Having eggs the first morning in the BWCA is quite a treat. Here is the dilemma. Grocery stores stock LARGE, X-LARGE, and XX-LARGER eggs. I have 2 of those plastic egg holders contraptions, but these bigger eggs won't fit. Last time I could only fill half the slots when I put the eggs in a grid pattern.
I suppose I could go to a farmers market and get smaller eggs, but that would be an annoying special trip.
Anyone have a "do it yourself" LARGE egg holder contraption idea? Or do they make something that would work better?
Thanks!

Buy the eggs in the carboard cartons. If they don't come that way, see if someone can save you a couple (people from work, etc). Be sure that you inspect all the eggs so you know none are cracked. You're right, medium size are best. If you can't get them, get the smallest size you can. Close up the carton, then wrap a piece of coragated cardboard around it and duct tape it so it doesn't come undone.

I have never had breakage packing them like that. Then use the cardboard and egg carton as "fire starter" when you're done with them.

Most grocery stores I go to have medium eggs and they work fine in the plastic containers.

Duct tape and cardboard. I love it. What can't duct tape solve? I was nervous about that, but if it works for you I'll give it a shot. I really like the fire starter idea. I'm glad I asked this question even though it is a little silly.

Where did you find medium eggs? I'm in the Twin Cities and surrounded by big chains, and they don't have it. Cub, Lunds, Kowalskis, Rainbow, Target, Walmart, and even gas stations don’t have anything smaller than large. I still want to avoid the special trip...

What I have done is use a paintball tube (holds paintball ammo). I put some packing peanuts in with the eggs and have no problem carrying the extra large eggs.

The nice thing about the tubes are they are round hard plastic and can be slipped down in the pack between items where there are gaps pretty easily without the worry of will they break.

I use these tubes for breakfast bars, trail mix and granola bars (I hate having these mushed as well)

They are cheap and easy to find.

corsair: brilliant idea for egg/food storage! it's new to me!

you use 140 ammo pods, i presume. right? those were the most plentiful online. but i can't see any dimensions on them, and i've never seen them with my own eyes. can you tell us how many eggs you can get in each pod?

go to home depot and buy some 2 inch Styrofoam insulation and make your own box by carving our the egg shape and putting 2 halves together. Or hardboil some eggs and use some spray foam to fill a shoe box 1/2 up stick the eggs in and spray the some more over the top when it hardens take a very sharp knife and cut the foam in half, remove eggs and you have a egg box. Wrap in duct tape to make it last. Only bad thing is you waste the eggs,maybe.

quote dalet: "go to home depot and buy some 2 inch Styrofoam insulation and make your own box by carving our the egg shape and putting 2 halves together. Or hardboil some eggs and use some spray foam to fill a shoe box 1/2 up stick the eggs in and spray the some more over the top when it hardens take a very sharp knife and cut the foam in half, remove eggs and you have a egg box. Wrap in duct tape to make it last. Only bad thing is you waste the eggs,maybe."

Cool idea. That's some real outside the box thinking...oops, maybe not.

Not trying to be annoying here, but I've used those plastic egg holders sold for camping many times (for car camping, not in the BWCA) with large eggs and never had any problems getting them to fit. If you like those holders maybe you could try another dozen eggs?

I'd go to the farmer's market and get farm fresh eggs. Nothing beeter than REAL eggs.

Medium eggs - Zups and other local grocery stores up north seem to have them - or from a farm store or farmer's market but you may have to ask for the mediums - in cardboard carton. I just wrap a double layer of bubble wrap - saved during year from packages - and a couple of rubber bands (one is fine, I just include the back up.) Two dozen on top of food pack, never a problem, eating fresh eggs well into second week.

I tried the plastic holders - what a waste and mess.

So, how long can eggs go w/o refrigeration. I have heard that if you cover them with Vaseline, they will last much longer (it fills the pores).

