batches … crack enough eggs in the boil bag for you breakfast …stir them up a bit to break down the yoke (so it doesnt gel up) then freeze…. when your ready for them pull them out the day before to thaw ..then boil in the bag ….. best scrambled eggs you will ever have … fluffy ..with tonnes of moisture .. just have to find the boil bags …. im sure one could google it
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I can tell you from experience that egg yolks do not freeze worth a darn, so how well they come out after being scrambled, I can’t say. I had five egg yolks but no recipe to use them up as I collected them, until I had enough for a custard. I let them defrost for three days in the fridge, and then left them on my kitchen counter for a few hours to get them room temperature. When I went to use them, they stuck like glue to the bottom of the container. As I mixed them with a few fresh yolks, I noticed that the frozen yolks behaved badly in that they tended to congeal like dried/fried egg yolks regardless of how much they were whisked (I could see small chunky bits clinging to the side of the bowl before they were tempered with the hot milk). In the end, I was thankful I strained the custard while it was still hot as I had a ton of egg yolk bits in it. Result: my custard was tasty enough, but was a bit on the grainy side, and I suspect that was because of the frozen eggs.
I just read elsewhere that you have to use the egg within 24 hours of thawing it.
You’re right – egg yolks by themselves do not freeze well. They gel and it can’t be reversed. That is why salt or sugars are added – they prevent the yolks from gelling. Next time, break your yolks and stir in a pinch of salt for each one before you freeze them.
I am OBSESSED with freezing things. I NEVER though I could freeze eggs! This is genius!
I prefer using muffin tins (regular, giant, and mini sizes!) to freeze convenient little plops of liquids – soups juice cubes to avoid watering down, and milk. I am going to try this in various tins for various sizes, it’s great because once they are frozen, you can toss them all in a ziplock and they fit in my packed freezer a lot better!
THANKS!!!!!
I love freezing things too. My favorite is a crock pot full of carmelized onions. I put them in reg. muffin tins till frozen, and then put them in gallon zip lock bags. Great for when i need 1/4-1 cup carmelized onions.
For non freezing how about dipping the eggs in wax to seal the eggs? I am looking into raising chickens so this is real interesting 🙂
I never tried freezing eggs, would like to try it when I have too much eggs at home. What I have done before to preserve eggs is by putting eggs in a jar, fill with water and salt as much as how salty you want your eggs to be. Let the jar sits in a room temperature for about 2-3 weeks. Throw the brine, boil the eggs and you’ll get salty eggs.
I’ve only ever frozen egg whites and then forgot all about them, even though they were labeled – ha! Never thought you could freeze the entire egg – like the idea of putting them into muffin pans and freezing them like that. Eggs are so darn expensive these days. Wish we could grow chickens here but you need all kinds of permits for everything *sigh* – Got some local growers but they cost a fortune…but will be keeping this in mind for sure.
Thanks for sharing your tip!
Linda
Yes, I definitely like the muffin tin idea too!
My name Sarah.
I love the eggs. The eggs…. The eggs. I sometimes like to stick the pores of the eggs on my pores….. my pores. Seeping… squishing…. eggs… Sarah.
My friend rubs eggs in vegetable oil then says they keep for months.
I’ve accidently frozen whole eggs on several occasions; the back of the fridge just gets to cold. While the shell does split (which can’t be good if left to long) , once thawed the egg turns out normal. Never had any problems, so I probably personally wouldn’t be adding any extra to purposely frozen eggs.
I read somewhere that eggs can be dipped in wax thereby preserving them indefinitely….
Hmmm… I would be interested in trying the wax. I don’t really care for the mineral oil idea that some folks use– since it’s a petroleum derivative.
Paraffin wax is also a petroleum product,just like vasaline, so the argument that petroleum=unsafe when preserving your eggs seems a bit weak to me. If that still bothers you though, more natural alternatives include vegetable oil, crisco, and lanolin.
I froze some eggs yesterday according to your method. (freezer safe ziploc bags) today, i took them out to relocate to bigger freezer. i noticed that they are a very very dark orange/yellow color. is this normal. I am using them for a camping trip and would hate to get there and thaw out “bad eggs”
I think that mine ended up being pretty dark as well– they should be ok.
Two years ago, I tried to “freeze whole egg in the muffin cup” method of preserving and found the texture of the frozen egg, particularly the yolk, to be altered. The white and yolk didn’t emulsify together very well and I found that even in baking, there were chunks of egg in my muffins. Anyone have any suggestions for this? I am overwhelmed with eggs and need a way to preserve them mainly for baking but my experiment with freezing wasn’t particularly satisfactory.
