How Long Do Eggs Really Last in the Fridge?

Storing eggs with the pointy end down helps keep the yolk centered and the air cell at the top, which improves freshness over time. Jurjanephoto/Shutterstock

Those of us who have left eggs in the fridge for longer than expected have all had the same question running through our heads:

Are these eggs still OK to eat?

If we throw them out, we wonder if we just wasted perfectly good eggs. But if we end up consuming a bad egg, it could lead to all sorts of problems.

So what can we do to solve this tricky question?

Preserving Store-Bought Eggs

The simplest way to determine how long your grocery store eggs will last is to look at their “best before” or “sell by” date.

“The ‘sell by’ or ‘expiration’ date can’t be more than 30 days past the packaging date,” Lisa Steele, a cookbook author and owner of Fresh Eggs Daily, told The Epoch Times. “The ‘best by’ or ‘use by’ date can’t be more than 45 days past the packaging date.”

However, an egg that has “expired” doesn’t always need to be thrown away. These dates are really only guidelines that indicate how long the eggs will taste best rather than how long they will be safe to eat.

Amie Alexander, a registered dietitian at Nutri Peak, explained the process: “What happens over time is the white becomes thinner, and the yolk becomes flat. That affects texture and quality. But eggs can still be safe to eat for several weeks beyond their ‘sell by’ date if they’ve been kept refrigerated constantly.”

Refrigeration is always necessary for store-bought eggs. Bryan Quoc Le, a food science consultant and author, told The Epoch Times that “eggs bought in the United States will have been washed, which removes the cuticle that protects the egg at the surface of the shell.”

How long will a refrigerated egg last past its expiration date? Steele said that properly refrigerated eggs can last several weeks past the “sell by” date. Keep them in their original carton with the pointed ends of the eggs facing down, and place them in a section of the refrigerator that stays below 40 degrees. They may not hold their structure well enough for frying or poaching, but they’ll still be safe to eat.

How Can You Tell When Eggs Go Bad?

If your eggs have been in the refrigerator a few weeks past the expiration date, it might be time to test their freshness. You don’t want to wait for the egg to smell rotten before you realize that it has gone bad. The easiest way to check is by shaking it.

“A very fresh egg won’t slosh around, while an older egg which has lots of air space inside will slosh and move around when you shake it,” Steele said.

A more accurate test is to put the egg in water. Steele shared that a very fresh egg will sink right to the bottom and lay on its side. If the egg sinks but kind of stands up in the water, then the egg is around a month old. If the egg floats, it should be thrown out.

“The reason this happens is because as an egg ages, air gets in through the tens of thousands of tiny pores in the shell. Moisture escapes the egg and air enters, making the egg buoyant,” explained Steele.

The older the egg, the higher it will float in water. FotoHelin/Shutterstock

Buying the Freshest Eggs

For the most clear-cut information on how fresh eggs are, check the egg carton for a three-digit number.

“What you really want to check though is the three-digit julian date on the carton, which will tell you the date the eggs were put in the carton. Then you can properly judge how old they are. (i.e., Jan. 1 is 001, Dec. 31 is 365),” said Steele.

Choose the carton with the highest number, which indicates the eggs were packaged on the date closest to the current date.

Can You Freeze Eggs?

If you want the eggs to last even longer, you can freeze them. However, an egg can’t be frozen whole because the liquid inside will expand, cracking the egg.

“To successfully freeze them, eggs have to be beaten or the whites and yolks frozen separately. This will keep them for a year, if done right and [stored] in an airtight container,” said Alexander.

However, freezing the eggs in that pure state will make them grainy when you defrost them. Steele advised that adding some salt will prevent that graininess. Defrosted eggs can be scrambled or used for baking, omelets, quiches, or frittatas.

“An egg is equivalent to three tablespoons, so measuring out the whisked egg into ice cube trays or silicone muffin tins and freezing individual portions makes it easy to use the frozen egg later,” she said.

What About Farm Eggs?

Steele handles fresh eggs from more than a dozen chickens, ducks, and geese on her farm. As a fifth-generation chickenkeeper, Steele says that an unwashed egg will last for at least three weeks out at room temperature. But they will last at least three months in the fridge.

And if you buy eggs from a local farmer, they are likely fresher and will last longer than store-bought eggs.

“This is because there’s an invisible coating or ‘bloom’ that the hen applies to the eggshell just before she lays the egg,” Steele said. This coating is what allows the egg to be stored at room temperature for weeks after being laid. But once the egg is washed, it must be refrigerated just like a commercially purchased egg.

Farm eggs are fresher and will keep longer than grocery store eggs. D. Summers/Shutterstock