When using those plastic egg holders, I've always had broken eggs no matter how I insulated them. Too messy to deal with - not worth it. Unless the weather is extremely hot, I don't think you need to worry about refrigeration. If the weather is hot, I would try to use them within a day - or keep them cool by placing a frozen water bottle or two in a soft sided cooler. That will keep everything cool for about 3 days.

quote Scout64: "So, how long can eggs go w/o refrigeration. I have heard that if you cover them with Vaseline, they will last much longer (it fills the pores)."

If fresh, I believe weeks at room temperature. Not about taste but I believe eggs have been edible kept unrefrigerated for years. Check this - but I'm more sure now that a month in a pack is fine. Egg storage without refrigeration

I usually buy a dozen or two medium eggs from the grocery the night before our trips. The eggs are in the cardboard carton and I put that that inside a plastic beard container. I've eaten them almost two weeks later without any ill effects.

I use the cardboard carton.
I wrap the egg catons in bubble wrap.
Tape the bubble wrap with duct tape.
Put eggs on top of pack, and make sure who ever carries
them is cognisant (all the time) that they have the eggs.
I have done this twice and it works peachy. Took two dozen eggs for six guys, and only broke 1.
I figure right out of fridge they will last at least a week.
SunCatcher

I just go with the egg beaters (or similar). We freeze them, put them in an insulated bag with the steaks and use on the second or third morning.

ive done the same thing bannock does. never a broken egg.

I've researched this a bit and here's the crux of it...in Europe eggs are on the shelf not in the refrigerator. Chickens don't have refrigerators and the eggs don't go bad...so what gives?

Turns out that in the US we force the egg producers to scour the shells before they go to market (not so in Europe). This process removes the protective waxy coating that keeps eggs fresh naturally. In order to keep US eggs unrefrigerated you have to "re-apply" this coating, hence the vasoline trick. Eggs treated this way should last weeks.

PLEASE NOTE: this is the "unofficial" position. If you ask the USDA they will tell you that the only way to store eggs is to refrigerate them...use at your own risk I guess. We have used eggs 3 days into a trip & I really wouldn't have trouble going longer. I've always used those plastic containers and typically loose 1 or 2 eggs to cracking = we do not eat any egg that has cracked during transport.

If you're in the twin cities Cub has med. eggs(I work there). If not farm fresh unrefrigerated eggs last for several days 4+ according to a friend who raises chickens.

Oh the egg topic again.
Ok here is my take.
We use the plastic egg boxes line them with paper towel one sheet top and bottom. This helps greatly to prevent breakage since it keeps them from moving. Now for how long they will keep. I have posted on this before. I raise chickens; eggs will keep for two week or more with no refrigeration. We take eggs every trip. We buy them in Ely. We look at the dates on the carton and pick the ones with that are farthest away from the use date. We have eaten eggs on the 7th day of a trip. We crack them in a separate bowl in case one is bad then put them in the mix. We have never had a bad one.

One more vote for freezing them. I make a 50-50 mix with real eggs and egg beaters and freeze them in a 32 oz Nalgene bottle. No one in the group has told me that they can tell a difference. Granted, I used them to make a skillet breakfast so I don't have to worry about someone wanting their eggs sunny-side-up. Never have to worry about broken eggs in the pack and it gives us some flexibility to when we eat them.

One more strategy... I line plastic tupperware container with paper towels and place eggs in there (kind of over/under egg style). Use container for trash or other kitchenware when empty. Never any breakage, but if it happened the mess would be contained.

Like the frozen in Nalgene idea, but how would you unfreeze a PORTION of them and have them multiple days?

Here is my egg holder. Just got done with making several batches today. Egg Store Powdered Eggs and a scoop of Nido powdered milk, a shake of salt and pepper and then the true secret ingredient Garlic Garlic from Tastefully Simple.



If I was going to try something else I think it would be using frozen egg beaters....... they are what I'm supposed to eat anyway.

A dozen live chickens, just make sure to tie them to stakes so they don't run away.

BWPaddler,

I'm usually cooking for a group of 6-8 guys, so we actually end up using two full Nalgenes and I don't have to worry about breaking out portions. You could freeze each serving of eggs in a snack bag or something like that and then keep them in the Nalgene or cooler or whatever. I should also state that we usually trip in May so keeping food frozen isn't really a problem.

