>Shelf life? Never heard of it for eggs? Are you saying
>they mark an "expiration date" on the carton or something?
>I've never seen it if it's there. Never even thought about
>it? To me it's a weird concept

A weird concept....how? Doesn't your meat, chicken, cheese and all
other fresh grocery items have "sell by" "use by" or "expiration"
dates? Where do you live? Eggs that are past their prime are just as
nasty as any other spoiled or not fresh product. This morning I
cracked an egg and it flowed from the shell like water...the white was
thin and clear, and the yolk broke immediately. I threw it out. And
they were from a "NEW" dozen, too. A fresh egg has a cloudy white,
and definite demarkation where the yolk sits up high on the whites.
"Older" eggs are better for boiling. But I wouldn't go too far over
the date. A few days, maybe.

wrote:

>>Shelf life? Never heard of it for eggs? Are you saying
>>they mark an "expiration date" on the carton or something?
>>I've never seen it if it's there. Never even thought about
>>it? To me it's a weird concept
>
> A weird concept....how? Doesn't your meat, chicken, cheese and all
> other fresh grocery items have "sell by" "use by" or "expiration"
> dates? Where do you live? Eggs that are past their prime are just as
> nasty as any other spoiled or not fresh product. This morning I
> cracked an egg and it flowed from the shell like water...the white was
> thin and clear, and the yolk broke immediately. I threw it out. And
> they were from a "NEW" dozen, too. A fresh egg has a cloudy white,
> and definite demarkation where the yolk sits up high on the whites.
> "Older" eggs are better for boiling. But I wouldn't go too far over
> the date. A few days, maybe.


My brother and SIL keep a couple of flats (12x12 ? egg cartons) on the
floor next to the kitchen table. When I saw that I asked aren't you
worried about rotten eggs? My SIL said "what do you think you just had
for breakfast."

They're the same folk who let their steaks age in the fridge just before
the green-slime stage. They're the tastiest steaks I've ever et.

--
Andy
http://tinyurl.com/dzl7h

" > wrote
in
oups.com:

>>Shelf life? Never heard of it for eggs? Are you saying
>>they mark an "expiration date" on the carton or something?
>>I've never seen it if it's there. Never even thought about
>>it? To me it's a weird concept
>
> A weird concept....how? Doesn't your meat, chicken, cheese
> and all other fresh grocery items have "sell by" "use by"
> or "expiration" dates? Where do you live? Eggs that are
> past their prime are just as nasty as any other spoiled or
> not fresh product. This morning I cracked an egg and it
> flowed from the shell like water...the white was thin and
> clear, and the yolk broke immediately. I threw it out.
> And they were from a "NEW" dozen, too. A fresh egg has a
> cloudy white, and definite demarkation where the yolk sits
> up high on the whites. "Older" eggs are better for boiling.
> But I wouldn't go too far over the date. A few days,
> maybe.

that sounds like an improperly stored egg. i get those once
in a while when i find a hidden nest of unknown age in 90+ F
weather... i have *never* had a *bad* egg though (although no
stray nest has ever been over 3 weeks old either).
you can leave real fresh laid eggs on the kitchen counter for
over 2 *weeks* with no degradation in quality, as long as you
don't wash them. of course, all supermarket eggs have been
washed... that's why they have to be refrigerated.
i've had supermarket eggs (back before i got chickens) that i
kept for a couple months & they were ok, as in no worse than
any other supermarket eggs.
just remember you have no control over how the eggs were
stored *before* you bought them & use common sense. no
supermarket egg is going to be fresher than 2 weeks old at any
rate, & in the summer it's possible they were shipped in
unairconditioned trucks or left out in the hot loading bay for
hours...
oh & expiry dates on egg cartons are from date packed, which
has little to do with date laid.
lee

--
war is peace
freedom is slavery
ignorance is strength
1984-George Orwell

"enigma" > wrote in message
. ..
> ................as long as you
> don't wash them. of course, all supermarket eggs have been
> washed... that's why they have to be refrigerated.

