How far past best before date are eggs safe to eat?

[PaintYouByNumbers]

I have some eggs in my fridge with a BBE of 20th November '11. I know best before dates are a suggestion sort of thing but I'm funny about eggs and not sure whether to have some for tea tonight.

Bumping this cause I am hungry and eggs are one of the few things i have got in (and I'm skint till tommorow!)

put them water - do they float?

Crack one and smell it, if its off, you'll know!!!

Second putting it into water to see if it floats

Okay cheers ladies. I'm thinking 3 days isn't that bad. 3 weeks would be another story (and they'd already be in the bin!)

(floating = bad, sinking to bottom = ideal, anything in between = ok)

If it floats does that mean its off?

Xposted with TLBAG

Eggs shouldn't be kept in the fridge.

Put them in water and see if they float but 3 days is nothing, they will be fine!

you will know if an egg is bad (and the only bad eggs i have ever encountered [vomit emotion] have been within their best before date)

i use them 2+ weeks later and they have always been fine. I keep them on the fridge though, not at room temperature...

in the fridge, (not on the fridge! )

How come they shouldn't be kept in fridge?

they keep fresh for longer in a fridge but are best cooked from room temperature - so the ideal thing is probably to keep in fridge but take out a few hours before you want to cook them?

I think the fridge thing is because eggs cook v quickly and if they are chilled all the way through they will give appearance of being cooked even though they haven't reached a high enough temperature to kill off whatever nasties might be in there?

Don't be absurd - they will be fine for weeks after the BB date.

If you crack it and it smells like someone farted, it's off. If not, it's fine.

People are so ridiculous about sell-by dates and the like - whatever happened to common sense?

We ate some a few weeks ago that were a month past their date (had been kept in the fridge). We did the floating test and all passed, cracked and gave them a good sniff, all fine. They were very yummy as eggy bread!

A stale egg will float, but it's still fine to eat - won't hold it's shape well fried, but fine scrambled in cakes etc.

Eggs generally keep ages past their date and if you crack a bad one you will be in no doubt at all that it's bad!

i've used eggs waaaay past their use by dates. Keep them for as long as you like and put them in the fridge or not, they are designed to stay fresh out of it.

If they balance on their end in a bowl of water deeper than the egg they are fine, even if they are partially floating they are fine, if they are doing the backstroke, however.......

I eat eggs MONTHS old and never had a problem!