Carrying Fresh Eggs

[S. Heisley]

We like to cook fresh eggs for breakfast; and, if we are going to be out for a while, that could mean carrying quite a few eggs.
Most the time, the eggs are used for scrambled eggs or pancakes, etc, which means they don't have to be whole. I take as many as I need plus a few more and break them into a bottle or jar and transport them that way. The jar stands up in the cooler and there's no worry about broken, spilled eggs. To scramble, you just shake the jar and then pour out what you need. No need for a bowl and fork to scramble them. A quarter cup is about the equivalent of one large egg. If we think we'll need some whole eggs, for variety or whatever, we can still take the camp egg carrier that you see below, on the right. That 64 oz Ocean Spray bottle has two dozen eggs that were funneled into it and could still hold another dozen. The 1/4 cup measure that we have happens to fit right over the cap.

[QueticoBill]

I take fresh eggs camping - in backpack or portage pack. I think I had one crack in many dozen over many years.

No doubt there will be some disagreements but fresh eggs - never washed or chilled - are easier since they definitely don't need refrigeration, but I do carry grocery store eggs for a week or two and don't worry. Mediums seem tougher and thicker shelled than large. I've had it with the plastic carriers - one trip and several cracked - want one anyone? The cardboard/paperboard cartons are better than foam. Last, I wrap a double layer of bubble wrap - small bubble - around (and secure with a bungey dealy bob - but a rubber band will work.) Very successful. I know another couple who swear by taping it to the underside of a their canoe seat - so I imagine you could do similar in a trailer.

Nothing quite like fried eggs and bacon around a campfire with some good cowboy coffee.

[tony.latham]

One little tip on using eggs for baking: Use a can of 7-Up instead of the eggs. Just pour enough into your mix to give your batter the right consistency. Works great.

Tony

[working on it]

We like to cook fresh eggs for breakfast

Nothing quite like fried eggs and bacon around a campfire with some good cowboy coffee.

• As Anthony Bourdain once said on his second TV series, No Reservations, "I am an egg slut". I am one, too. I'll eat eggs and bacon anytime, or either, with anything. Trouble with eggs is to keep them fresh; I've had problems keeping usually refrigerated perishable foods cold enough, over a long weekend camping, so I first resorted to liquid "Egg Beaters", which I would partially freeze (which would aid longevity later on), but would become just on the verge of getting too warm, on the third day forward. That might work better now that I'll be using my home-built/modified "supercooler", but maybe not. I've been considering using dehydrated eggs, such as

• 

  dried scrambled eggs; no refrigeration needed.PNG (236.25 KiB) Viewed 6879 times

  if its eggs, I'll use it in any form...lots of it to use, too
• I've never tasted powdered eggs, but, as my wife can attest, when it comes to eggs, I'll just take them any way I can get them. This can should last me a week or two, in between campouts!

[S. Heisley]

.... The cardboard/paperboard cartons are better than foam. Last, I wrap a double layer of bubble wrap - small bubble - around (and secure with a bungey dealy bob - but a rubber band will work.) Very successful. I know another couple who swear by taping it to the underside of a their canoe seat - so I imagine you could do similar in a trailer.

Nothing quite like fried eggs and bacon around a campfire with some good cowboy coffee.

The bubble wrap idea is a good one!

[kokomoto]

We like to cook fresh eggs for breakfast

Nothing quite like fried eggs and bacon around a campfire with some good cowboy coffee.

• As Anthony Bourdain once said on his second TV series, No Reservations, "I am an egg slut". I am one, too. I'll eat eggs and bacon anytime, or either, with anything. Trouble with eggs is to keep them fresh; I've had problems keeping usually refrigerated perishable foods cold enough, over a long weekend camping, so I first resorted to liquid "Egg Beaters", which I would partially freeze (which would aid longevity later on), but would become just on the verge of getting too warm, on the third day forward. That might work better now that I'll be using my home-built/modified "supercooler", but maybe not. I've been considering using dehydrated eggs, such as
• dried scrambled eggs; no refrigeration needed.PNG
  if its eggs, I'll use it in any form...lots of it to use, too
• I've never tasted powdered eggs, but, as my wife can attest, when it comes to eggs, I'll just take them any way I can get them. This can should last me a week or two, in between campouts!

Ahhhh, powdered eggs. Those bring back memories of my days at sea in the Navy. I swore I would never eat them again, but maybe they've gotten better over the years. If not, I could always cover them with a some Crystal Louisiana hot sauce

I do like the eggs in a jug. But the fresh, unrefridgerated eggs sound the most tasty.