Ya know, the old timers used to store them in bags of flour or corn meal. It was great packing material.

If by some chance an egg broke, it would be scooped out with the flour/meal and used in the next batch of whatever they were making.

quote Bannock: "Ya know, the old timers used to store them in bags of flour or corn meal. It was great packing material.


If by some chance an egg broke, it would be scooped out with the flour/meal and used in the next batch of whatever they were making."

Interesting and not a huge surprise but I thought it was interesting that the mother earth news review of ways to store eggs found that in sand and sawdust, wet or dry, they did less well than in open air. I'm sure for a week or two it doesn't matter, especially if fresh and not washed as "old timers" probably had, but I think I'll stick to cardboard cartons and bubble wrap and not worry about freshness for at least 3 to 4 weeks.

We always Crack the eggs before hand and store them in an empty and clean 2 liter bottle. Just poor them out when ready. We keep them in a cool place away from the sunlite.

quote fishfry: "A dozen live chickens, just make sure to tie them to stakes so they don't run away."

Which stakes? Steel, aluminum or titanium?

quote DayDreamin: "We always Crack the eggs before hand and store them in an empty and clean 2 liter bottle. Just poor them out when ready. We keep them in a cool place away from the sunlite.
"

Yup. That's what we do. Just are careful to limit time out of the coldpack.

We have taken fresh eggs on our trips for years. We buy eggs at the Holiday Store in either Grand Marais or Ely, or at the grocery store. I get mediums if I can, but larges if not. Always in the cardboard cartons, though. Making sure that none have broken shells.

We get two brown paper grocery bags and wrap one or two dozen eggs in the bags, double bags. Then we duct-tape the package under the stern seat of the canoe, where it rides while we are canoeing/portaging. When we arrive at camp we take it out and place it in a shady spot, the coolest spot we can find, and then when we tie up our packs it goes into the food pack for the night.

We rarely have a broken egg and I feel no problem keeping them for 5-6 days unless the weather gets into the high 80's or 90's. Since we usually go in June or September, that is normally not the case for us. Also, I don't do "over-easy" after the first day, but do cook them a big more firmly after that. If, by any chance, some get cracked by accident, we have an omelet for one supper instead of whatever else was planned.

I would be BIG-TIME afraid to take cracked eggs in a nalgene bottle, because everything I have ever read about food safety says that once you crack that egg it is open to salmonella growth immediately. (Our daughter is a food-safety expert.) If I did that, I would certainly be sure to cook them until they were DRY!
For only the two of us I usually just take one dozen and when those are gone we have Backpacker's Pantry Denver Omelet for our breakfast.

You must use medium eggs in those darn yellow things I would love a large egg holder myself.

quote SunCatcher: "I use the cardboard carton.
I wrap the egg catons in bubble wrap.
Tape the bubble wrap with duct tape.
Put eggs on top of pack, and make sure who ever carries
them is cognisant (all the time) that they have the eggs.
I have done this twice and it works peachy. Took two dozen eggs for six guys, and only broke 1.
I figure right out of fridge they will last at least a week.
SunCatcher"

I love this idea!

Generally, we've used egg beaters/egg substitutes in the past. Since they come in a screw top carton, they're easy to use and taste like fresh eggs to us.

We do have an old plastic egg carrying carton and agree, only smaller sized eggs fit will. Maybe try a local farmer?

quote mogos: "corsair: brilliant idea for egg/food storage! it's new to me!

you use 140 ammo pods, i presume. right? those were the most plentiful online. but i can't see any dimensions on them, and i've never seen them with my own eyes. can you tell us how many eggs you can get in each pod?"

Sorry Mogos, lost track of the thread.

Yes I use the 140 round tube. I actually just went and tried it because I couldn't remember, lol.

I was able to put 5 "Large" size eggs in. I used some bubble wrap I found. The eggs don't move inside the tube.