Learning how to freeze eggs is a great way to take advantage of grocery store sales or hens that are producing lots of eggs.
Of course, you could always give eggs away to your family and friends or sell them and make a little money to pay for their organic feed. But I have chosen the path of preparedness since that is the purpose of our last batch of chicks.
Our goal was to preserve some of our fresh chicken eggs for the dark days of winter when the chickens do not produce eggs. In order to make eggs, chickens need long daylight hours, about 14 hours or so.
Some homesteads may decide to use artificial lighting to keep a steady supply of eggs. We have chosen to keep our chickens on the natural rhythms of nature giving our hens the winter off.
Freezing eggs is a great way to bridge the gap between laying cycles. We know that organic feed, sunshine and lots of pasture time foraging on bugs, worms and greens makes eggs that are full of nutrition. Expect eggs from pasture raised hens to be rich in vitamins A, E and D. They will also contain high amounts of omega 3’s and low amounts of omega 6’s which is known for creating inflammation in the body.
If you do not have laying hens in your backyard or homestead, you will still be able to freeze eggs from those you buy at the store or farmer’s market. Keeping a supply of frozen eggs in your freezer makes a nutritious, quick and easy meal possible. They also supply your winter baking needs in one handy location. Becoming more self-reliant puts you in charge of your food requirements.
HOW TO FREEZE EGGS
This is another very simple process that requires virtually no time and excellent results. There are two methods that work equally well and depends on personal preference and how you plan on using the eggs.
METHOD ONE
The first method works great if you regularly eat three eggs every morning. Then you would have a bag in your freezer labeled 3 eggs. These eggs would be perfect for scrambled eggs.
Steps:
All you do, is crack the desired amount of eggs into a bowl. Stir egg yolks with fork to break them up.
Pour into a freezer Ziplock bag, label and freeze.
To Use: You would just remove one bag the night before and put that bag of eggs into a bowl in the refrigerator to thaw. Scramble eggs as you normally would.
METHOD TWO
The second method works if you do not know how many eggs you will need. An example would be you use different recipes with different amounts of eggs required, your family doesn’t eat the same amount of eggs on a regular basis, you do not want to eat scrambled eggs.
Steps:
Before beginning, see which baking pan with sides will fit level in your freezer.
Place glass custard dishes in baking pan. Six regular size custard dishes fit in my baking pan.
Crack one egg into each custard dish. Place in freezer several hours or until frozen.
Remove from freezer. Lift custard dishes out of pan. Put baking pan in sink and run hot tap water into the pan. Place custard dishes into water being careful not to get water into eggs. This only takes about 30 to 45 seconds tops. You just want to gently warm the bottom so that you can push the egg out.
Push eggs out of custard dish and place them into quart size Ziplock freezer bag. Six eggs fit nicely into this size bag.
To Use: Remove only the number of eggs you need. Place eggs in bowl to thaw and use as you would any fresh egg.
Freezing eggs in their shells will not work. The liquid or white of the eggs will expand upon freezing and break the shells.
If you are considering adding chickens to your backyard or homestead check out my post How to Raise Chickens for Eggs.
If you are searching for a high-quality egg that you can buy, then check out these pastured eggs from Vital Farms.