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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To eat eggs which are six days out of date?

77 replies

BertieBotts · 12/01/2011 08:24

BF says I am and wants to send me to the shop for new ones. I say they are fine as I have tested them in a bowl of water where they stood on end, which I have always been told means they are fine although it's better if they are cooked through, and have always eaten eggs like this and never had one which was off. It's for scrambled egg so will be cooked through.

OP posts:

DirtyBit · 12/01/2011 08:26

When you crack them, you will know if they're off. It's fine, I eat eggs a couple of weeks after best before date and have never been ill.

If he wants new eggs send him to get his own!

InspirationalBreadbin · 12/01/2011 08:29

YANBU. They will be fine.

FingonTheValiant · 12/01/2011 08:30

I never check the date on eggs, I just crack them and see. My eggs could be from November for all I know Never been ill though.

Horopu · 12/01/2011 08:30

YANBU.

queenofthecapitalwasteland · 12/01/2011 08:31

If you're not sure, put them in a jug of water. If they float don't eat them. If they sink, they're fine. (most useful thing I learned as a student )

tyler80 · 12/01/2011 08:37

Yanbu. Six days is nothing, even six weeks is ok imo. You'll soon tell if they are off.

queenrollo · 12/01/2011 08:42

six days? yesterday I used eggs from the lot i had delivered the second week in November and they were fine.
I crack them into a cup first to make sure they aren't off....

Lucyintheskywithdiazepam · 12/01/2011 08:45

YANBU

Dates are entirely disregarded in this house. If it looks fine and smells fine, it's fine. Never poisoned anyone yet except that one time

redredruby · 12/01/2011 08:47

only don't eat them if they smell.....that is my rule for pretty much all food stuffs!

TrillianAstra · 12/01/2011 08:49

You will know if an egg is off when you crack it.

diddl · 12/01/2011 08:54

Sounds OK to me-as already said-as long as it doesn´t smell awful when you crack it!

I have a yogurt one week past it´s date which I am considering as it is my fave flavour!

QuintessentialShadows · 12/01/2011 08:58

The best way to check is to crack them onto a flat (preferably white) surface, like a plate and look at them. If the yolk is evenly round, they are fine. If the yolk looks dodgy, they are not.

Original poster

BertieBotts · 12/01/2011 09:05

Thank you, this is all what I said.

However he's refusing to eat them anyway. So I'm going to use them up in a cake or something. I was just annoyed that they were going to be wasted.

In other news, we just had our first fight

OP posts:

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 12/01/2011 09:10

You will KNOW if they're off.

Me and my friend went to a chinese buffet (i'd bloody said not to go in, it was the last weekend before christmas and the damn place was empty, not a good sign) took 1 mouthful of chicken foo yung and immediately spat it out, oh my dear lord !

We then spent the next few mins arguing over whether it smelt of shit shit or rotton fanny, she was find, it had a definate hint of rotting minge.

maltesers · 12/01/2011 09:13

You should be ok. . .I have eaten eggs over a week out of date and they didnt smell off so i cooked them. . . .you might want to be a bit more on the safe side if feeding small kids though. . . .but adults ok.

Quenelle · 12/01/2011 09:17

The date on eggs is best before, not use by, so it's only a guide.

StayingDavidTennantsGirl · 12/01/2011 09:17

Bertie - ask him how he thinks people coped before there were 'best before' dates on everything. I clearly remember my mum cracking eggs one at a time into a cup and sniffing them before adding them to the cake mix, or whatever. People had to rely on their senses to tell them whether food was OK to eat - you looked at it and sniffed it.

And to my mind, going past the 'best before' date doesn't mean that food immediately becomes poisonous - it just means it is no longer at its best, but may well still be edible. I've used pork mince that was out of date but smelled fine with no ill effects whatsoever.

We are having pork ribs for supper tonight - they reached their use-by date yesterday, and the packaging had shrunk in on itself, as if there was a vacuum inside - but I opened them up and sniffed them, and they all smelled fine, so I marinaded them and cooked them last night, and will just be adding the sticky glaze and giving them a final half hour or so to heat right through and go lovely and sticky.

Quenelle · 12/01/2011 09:20

I loved this programme. Sorry, the only reference I can find is an article about it in the DM Best Before Challenge

Original poster

BertieBotts · 12/01/2011 09:46

Yes I remember that best before challenge - it was really interesting. Made me a lot less paranoid actually (though I've always been a bit lax with dates... we regularly find things in my mum's cupboards which are several years out of date)

Apocalypse, not sure whether to or at that one...

OP posts:

mawbroon · 12/01/2011 09:55

6 days is nothing for eggs!!

My dh is a slave to best before dates, but unbeknown to him, he eats loads of stuff beyond the date!

oldenoughtowearpurple · 12/01/2011 09:56

If the eggs float they are old, but not necessarily off. My mum had chickens on the farm and used to store eggs all through winter if necessary: if in doubt you cracked it into a cup first to see if it was off. If you have never smelled an egg that's off you haven't lived.

We also drank unpasturised cows milk from the minute we were weaned (often skimmed milk intended for the pigs after the clotted cream had been skimmed off but straight from teat to mouth if we were 'helping' at milking) and made sour cream into cottage cheese in a muslin. Phesant wasn't eaten until it had hung so long that the neck rotted through and I can't imagine how much lead shot we ingested from rabbits and game shot on the farm. We ate toast and beef dripping with lashings of salt as a treat.

And it didn't do me any harm. Ask anyone on the ward.

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 12/01/2011 09:57

To top it all bertie we spotted piles of iceland bags behind the counter, just left to do god knows what ! we were

Serves me right for not going to me usual

KerryMumbles · 12/01/2011 09:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

sethstarkaddersmum · 12/01/2011 09:59

I hate stale eggs - even when they're not off as in bad and sulphurous-smelling, they make me feel weird afterwards.

generally the best before date is a month after they're laid so another 6 days probably doesn't make that much difference though - it will depend how they've been stored (fridges can be bad because they dry them out).

GandTiceandaslice · 12/01/2011 10:13

They'll be fine.

I've eaten eggs much further out of date.

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