I have never seen eggs in UK supermarkets refrigerated They are just
stacked on the shelves

Ophelia

"Ophelia" > wrote in message
news
>
> "enigma" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> ................as long as you
>> don't wash them. of course, all supermarket eggs have been
>> washed... that's why they have to be refrigerated.
>
> I have never seen eggs in UK supermarkets refrigerated They are just
> stacked on the shelves
>
> Ophelia
>
That's the way it used to be here in the U.S. "many years ago."
My ex-husband's first job was for the Agricultural Department (in the
1950's) tracking eggs. Silly job, heh? I'll bet that job is no longer
around. Either that, or it's a huge bureaucratic departmental job by now.
Tee hee
Dee Dee
Dee Dee

" wrote:
>
> >Shelf life? Never heard of it for eggs? Are you saying
> >they mark an "expiration date" on the carton or something?
> >I've never seen it if it's there. Never even thought about
> >it? To me it's a weird concept
>
> A weird concept....how?

Weird because it seems to me that people shouldn't
have to be told how long they can keep eggs before
they throw them out. People used to store eggs all
winter by packing them a certain way and keeping them
in the root cellar. Eggs are not something that goes
bad very fast and especially nowadays with everyone
keeping them in the refrigerator they last plenty long
enough for even the slowest egg user to use them up before
they go bad.

> Doesn't your meat, chicken, cheese and all
> other fresh grocery items have "sell by" "use by" or "expiration"
> dates?

Maybe, but I've never noticed it if there is one. I do check
the sell by dates on some dairy products but even they don't
mean much. The only reason I check it at all is that it often
takes me many weeks to use up a quart of milk so I want it to
have as long a life as possible. I don't really worry about it
on things like cream and sour cream and cheese (not sure I've
ever noticed it on cheese at all).

I don't worry about such things. I trust my market to not sell
me really old meat (except for aged steaks ;-)) and I know how
to store it until I do use it, whether in fridge for a few
days or in the freezer. (In fact with meat I either use it
immediately or freeze it for later.) So why would I need them to
tell me it's only good until such and such a date? I guess there
are clueless people in the world these days who have no idea
about these things and have to be told.

Also, any "use by" date that they would put on things is
generally very conservative and things can be kept and
used well beyond that date, so it's pretty meaningless to
me.

> Where do you live?

Pittsburgh

> Eggs that are past their prime are just as
> nasty as any other spoiled or not fresh product.

Well, duh? The issue is how long does it take to reach
that point? Maybe I have defective taste buds and sense
of smell, but I don't notice any difference between a
newly purchased egg and a 3-month old egg except in the
ease of peeling one that has been hard boiled.

> This morning I
> cracked an egg and it flowed from the shell like water...the white was
> thin and clear, and the yolk broke immediately.

Did smell bad? If it didn't I would have gone ahead and
used it.

> I threw it out. And
> they were from a "NEW" dozen, too. A fresh egg has a cloudy white,
> and definite demarkation where the yolk sits up high on the whites.
> "Older" eggs are better for boiling. But I wouldn't go too far over
> the date. A few days, maybe.

Well, it's your egg.

Kate

wrote:
> >Shelf life? Never heard of it for eggs? Are you saying
> >they mark an "expiration date" on the carton or something?
> >I've never seen it if it's there. Never even thought about
> >it? To me it's a weird concept
>
> A weird concept....how? Doesn't your meat, chicken, cheese and all
> other fresh grocery items have "sell by" "use by" or "expiration"
> dates? Where do you live? Eggs that are past their prime are just as
> nasty as any other spoiled or not fresh product. This morning I
> cracked an egg and it flowed from the shell like water...the white was
> thin and clear, and the yolk broke immediately. I threw it out. And
> they were from a "NEW" dozen, too. A fresh egg has a cloudy white,
> and definite demarkation where the yolk sits up high on the whites.
> "Older" eggs are better for boiling. But I wouldn't go too far over
> the date. A few days, maybe.

If you trust your supermarket, you can keep eggs after purchase at
least 6-8 weeks in the fridge with no problems.

I don't know why you say the whites should be cloudy - if I crack a
super-fresh egg into a custard cup, the counter top can be seen clearly
through the whites (through the egg white, through the clear custard
cup). Throwing out eggs a "few days" after a "sell by" date is a HUGE
waste of money. And eggs.

N.

> don't know why you say the whites should be cloudy - if I crack a
>super-fresh egg into a custard cup, the counter top can be seen clearly
>through the whites

A fresh egg has a slightly clouded white. Crack it into something
black and you'll see it. An old egg white is like water, and runs
freely across the skillet. I won't eat an egg like that. Your
mileage may vary.

>Throwing out eggs a "few days" after a "sell by" date is a HUGE
>waste of money. And eggs.

I can afford the 99 cents a dozen for the kind of eggs I like.