The best by date is in 2 days. I know about the water test for egg freshness so I’m not super concerned, but please give me ideas for using them up within a week or so 🥺 I’ve boiled a few and am planning to make some cookie dough, but that only counts for half a dozen.

  • BearOfaTime
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    6 months ago

    Best buy dates are meaningless hype to get you to use more.

    I keep eggs for months. Average time in my fridge, 1-3 months. Eggs can always be scrambled, then frozen. Texture changes, but can be used in less sensitive dishes - I wouldn’t make a cake with them.

    That said - Dutch Baby. Chef John’s version on Food Wishes works perfectly. It’s like breakfast dessert, though nutritionally much better because of the eggs.

    Re: Best buy dates. For decades I’ve done “informal testing” (forgot about stuff) and have learned most things last far beyond their sell by/best buy date. (I put dates on everything I buy - restaurant inventory management lesson).

    I currently have numerous intentional tests going - dozens of cans of different dates, chips, crackers, cookies, boxed meals (cake mixes, hamburger helper, pasta, Mac n cheese, etc.). Pasta lasts forever. As does pasta sauce in a jar or can.

    Chips: will last upward of 2 years past sell by date. Oils go rancid eventually from oxygen exposure (I suspect a bag develops a leak).

    Cookies:similar

    Crackers: these seem to oxidize faster than chips (the oils go rancid, safe to eat just taste bad). I suspect it’s because crackers aren’t sealed as well as chips.

    Peanut Butter: 4 years, no problem.

    Canned drinks: 3 years average. Cans are very thin, develop pinhole leaks (especially acidic drinks - cola).

    Bottled drinks: indefinitely. Anything in jars will generally last as long as canned goods (technically they’re canned too).

    Canned goods are indefinite, except acidic things like tomatoes. Over time the acid will degrade the lining, then the can. Though I’ve gone past two years with tomatoes, and no problems yet.

    Of course, all this is stored in a cool, dry, dark location (no sunlight, lights are OK, just keep them off). Anything under 75f is OK, the cooler the better.

      • BearOfaTime
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        6 months ago

        There are canned goods over 100 years old (salvaged from shipwrecks) that get tested occasionally. Still safe to eat (even if maybe you wouldn’t want to).