How long will eggs last in the fridge?

I’ve had some eggs in the fridge for quite awhile. Do eggs go bad if kept in the fridge? If so how can I tell? When I crack them open will they look or smell bad?

For the avoidance of doubt, I am talking about whole, uncracked, chicken eggs still in the carton, not cooked eggs.

Thanks!

Define “quite a while.” Weeks? Months?

If they have gone really bad, you will know it instantly when you crack one. The smell would be vile.

One simple test to see how fresh they are is to put them in a pan of water, deep enough to cover. Fresh eggs will lie on their sides on the bottom. Less fresh ones will tilt. Discard floaters.

Can I pair my question with yours? How long will eggs last not in the fridge, but just in a cool room? I got them to make Ukrainian eggs with–they aren’t going to be eaten. My main concern is that after they’re dyed and I go to blow them out, I don’t want it to be gross and stinky… So how long til they get gross and stinky if they’re kept at between 50-70 degrees?

Thanks… I think probably a couple months. Honestly I don’t know :slight_smile:

So I cracked them into a bowl and whipped it up. I’d say there’s a slight off smell to them, something like the smell of the inside of a raw chicken carcass. Not so strong that they’re clearly bad, but when I lean my face down into the bowl and take a whiff, it does have a smell like chicken carcass, which is not something I ever noticed in raw eggs before.

I’ve used eggs that were at least 6 weeks old without them being bad. When you open a bad one, there’s no question about it: they smell sulfurous, and can turn a greenish-black.

– A bachelor

Wish I would’ve known about the float test. I just threw away a dozen eggs that had been in the fridge for about 6 weeks.

Here’s a hint if you like hard-boiled eggs. Don’t use very fresh eggs - they are much harder to peel.

The general rule my parents, I, and most people I know have followed it “when in doubt, throw 'em out.” If it’s unusual I think you’d rather pay the money for a dozen eggs to the sickness you get from food poisoning.

How long do boiled eggs keep in the fridge?
I have to confess that I love eating boiled eggs, or eggs just about any other way, too (I’m THAT guy at the party that made everyone wonder where the deviled eggs went).
I believe I read somewhere that they shouldn’t be kept for more than a few weeks, but I have so many leftover from our Easter-dyeing orgy.

Around here the standard wisdom is that eggs keep for several months unrefridgerated in 90-100 degree weather. I’ve only ever gotten one bad egg, so maybe they are on to something.

My friend’s parents raised chickens for eggs until a few years ago. The first time I visited, I was surprised to see eggs sitting in a glass bowl on the kitchen counter, not in the fridge like I was used to. My friend told me that eggs stay fresh for at least three or four weeks in room temperature, and around at least five or six weeks if refrigerated.

Just because an egg floats doesn’t mean it’s bad. Stick to the smell test.

Hasn’t this come up several times in the past related to the fact that keeping eggs in the fridge is an American habit. Storing eggs in the fridge in Europe is usually down to each person but I normally see them stored out of the fridge like in a supermarket.

USDA says:

“4. How long will eggs keep in the refrigerator?
Use raw shell eggs within 3 to 5 weeks. Hard-cooked eggs will keep 1 week. Use leftover yolks and whites within 4 days.”

When I have questionably old eggs (we’re talking three months or more here - and I’ve only found 2 bad eggs in 20 years, one sulfured and one simply dried up), I use a two-bowl cracking method. Crack each egg into a small bowl, give it a sniff and then, if it’s okay, dump it into your food prep bowl. Repeat with the next egg. This way, if only one of your eggs is off, you won’t contaminate your whole batch of brownies. Just pitch the bad egg (put it in a snack or sandwich sized ziplock so it doesn’t stink up your trash) and wash the small stinkified dish before proceeding.

Same thing when separating eggs for a meringue or foam - use a small cup to separate one egg, then dump that white into a larger bowl. That way if you get a smear of yolk in it, you’ve only lost one eggwhite, not a whole bowl of them.

One thing I have been meaning to try is to freeze eggs, so they last up to 9 months. You can’t freeze em in their shells, because it would bust out. Best way is to mix it with salt and pour into an ice cube tray. 1 cube is about equal to 1 egg.

(on edit: another benefit is I can buy Jumbo eggs and still bake with an integer amount of “Large” eggs)

Anecdote is not data, but …

I’ve only really been food-poisined once in my life & it was from bad eggs. I didn’t notice an off smell, but I also wasn’t looking for any; I just pulled 'em out & fried 'em up. NOT an experieince I ever want to repeat. They’d been in the fridge about two months. My personal rule now is three weeks max.

It’s probably best to start by determining what “quite awhile” means, so find the pack date on your carton. It’s a three digit number, and in this particular case will likely be somewhere between “001” and “070”. That’s the day of the year on which they were packed, and while there are many variables that affect their quality over time, the USDA recommends between 3 and 5 weeks beyond the pack date, when stored in the refrigerator. If you want to convert the pack date to an actual date, this works like a charm.

ISTR a PBS or similar show about a long distance sailing trip and a comment by the galley person that eggs stayed fresh(er) by inverting them every few days-something to the effect that yolk in long contact with one side of the shell produced faster spoilage. Any truth to that?

Sez Wikipedia:

Health experts advise people to refrigerate eggs, use them within two weeks, cook them thoroughly, and never consume raw eggs

I used to date a nurse…she said you can keep eggs for six months. Hmm.

Also, Alton Brown was cooking eggs the other night. He said it’s important to leave the eggs out prior because that way there’s less of a temperature change when you cook them. IIRC correctly he was talking about omelettes specifically at the time.

I checked that out just for fun, and put in “042” (of course) just to see how it worked. Turns out that 042 is my birthday. Does that mean that I am the answer to life, the universe, and everything?