The Budget Preppers

Before you click away, hear me out.

Preserving Eggs

In 2020 I got my first batch of chickens! I am no stranger to chickens, as I grew up in Ohio on a small hobby farm. We had racing pigeons, chickens, a horse, 2 cows, and we took ducks to the fair every year. This was however, my first round of chickens since I became an adult. I found them on the nextdoor app which is a local group app that connects you with your neighbors. There was a couple who was moving and needed to rehome their flock. I walked away with 5 layers with no idea their breed or ages. All I knew is I was missing the taste of fresh home grown eggs. 2020 was certainly the year for hunkering down as we all were confound to our homes. Once my chickens settled they began laying and I was happy, for awhile that is.

Fast forward 2 years. My ladies had stopped laying consistently and I was sadden I wasn’t getting any eggs. I was able to find a neighbor selling two pullets that were just beginning to lay. They have kept my egg production going. Summer of 2022 I purchased 5 chicks that are Lavender Orpington’s. It is currently February of 2023 and they have not began laying but man I hope they do soon!

Waterglassed Method

So where am I going with this? You must have farm fresh UNWASHED eggs for this to work. The store bought just won’t do! The reason being is, the store bought eggs have been washed and therefore no longer have their “bloom”. The bloom is needed for the water-glassing method to work.

I’ve done this method in glass jars and in 3 gallon buckets. The best way is to use wide mouth mason jars. The next item you will need is pickling lime. I purchase mine on Amazon and get the 3 bags at a time to last all season. For 4 cups of water you need 1/4 cup of lime. Easy peasy, lemon squeezie. That’s it! Enjoy your farm fresh eggs in the dead of winter simply by pulling one out and washing it. Cook just like you would a regular egg.

Freeze Drying

Freeze drying is my new favorite way to preserve EVERYTHING. If stored correctly freeze dried foods can last 25-30 years and retain all of their nutritional value. That’s a win win in my book! I have a Harvest Right freeze dryer. I’ve been able to preserve so many deals that I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of before.

To store my raw freeze dried eggs I’m reusing old hot dog plastic containers that I got from the local parks and recreation concession stand. They are perfect to store my freeze dried items in and stack really well! I also don’t have to use up all my canning jars or mylar bags if I know this stuff will be eaten in the next 5 years.

I’ve also made a video of me reconstituting these eggs using hot boiling water. You can see they came out nice and fluffy and are ready to cook in a pan for a min or two.

In Closing

Can you eat 8 month old eggs without getting sick?

ABSOLUTLY!

In fact you can eat 25 year old eggs.

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