Preserving Eggs
Whether you keep chickens or just tend to buy eggs in bulk; you worry about using them while they are fresh. If you keep chickens for eggs like we do, you may find your self with too many eggs. On occasion, I have struggled to keep up with my little ladies; my family and grandparents can only eat so many eggs and quiches. Over the years I have had to get creative to use up some of our eggs. I wanted to share some of these ideas with y’all. Cooking, baking, to drying; there are many ways to use up those eggs! (and one I wish I could do….but I cannot.)
Here are some ideas for using up your backyard eggs!
1. Make a frittata
A frittata is similar to a crustless quiche. Some compare it to an omelet, but I don't quite see a frittata as an omelet. I make several different types of frittatas including; broccoli, ham, and cheese, spinach and goat cheese, as well as a sausage, bacon, and cheese. Basically, if you put it in an omelet you can put it in a frittata…so maybe it is like an omelet after all.
2. Meal prep
If you are into meal prepping you can make and freeze egg muffins. Just bake eggs in a muffin pan to use as a quick breakfast. You can even add some of your favorite toppings to make a fast on the go omelet. Just pull either from the freezer, reheat, and go about your day.
3. Pickle some eggs
My husband goes batty over some pickled eggs. We have them sitting on the counter waiting to be eaten.
4. Boil some eggs
Boiled eggs last a while and offer a great low carb snack! I keep them in the fridge to make small batch deviled eggs, egg salad wraps, or add them to a salad.
5. Dehydrate your eggs
Dehydrating your eggs can give you an amazingly long shelf life. Stored properly dehydrated eggs can last up to 10 years! Dehydrating your eggs is a fairly simple process; simply scramble your eggs (Do not add any fats i.e. butter or oil), and spread in your dehydrator until there is no more moisture left in your eggs. Once dehydrated you pulse them in the food processor to make a powder and vacuum seal for long term storage.
6. Freeze your eggs
This is possibly one of the easiest ways to preserve your eggs. You can freeze them raw or cooked. You can cook them in muffin pans plain or as a mini omelet and freeze them in a ziplock or in an air tight container; whichever is your preference. You can also freeze them scrambled. I do not recommend freezing them boiled or fried, frozen boiled eggs turn out rubbery and just odd. I have never frozen a fried egg, but I imagine it would turn out similarly to a boiled egg.
7. Waterglass some eggs
Water glassing is possibly a misnomer; back in the day the process was more risky and involved than what we call water glassing now a days. In todays world “water glassing” is just a food grade lime and water solution that preserves the egg as a whole uncooked egg. This is the ONLY way to preserve an as egg as is. Meaning you do not have to cook it prior to preserving and you save the egg in it’s 3 parts as if you freshly collected them from the yard. Well, truthfully there are some differences in a fresh egg and a water glassed egg. Read my post about water glassing and follow me as I learn and test this process.
8. Sell or give extras to family
My family often asks for my chicken diamonds. When I have too many I give them a dozen or the neighbors. Although my neighbor recently got chickens so I'll have to find other takers. You can sell them as well. I do not recommend selling eggs for eating, but it is your prerogative. The federal government is investigating backyard chickens due to a salmonella outbreak they think started in someone's backyard. While I find this suspect at best I am not inviting any investigations into my home or into yours. So if you have a rooster, sell fertilized eggs for incubating.
9. Cook some up for your fur/feather babies
Our pups love getting a fried or scrambled eggs on their dog food as a treat. Honestly, they loved boiled eggs too, my point is you're not alone eating those eggs! You can also cook them up and feed them back to your chickens. I know it might sound strange, but you can feed your chicken eggs. My chickens eat their raw eggs all the time. There's nothing more annoying to me than to go into the coop and find they broke open half my eggs! So do not be afraid if your chickens cannibalize your eggs; they will typically be fine. If your chickens have salmonella they can spread it this way, but backyard chickens do not typically have salmonella despite what big brother will tell you. Commercial hens can sometimes spread salmonella, but they catch it from the cramped quarters. As long as your coop and hens are well ventilated and you tidy their space this should not be an issue for you and your family.
Bonus Topic: What to do with all those egg shells!
When you preserve eggs in bulk you may notice a TON of shells LOL! Obvious right? Well, I hated the thought of not finding something useful to do with them, mainly when I preserve them in bulk. When I am only dealing with a few it just seems par for the course, but when I am working with 6+ eggs I start to panic about being wasteful. So, below are some ways you can use egg shells.
1. Add them to your fur/feather friends food for an extra boost of calcium.
I usually save them up and bake them to sanitize them. Low and slow, 250 for 20 - 25 minutes. Once cooled I use a hand held coffee grinder to powder them, but you can use a food processor or a little elbow grease if you do not have either of those.
2. Make them into decorations
This is a time consuming process for your eggs, but we had some quail eggs and they were just such an adorable shade of blue l I couldn't resist! If you poke a hole in one end of the egg you slowly and I mean SLOWLY coax out the innards. Quail eggs are so small I had to poke a hole on either end and force the egg out with air pressure. This will only be worth the process for a specific project or for your colorful eggs.
3. Compost them
I have not personally started a composting bin, I live too close to too many people and I am not sure how smelly it gets, but eggshells are compostable.
4. Use them as seed starting pots
If you are careful with your egg breaking you can use your egg shells as seed starting pots. Just add soil and seeds; when ready to plant just gently break the shell before putting in the ground.
Speaking of gardens; You can also add them to your tomato plants for extra calcium. Or crush them and sprinkle them around your entire garden as a pest deterrent. It works particularly well on slugs, snails, and cutworms.
5. Add them to your bone broth
Eggs shells are full of calcium and collagen, add them to your bone broth for a boost of vitamins. Collagen is also what helps with gelling if you are trying to get your bone broth to gel.
6. Use as an abrasive to clean pots and pans
Crush your egg shells and use them to clean dirty pots and pans. It helps me get stuck on messes off my cast iron in particular. Be careful using eggshells on your Teflon pans.
7. Grind it into a powder and use for calcium boost in food or in your coffee
As odd as it may seem you can add calcium and collagen to your food or coffee by adding some egg shell powder. Some people use the egg shell to take the bitterness out of coffee. I tried it and……I vote no.
8. Toss them into your disposal for an easy sharpening hack
Shove some in your disposal for a deep cleaning. Egg shells are also abrasive enough they can help sharpen your disposal blades.
Please feel free to share ways you preserve eggs or some ways you use the shells! I look forward to hearing from y’all!