We have a over abundance of eggs right now and I loved this post and discussion. We are going to try freezing some so we have them in the winter when our hens slow down their production. Thanks!
Does anyone know if you can freeze already scrambled eggs? And if so: How long? Will they still taste OK?
We have a very large batch of scrambled eggs leftover from a morning breakfast graduation party and would hate to waste them. Our family loves eggs and eats them almost every morning. 🙂
Thanks!
I have some jello molds in the shape of eggs that are sold at Easter. I mix up my eggs and then pour them into the mold. I don’t fill them exactly full because I find that is more than one egg, but then if I need them for a recipe it is already perfectly proportioned!
Holly
What a good idea Holly!
You can also pickle eggs. They are really good that way!
My ex & his buddy used to eat pickled eggs & they developed gas REALLY BAD. Have never cared for pickled eggs!
You so smart. 🙂 We do this for camping.
Oh- good idea for camping!
Could you freeze them individually in ice cube trays?? then put them in a freezer bag??? Just a thought!
You betcha! Good idea too. 🙂
If you have done this, can you tell me how it worked?
Freezer burn?
any obeservations and techniques would be great.
I want to use the ice tray to freezer bags as well…
Maybe I should get a vaccum sealer?
any way ya let us know, thanks.
Do fresh eggs really last for up to a year in the fridge?
I have read 7 months
BUT ONLY if they are farm eggs
and the shells are not:
– wiped
– washed
– scrubbed
– buffed
– cleaned….
Supposedly, and I believe I learned it from this site, as long as you only flick the manure off with your finger and nothing else, 6-7 months in the fridge.
IF they are store bought, they are treated, cleaned etc. 45 days.
If you wash them and buff them you lose the protective coating on the outside called a BLOOM. this is the protective membrane (?) coating that keep bacteria out of the egg. The washing, scrubbing, buffing, etc eliminates it and the bacteria invade and eventually infiltrate the egg entirely. Thus the reason to refrigerate it, to slow the bacterial growth… but again… supposedly 45 days even if farm fresh but washed.
after 45 days, you’ll be sorry you have them still. supposedly… eggs never last but now with 6 layers… I may get sick of them LOL
Desperate for a straight, well explained answer.
First off, new guy. Hello.
OK, so freezing is possilbe. Awesome.
I really REALLY love the concept of the ice cube idea
But here is what I would LIKE to do I know it can be done because I will do it.
What I need to know is.
Should I?
I want to crack an egg into an ice cube slot 1 egg = 1 slot.
– I do not want to add salt
– I do not want to add honey
– I do not want to mix anything
– I do not want to add eggs together
– to clarify, I do not want to break the yolk or disturb the egg.
One whole unagitated egg per slot in an ice cube tray.
So the question is:
CAN AN EGG BE PLACED IN AN ICE CUBE TRAY; UNAGITATED, NOT ADDED WITH OTHER EGGS WHATSOEVER, WITH NO PRESERVATIVES, FREEZE FOR 6 MONTHS AND NOT ONLY BE EDIBLE BUT GOOD FOR COOKING AND BAKING?
Cooking as in unthaw and make sunny side up eggs
Baking as in breads, etc.
Thank you so much for you answers ahead of time, I hope you understand and forgive my frustration if finding this answer…
Al,
Can’t understand why you are frustrated… really? Common sense tells me that for a large farm fresh egg the ice cube tray may be too small and square to hold a full, unbroken yoke. Use the muffing pan idea or freeze it in the egg shell, both posted above, and try it. Worse case, you throw away an egg or two.
I put my eggs in a carton and freeze them in the shell in my deep freezer. They freeze quick and the shell cracks. However, like posted above, a little cold water and the egg shells pop off leaving a perfectly intact frozen egg.
Hi, I’m new to this post. I have backyard chickens lots of eggs coming on!! If I freeze eggs in carton like you have and then cold water shells pop off. So you are left with a intact frozen egg, but when thawed can I cook as usual…. overeasy ? Yummmm
Perfect JT thank you so much! I thought so! After all – since my eggs have sometimes come into the house frozen, and I have thawed and cooked them, it made sense to me that you should be able to do it on purpose. I don’t want my food in plastic if I don’t have to!!
The simple and straight forward answer to your question is: no. When egg yolks are frozen, they are subjected to a phenomenon called ‘egg-yolk gelation’ – this means they irreversibly gel. The added salt or sugars prevent the proteins in the yolk from gelling when being frozen. The longer the egg is frozen, the stiffer the yolk can become. To incorporate the salt or sugars into the yolk, the eggs are lightly ‘scrambled’ first. This is why, when separating eggs before freezing, the whites can be frozen by themselves, but salt or sugars are added to the yolks.
