Wednesday, March 04, 2009

A Whole Lot Of Nothing

The weekly fridge post has to wait - I took the pictures, and then I realized that my photo program is loaded on the computer that is in the shop. I don't want to risk overwhelming our new little laptop here with that stuff. But I do have a food-storage-related question for all of you: today I found a dozen eggs whose carton's "sell by" date is 19 February (of this year, wise guys). So - do I cook them or throw them?

The font suddenly got larger while I typed - I don't know why. Magic, maybe?

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I went to Knit Night tonight for the first time in months. My best friend (who has 5 kids) reports that last week someone new showed up -a child psychologist who happens not to have any children of her own. So my friend said to her (and this is why she is my best friend), "You have got to be kidding me!"

Being from New York, she can get away with this sort of behavior. I envy her.

Why am I telling this story? I don't know.

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Hmmm....there's nothing funny going on here. I'm grasping at straws. And Anna is breathing down my neck, waiting for her turn so she can use Facebook. I love that Anna has Facebook. She did the dishes and wiped down the bathroom, all without complaining, just so she could get her fix. If she had to choose between Facebook and oxygen, she'd hold her breath.

What's not to love?


30 comments:

  1. Eggs last forever. Don't sweat it.

    "Properly refrigerated and handled, eggs are considered safe for consumption for four to five weeks beyond the sell-by date."

    Gotta love eggs... ;)

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  2. I once knew a child psychologist who didn't have any children. She was one of the nuttiest people I've ever come in contact with.
    Aren't those always the people who are experts on raising children? The ones who don't have any?

    It sounds like Facebook might be magic.

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  3. I'd use the eggs. Maybe break them into a seperate container just in case, but I use eggs past date all the time. They don't have quite the leavening power of fresh, i'm told, but I've never noticed anything.

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  4. Ah yes, just like in teaching kids, there's no way to learn something better than in hands-on, direct experience. Otherwise, how would you know the baby could climb on top of the piano before he learns to walk? (True story!) Which is why moms let babies in the bathroom when they're going--and then have to put up with four year olds pounding on the door later, not understanding now why they can't come in with you.

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  5. I want to go friend Anna but damn it, I don't know her real name. Foiled again.

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  6. Your eggs should be fine. If an egg is off it is really not a nice smell as soon as you crack it. Break them individually before pouring them into the cooking and I wouldnt use them for scrambled eggs, fritata or anything really eggy like that, really fresh eggs are best for that. You could google it with something really longwinded like "how do I know if my eggs are fresh enough to use for cooking?" just for something fun to do:)

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  7. Oooh, oooh, send me Anna's name and I will friend her and torment her for you.

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  8. I had to wait for my 16yo to finish his assignment before I could have a turn on the computer tonight. And before I could come by and visit you, I had to type of 2.5 pages of minutes from a meeting. Sheesh. The things we will do for a fix!

    Cook the eggs. They're fine, albeit not fresh. I stocked up last week, because they were only $1 per dozen at the Commissary.

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  9. I would use the eggs... but I live life on the edge.

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  10. Put each egg in a bowl of water. If it floats to the top, toss it. If not, its safe. It should rest on the bottom of the bowl with the egg standing up as if it is humpty dumpty. I think if it stands up straight that means its super fresh and if it leans it means its less fresh, but I could have that part backwards.

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  11. And that's why you're the wiser mom than I. It hadn't occurred to me to require chores up front in order to earn the daily FB time. I'll be taking your lead, and my kids will be hating me. That means it's successful, right?

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  12. "Sell by" does not equal "eat by" in this woman's book. I keep eggs in my fridge for weeks and weeks and weeks, and I haven't died yet. If in doubt, hard boil those babies.

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  13. I grew up on a farm (with chickens and eggs amazingly enough) and I never even noticed that eggs HAD a sell by date. (Although, I've always been suspicious of the brown eggs).

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  14. At the family beach house especially, we've all eaten eggs WAY past their due date.
    No biggie.
    Other "specialist" type people might give you words that end in ISM and ITIS to make you throw them out, but I say make a HUGE Friday quiche and eat on up.

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  15. i would toss out the eggs. i'm totally petrified of food poisoning and feb 19th was almost a month ago...mh...

    franzi

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  16. Hey! I know a trick to know if the eggs are good or bad! Fill a tall bowl with water and put the egg in it. If it sinks, it's good. If it floats, it's bad (it means the air is going in and stuff) and you'll want to throw it away ;)

    Hope I could help!

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  17. You're even funny when there's nothing funny going on.

    If those eggs are really that old, you have to hard boil them....

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  18. Go ahead and eat the eggs. Just in case, break them into a separate container - you'll know if they're bad!

    Once in college I had a partial carton of eggs in my fridge, leftover from October break. A friend was looking for eggs in March. I don't think *I* would have eaten the eggs then, but he did and said they were fine.

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  19. honor your laptop . . . don't put anything on it that you absolutely don't need.

    when I got my new laptop a few months ago, I vowed to keep it "clean" . . .

    about those eggs: when in doubt, throw them out. Is that too wasteful?

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  20. Psychologists are, in general, nutty. I worked in a research dept run by psychologists/psychiatrists. It's not fun having your boss take out the DSM to try and diagnose you--and herself, by the way. Oh! I twice had the kid of a psychiatrist/author as a camper--sorry for the convoluted sentence, and I'm trying to be circumspect lest I get sued or something--and he was the saddest 6yo I'd ever seen, and when I had him again a few years later the stories he told. Yikes.

    Also. Midwives should have given birth, and lactation consultants should have children they nursed, too. Just saying.

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  21. Put one of the eggs in a glass that is mostly full of water. If the egg floats, it's no good.

    A really fresh egg will lay on the bottom of the glass. An older egg will stand up straight. I don't think I would eat one that floats.

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  22. Make deviled eggs. Those work best with "older" eggs anyway.

    Mom On The Verge is right...eggs last forever.

    We currently have our own version of bribery going on at our house with DS#1...if he cleans the toy room and he can have his iPod back!

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  23. Throw out those eggs! I can't imagine the risk of food poisoning being worth more then the 3 bucks to replace the eggs. Just my humble opinion!

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  24. Cook the eggs. They're fine.
    Enjoy the power of Facebook. I trust you'll wield it well, young Jedi Mistress.
    You MUST keep us posted on any wisdom your childless child psychologist dishes out so we can share in your amusement.

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  25. I am thinking, a child psychologist with no kids..... WTF???

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  26. i just heard on the news last night that old eggs are the natural equivalent of viagra. i can't remember what the aging eggs produce, but the folks that make viagra are trying to reproduce it in pill form. so maybe let those eggs age a few more weeks, then slip them into hubby's evening omelet? ;)

    at our house, i try to use up all our eggs before the sell by date. the stores have conditioned me, i guess.

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  27. That is like a marrige counseor who has never been married or been married 5 times! I love that she said something!
    The eggs will be fine unless they are cracked!

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  28. Haha. I think I'd hold my breath, too. Oh, and don't child psychologists stay childless because they KNOW???? Found you via MommyVents, by the way. :)

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  29. A little late, but the eggs are fine. Sell by is not the same as use by.

    Did you know that in Europe they don't even store them in the refrigerator? Nope. They keep the eggs on a shelf in the cupboard. It's true.

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  30. Past sell by date eggs make better hard boiled eggs, or so mom told me. Hubby makes french toast and scrambled eggs a lot on the nights I work, so we rarely have old eggs around. On a week that I bake banana bread or something, we go through at least 3 dozen eggs.

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