Even before I challenged myself to store eggs without refrigeration I’ve been a huge fan of eggs as a part of my preparedness plan. In fact, eggs are nothing short of INCREDIBLE and quite possibly the most important single food storage item you can include in your preps… seriously.
Sure, we should store a wide array of food, from long term storage foods such as beans and rice to canned meats and vegetables, but if there’s ONE food that is a must, in my opinion, it’s the lowly egg.
NUTRITIONAL FACTS
Eggs are so VERY nutritious. Chicken eggs, in particular, provide a huge source of protein and are a complete source of essential amino acids, as well as several vitamins and minerals. Consider the following nutritional chart. I can’t think of any single food that is as nutritious as an egg, can you? If so, I would love to hear about it. I should mention that the above stats depend a lot on the size of the egg as well as the diet of the hen (or whatever bird laid the egg).
As I mentioned above, you’ll notice quite an assortment of vitamins, minerals, protein, and even fats that you must have to function properly and be healthy over the long term. In fact, eggs are one of the only foods that contain vitamin D naturally. Even more so, when I did an assessment of the recommended long term food storage foods (as recommended by the LDS church) there is nothing that could compare to these stats.
PRESERVATION
Unfortunately, eggs won’t store for years or decades. My own testing showed that they can easily store for a handful of months (I ran out of eggs to test) using mineral oil, while others have shown they can be stored for up to a year without refrigeration using the same method. You can choose to purchase and store powdered eggs that should store for quite a bit longer (let’s say a handful of years) but even that isn’t a long time and, sadly, powdered eggs are a tad expensive.
There are other ways to store eggs, including salt, pickling, lard, and sodium silicate (liquid glass). I’ve even heard you can do things like using clay and wood ash (along with other ingredients) to make them store even longer, but I’m not so sure about those ideas as I’ve never tried them.
So, what’s the “best” way to store eggs? Well, just like any fresh food… in this case still in the hen. I am ashamed to say that I’ve yet tried to raise my own chickens but the day of reckoning is coming, I just need to pull the trigger, so-to-speak and get some! Of course, chickens aren’t the only source of fresh eggs, ducks are also a common source of homesteading eggs.
As for how to tell if the egg is still good to eat, the easiest way is to float the egg in water and if it sinks then it’s still good… if it floats then it’s best to toss out the egg but in some cases may be used for baking.
DRAWBACKS
About the only major drawbacks to eggs are that (1) they only contain roughly 70 calories per egg–in a survival situation more calories are better–and (2) they’re quite high in cholesterol, though, I have heart that cholesterol from eggs isn’t that bad for you. Other than these concerns, eggs are all good.
CONCLUSION
Ultimately, eggs are very nutritious for you, providing a wide assortment of vitamins, minerals, and protein. They can store quite well as both powdered eggs and in the shell for a long time. Raising chickens or ducks is (I hear) not too difficult and even beneficial for a variety of reason beyond eggs.
If you don’t currently include eggs in your preparations then I strongly encourage you to do so. Work towards storing several months of eggs (properly preserved) and rotate using the FIFO method. Include some powdered eggs for longer term scenarios and even consider raising your own hens for an “indefinite” shelf life.
Hope that encourages you to store more eggs!
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