Wow, this post was so popular, its exact words made it into The Atlantic! Thanks for the tips. We’ll be trying this this fall.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/diy-egg-freezing-its-the-perfect-time/278271/#comments
Freezing eggs and prepping egg shells for consumption sounds like a hand-in-hand project for a weekend.
You betcha! 🙂
Hey! You from Minnesota too?
No… Idaho originally. 🙂
When using icecube tray or muffin tin, do you have to spray/grease so the frozen egg will pop out? Hate to do all that work and have them stick or ruin the consistancy with spray/grease.
Thank you
I too have the same question as Janet. I just tried freezing them in an ice cube tray and I can’t get them out. Even my husband couldn’t get them out. Hopefully someone can answer is question.
Thank you
I would like to learn how to dehydrate eggs as a backup if needed. As well as how much water to add to the dehydrated eggs to cook them. Is there an expiration date on the dehydrated eggs? Ty
My friend has used mineral oil to seal the eggs and saved them for longer than 6 months unrefrigerated…It worked well with her backyard chicken eggs-unwashed… When cracking, there will be a rotten smell if they are not good to eat…
Just an editing note: “de-thaw” is the exact opposite of what you meant to say. Just “thaw” is good enough. To de-thaw (besides the fact that that isn’t even a word) would mean to freeze.
My fridge froze some items and one was pickled eggs. Are they still ok to eat?
Awesome Post. I love reading your blog, and all the comments and ideas it generates.
Question here though… Has anyone tried canning eggs? I can all my extra meat (and vegetables of course), using a pressure canner. It must be possible, because the Oriental Store sells cans of Quail Eggs, hard boiled in a can that can be stored on the shelf. They are slightly rubbery, but I find they are fine if drained and used in an egg salad.
Ideas anyone?
Thank you for this valuable information on freezing eggs! It has really helped out our family. My son cannot tolerate chicken eggs, but can have duck eggs. Because of your blog I am now able to freeze his duck eggs to put in baking recipes as we need them! Thanks again!
So glad it was helpful for you Gwendolyn!
I loved your blog because all these tips helped me a lot my hubby love duck egg and my son want hen egg normally I found very difficulty to store them but after reading your blog all this work easy for me. Thank you so much for this blog.
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Great information. Wow, that a creative idea! I love how it turned out.
Does anyone know if you can freeze raw eggs with your omelette ingredients included (like veggies and cheese)?
This just saved me almost 18 eggs. They supposably were expired but I used the float test and only 2 floated (one wanted to float so it also got tossed) I just froze them all. Not sure when they will be used as I have more than 2 1/2 dozen eggs still in the fridge but I’m sure we will get to them soon enough
Had a neighbor will a lot of chickens and quail who would leave eggs for us. I froze eggs in half pint containers for quiche, my mother in law’s favorite. Worked perfectly!
Nice Information about how to freeze eggs carefully. Thanks a lot for sharing this information with us.
Quick Question: Would it work to freeze a ton of eggs in an ice cream pail? My daughter is graduating this year and we are having brunch. She wants scrambled eggs as a part of her brunch spread, and thought if this would work to freeze eggs in an ice cream pail, it’d be super convenient just to pull them out of the freezer a couple of days ahead of time prior to making them. When they’re thawed, we’d just pour them into a huge stock pot, add milk, seasonings, and be good-to-go. 🙂
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it is good recipe like other frozen recipe
Thanks for sharing the great article. Helps alot
why can’t you freeze whole eggs? I once pricked a hole in 6 eggs and froze them for 1 month. I then had them fried, they were good, also used them in a cake worked fine.
Thanks for the posting!
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Thanks for sharing this method. I really appreciate your efforts.
Thanks for sharing this method. I really appreciate your efforts.
Thank you so much for your support! 🙂
Good recipe!!!
Thanks for sharing, will try it soon
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We left 5 dozen eggs in the truck overnight (Tuesday) and they froze. We put into the fridge on (Wednesday) it is now Sunday, they have been in the fridge. Can I use them for baking? maybe egg bites or a quiche or 2, cookies… Then freeze again?
I don’t see why not!
Wooww just yummy
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I make frittatas/crustless quiches this way, which also helps use up random veggies! Just take bag out of the freezer and place in fridge the night before you plan to bake, dump into a greased pan, bake as usual. They come out beautifully!
I tried it and you know what happend? …, It really works. I have 6 eggs to do this magic and when i tried it, all eggs freezed. Really amazing trick.. i totally liked it. Plz try everyone… and keep it up..
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