[kokomoto]

One little tip on using eggs for baking: Use a can of 7-Up instead of the eggs. Just pour enough into your mix to give your batter the right consistency. Works great.

Tony

Whooda thunk? 7-Up makes good eggs, but eggs don't make good 7-Up.

[AzAv8r]

Many years ago, at the "Visiting Nurses Association Book Sale" (an annual event where used books are sold for fund-raising) I bought a book on cruising (as in long-term sailing). I remember reading fresh eggs would last several weeks unrefrigerated - just invert them fairly often. I don't recall the definition of "often", but it was probably every few days.

But we still refrigerate our eggs when camping. We have several sizes of plastic egg carriers. The paper ones probably provide better cushioning, but they absorb water...

[capnTelescope]

I traveled a lot of rough roads in northern Canada and Alaska this summer. Bought 'em by the half-dozen whenever possible (impossible in Alaska, where eggs come from Washington state). Kept the carton in a gallon plastic zipper bag for obvious reasons. You will need to cut down the dozens to fit in the bag. There was less breakage from the half-dozen cartons than the whole dozens.

[S. Heisley]

Another thing that I like about carrying eggs in a bottle or jar is that you can use less egg yolks. I am now adding one egg white for every whole egg in my bottle, to help fight excess cholesterol. ...Don't even notice the difference.

[NorthEGPhoto]

I have heard that brushing grocery store washed eggs with vegitable oil will keep them fresh for a couple weeks in room temperature.

[working on it]

• I'm glad that this thread came around again; I forgot about it in the year gone past since I posted my opinion on "fresh eggs when camping", http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=69075&p=1234149#p1212260. I'm just now trying to get my plans for next fall's trips together, ordering from Amazon, of course, and I saw this thread again. I'm ordering some fishing gear, since I can no longer hike, bike, or much else at camp. I thought I might try fishing...my gear disappeared in the 80's, so I bought a rod & reel at Walmart, just as starters, yesterday: a $22 Berkley catfish rod, and my first-ever Zebco reel, a $25 "Max 33" (my last set-up(s) were my well-worn Lew's SpeedStick and Abu-matic 160, and a Browning baitcast rod with a Ambassadeur conventional reel from the '50s). Just to get my feet wet, again, to see if it takes, at least more-so than biking. A coupla years back, I bought a cheap "mountain bike" to see if I could bike a bit, while camping, but my knees said "no" after a few miles.
• But, back to EGGS....I'm ordering the Augason Farms scrambled egg mix, which I failed to do last year, and their shredded potatoes, too. That should reduce my need for refrigeration, for my camping foods even more, so all I'll have to refrigerate should be the various sausages I always take with me, mostly used for the potluck dinners (my daily staple is Spam, always present when I camp). I could eat nothing but Spam, potatoes, & eggs for every meal, and like it! And, as an extra incentive, the egg mix is 30% less this year. Yum-yum!

[Socal Tom]

Many years ago, at the "Visiting Nurses Association Book Sale" (an annual event where used books are sold for fund-raising) I bought a book on cruising (as in long-term sailing). I remember reading fresh eggs would last several weeks unrefrigerated - just invert them fairly often. I don't recall the definition of "often", but it was probably every few days.

But we still refrigerate our eggs when camping. We have several sizes of plastic egg carriers. The paper ones probably provide better cushioning, but they absorb water...

Europe and the US handle eggs differently. When fresh, the contain a membrane that the US washes off. With the membrane removed, the eggs need to be refrigerated, with the membrane intact, they can be at room temp.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/20 ... rld-doesnt

crazy world

[QueticoBill]

But you can get unwashed eggs at some farm stands which are ideal for camping without refrigeration.

[Bill n Robi]

Now there is an app I would buy - locations of fresh veggie stands with farm fresh eggs....

I use the 'egg beater' option a lot.

Freeze them, adds to lower electric consumption on the refrig. Only issue with them is baking, since they are pasteurized they don't raise up. Making a cake or my breakfast quiche I have used some sparkling water but fresh eggs are the best. My breakfast mashed potato pancakes are good with eggbeaters but for scrambled eggs nothing is as good as a real egg.
I also add a splash of egg beaters to my scrambled along with a couple tablespoons bell pepper puree.

Also one more for the 'I hate that yellow egg holder' - I think it was made for small eggs, not that I buy the large ones but really tired of broken eggs. It does good for hard boiled eggs but really only need a few for salads and tuna fish.