Easter is a time of warmer weather, chocolate bunnies, and eggs!
To take advantage of this seasonal interest, most stores offer their very best prices for eggs, making spring the perfect time to stock up.
Another way people find themselves with more eggs than they can eat is from having backyard chickens. Raising chickens in your backyard is a quickly growing hobby. A study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that nearly 1 percent of households already have chickens and another 4 percent plan on getting chickens within the next five years. That’s over 13 million Americans participating in the backyard poultry scene.
Whether you plan on buying eggs when they are on sale or you have backyard chickens, you may soon have a surplus of eggs. If refrigerated, eggs can last for 4 to 5 weeks, but are difficult to preserve for a longer time. By far, the best way to preserve eggs long term is with a freeze dryer.
Eggs can be freeze dried both raw or cooked. But in our opinion, the best way to freeze dry eggs is raw.
- Simply crack a large amount of eggs into a bowl and quickly scramble.
- Pour the raw eggs into the trays and freeze dry.
- Grind the freeze-dried eggs into a powder.
About one tablespoon of the egg powder mixed with two tablespoons of water equals one fresh egg. You can then use the rehydrated eggs the same way you would use fresh eggs. Eggs are a great source of protein and vitamins. It is an important food to have on hand and in your emergency food supply. They truly are an egg-cellent food.
How long will freeze dried raw eggs last
Eggs have up to a 25 year shelf life. Freeze-dried eggs can be used in baking cakes, muffins, pies… or, they can be rehydrated to make omelets, scrambled eggs, casseroles, etc. Freeze-dried eggs don’t have to be refrigerated and can be easily transported – so they are great not only for food storage, but, camping, too!
Good product to have
Can you freeze dry egg whites for meringue?
Some people actually say they prefer meringue made with freeze dried eggs over fresh egg whites! They claim they are more dense and hold peaks better. Simply separate the eggs, pulse a couple times in the blender, and strain it to catch all the thick, white clumps. Then just pour it on the trays and freeze dry.
On average, 2 tablespoon freeze-dried egg white powder, plus 2 tablespoon water, equal little over 1 egg white. (You could add cream of tartar, sugar, and vanilla – then just start whipping them.)
A good average for a pie would probably be about 8 tablespoons, plus (based on this customer’s recommendation), about a teaspoon of extra egg white powder. (You can add cream of tartar, sugar, and vanilla, etc. and just start whipping.)
I never read about anyone freeze drying whole eggs, why not? Just crack the eggs and put them in the freeze dryer.
We discovered that leveling the FD unit allows for much more egg volume to be accurately and cleanly poured in each tray. The trick is to insert an empty tray into the leveled unit, leaving about 2″ protruding, then pouring in the “scrambled” raw egg mixture in until nearly full. Next carefully and slowly push the tray all the way in. This avoids the mess that “Retired at 40” got into. Check the volume of your trays with a measuring cup and water so you’ll know the correct amount to put in. And be sure to raise the front of your FD before defrosting so the water can drain out (we use a 2 x 4 block).
We put the FD’d equivalent of two dozen eggs per VacMaster pouch, and skip the O2 absorber, and expect that the shelf life of the egg powder will be at least five years if kept in a cool dark place.
Our kids in Georgia and Italy love getting flat rate boxes of FD eggs, blueberries, mangoes, etc.