Kitchen helper: How to keep eggs fresher longer
With recent egg shortages affecting households nationwide, you might have found yourself rationing your eggs or storing the eggs you did have, a little longer. It’s useful in times like these to know how long eggs stay fresh, and how to keep them fresher, longer.
All eggs will have a use-by date on the carton, but if you put your eggs into the egg holders in your refrigerator, and you’ve put the carton into the recycling, you may not know how old the eggs in your refrigerator are.
You can use this tip to find out if your eggs are still fresh.
But getting on to shelf life – keeping your eggs in the refrigerator at 4°C or below approximately triples their shelf life.
So refrigerated eggs can be kept safely for 3 to 5 weeks.
At room temperature, they will keep fresh for 1-3 weeks.
And although most refrigerators have egg compartments with handy egg holders, you should actually store them in their original carton, and in the coolest part of the fridge towards the back. This will slow down bacterial growth and moisture loss, extending the shelf life of your eggs.
Additionally, because eggshells are porous, eggs can absorb odours from others foods in the refrigerator, so it’s best to keep them in their carton.
If you do have a surplus of eggs and might not use them before their use-by date, make a frittata like this one. They’re also great to use up those leftover veggies in the crisper.
Keeping your eggs in the refrigerator at 4°C or below approximately triples their shelf life.