Eggs

An egg is a sealed package of protein and fat that the hen built to last, and it keeps far longer than the carton date suggests if it stays cold and uncracked. Store eggs are washed, which removes the natural coating called the bloom, so they belong in the fridge. Eggs from a backyard flock, unwashed, keep on the counter for weeks the way they do in most of the world. For the deep pantry the answer is powdered eggs, and for the cellar it's water glassing.

For the fridge, whatever is cheapest; the carton date is a quality date and eggs are good for weeks past it. For the pantry, whole powdered eggs in a sealed can, which keep 5 to 10 years and make scrambled eggs, baking and batter from a spoonful and water. If you keep hens, unwashed eggs are the ones to store; wash only right before use.

Refrigerated eggs stay in the carton, pointed end down, on a shelf rather than the door. Do not wash a fresh egg until you use it; the bloom is what keeps bacteria out. To freeze eggs, crack them, beat whites and yolks together with a pinch of salt or sugar, and freeze in ice cube trays (one cube is about half an egg); never freeze them in the shell. Water glassing, the old method for a flock's surplus: clean unwashed eggs in a crock, covered with a solution of one ounce of pickling lime (calcium hydroxide) to one quart of water, in a cool cellar. Powdered eggs stay sealed in the can until needed.

The float test tells age, not safety: a fresh egg sinks and lies flat, an older one stands on end, and a very old one floats as the air cell grows. A floater can still be fine, so crack it into a cup and smell it; a sulfur smell means it goes. A cracked or leaking shell is a discard. A watery, flat white and a yolk that breaks easily mean an old egg that is still safe to cook through.

One egg is about 70 calories and 6 grams of complete protein. A dozen a week per person is a sensible fridge stock to rotate. Powdered eggs: about one tablespoon of powder and two of water per egg for baking; let it sit a few minutes before cooking. Water-glassed eggs come out of the crock, get rinsed, and cook like fresh ones with a flatter white; they are for cooking through, not for eating raw or soft.

Eggs are the last fridge item to worry about. Four hours after the power goes they are still cold, and the field guide puts raw eggs in the shell among the foods that tolerate a cool room for a day or two. Past that, cook them through. Hard-cooked eggs follow the two-hour rule like any cooked food.

Shelf-life figures are from the Survival Foods field guide; fridge, freezer and pantry times are from the USDA cold and pantry storage charts. Run the look, smell, taste check before eating anything past its date.