Has anyone brought eggs into the BWCA? Thinking maybe trying to bring fresh eggs, or possibly just liquid eggs you can buy at the store. Wasn't sure if fresh eggs (or liquid egg) would be okay not refrigerated for a day or two.

You will get lots of opinions on this. We took fresh eggs for many years and enjoyed them immensely, but we usually tripped in June or September. We were careful not to let them sit out in the hot sun--more about that later.

The safest type of fresh eggs to take are from a farm, ones that have not been washed (not from a super market), or else the ones that have been Pasteurized (in our area that means Davidson's, and we can get them at Kroger's. But we took regular eggs that we bought at the Holiday store in Grand Marais or Ely and had no problem at all. I did NOT serve them sunny-side up--I served them scrambled so that they were cooked thoroughly after the first day.

We tried the plastic egg boxes made for camping and did not have good luck with breakage. We devised our own system for carrying and it worked wonderfully. We would leave them in the fiberboard store carton (cardboard carton better than styrofoam because it is a good firestarter later on) and then wrap that in a brown paper grocery bag. Duct tape that under the bow seat of the canoe. It rides well there during paddling and portaging and is out of the sun. As long as you do not drop the canoe on a portage, you are good to go. If you do. . .you have an omelet for your dinner that night. LOL!

There were only two of us. We took two dozen eggs for a longer trip, and we had eggs for breakfast for several days, plus I used them in pancakes and baking desserts. I wouldn't use them for more than four or five days, and after that if we wanted eggs I would use the Backpackers Pantry Denver Omelette (freeze-dried) or Ova Easy eggs and scramble those with bacon pieces (pre-cooked bacon) and bits of cheese.

Never had any stomach trouble with taking eggs this way. I would be afraid to take eggs that had been out of the shell unless they were Pasteurized. I know people do crack them and take them in a nalgene, but our daughter is a food pathogen expert and she turned white when I told her about it.

If you have a carton of fresh eggs with you, don't let them sit out in the sun. Find a shady place to store them during the day when you are in camp. If you end up with really hot days, use them up quicker.

They will be fine. The usual plastic egg carriers will keep them intact. Don't need to be refrigerated, but use some common sense and you're good.

Eggscelent, thanks folks!

I was worried they would break if I brought them in a cartoon and kept trying to think of ways to get around this.

My bright idea, that's actually not-so bright because it'd be heavy, was to put eggs in some sort of canister and fill the egg-filled canister with rice so that the eggs would not move at all. The downside, being the weight. Still think it'd work though.

We always take a dozen or two. Cardboard cartons. Double wrap of bubble wrap secured with a BDB. Top of food pack. One cracked in many years. Just don't leave pack in bright sun.

Can't do this with powdered or freeze dried crystal eggs.

Ova Easy Eggs replaced my fresh eggs on canoe trips a few years ago.

quote Wally13: "Ova Easy Eggs replaced my fresh eggs on canoe trips a few years ago. "

Those are suprisingly good. I rehydrate some onions, peppers and sausage, then cook them up with the ova easy eggs. Tastes pretty darn good. Nothing like powdered eggs.

We use Auguston Farms dehydrated eggs. Work great and taste good. Generally scrambled and used for breakfast burritos.

I've used the egg beaters and they worked great. I freeze them and they will keep for 3 or 4 days. Helps keep other frozen meat products(bacon or sausage)fresh also.

I do occasionally take fresh eggs. In the past I would bring store bought eggs, We eat them in the first three days, or less if we feel its too warm. We traveled in cooler temperatures and stored them with the frozen meat, so I had no concern ( but I do live on the gastric edge of things, so follow your own level of risks ;) ). Now I have access to unwashed farm eggs, so I just take them, as is, and do not worry about them. I'm still careful and keep them cool, but no longer limit when they are eaten. Some other trips when I do not want the burden of not breaking eggs, we prepare them as scrambled eggs at home and place it in a freezer gallon zipper lock type bag and freeze them solid. They help keep other items cold and are ready to go the second day. But those are reserved for day two only. When I'm really weight conscious or do not want to mess with real eggs, I use the OVAEASY brand. Can't go wrong with that product. I also have tried and like their French toast mix, but I do bring extra cinnamon (personal taste). Last year we tried the OVAEASY breakfast, which included the hash browns, and dried sausage all in one mix. Very good stuff. I also have add dried onion and pepper, it also turned out very well.

Although I could futz with eggs in the back-country (i.e. we have egg laying chickens// last longer) - I usually don't, but have seen this on Pinterest and thought it was a neat idea.



I would worry about introducing bacteria though and would probably just bring eggs in those yellow hard containers that you can find at Walmart.

(Might try this car camping though!)

Long ago, we used to take fresh eggs. Fold up 1/4 of a paper towel in the area the egg sits and another 1/4 on the top of the egg when you put them into the typical plastic camping egg transporter. Works pretty well to cushion them. I think we only had one broken one over the years. Use the paper towels afterwards for fire starters.

Tomster

The problem with the plastic carriers is they often are either too tight on the eggs or too loose. If you use a paper carton and just duct tape it to the seat, or wrap with bubble wrap and gently carry the pack they're in, you'll do just fine. Several dozen brought in on recent trips and not a single one cracked, even on day 4 halfway thru the trip.

Ova Easy for this camper. Too easy and taste terrific. Packs well too.
Mac

When with a group, fresh eggs. By myself, I do not bother.

We have chickens and I LOVE my fresh eggs for breakfast. With that said, I DON'T love the yellow camping egg carriers. It is very true that they don't ever seem to be exactly the right size.

We just put all the ingredients for a omelet along with 18 cracked eggs in a ziplock bag then freeze it solid and pack it in our cooler, pull out the night before and then fry them up in the morning, it works great

Just remember leaving your shells in the "woods" is not leave no trace. Pack out your shells! That includes orange peels etc. With the number of people out there it can be messy quick out there. I eat fresh eggs every day. I'm another person who have found the great alternative of ovaeasy eggs. Never have to worry about breakage or waste. What you can do with them is incredible. Just shop around. .. It's amazing how different the pricing can be.

+1 for OvaEasy. If you bring whole eggs purchased from the grocery store, find pasteurized whole eggs. Each egg will have a red "P" stamped on it. Might not make a difference but at least you will feel better about it.

quote nctry: "Just remember leaving your shells in the "woods" is not leave no trace. Pack out your shells!..."

Agreed. But here's one extra step to take for those who burn some wood: Burn the shells -- or at least brown them a bit until dry -- and then pick them out of the fire and cool before double bagging in plastic to pack out. Trust me, you do NOT want to be unpacking at home and be hit with the smell of whatever it is that raw egg produces after a few warm days in the woods!

quote schweady: "

quote nctry: "Just remember leaving your shells in the "woods" is not leave no trace. Pack out your shells!..."

Agreed. But here's one extra step to take for those who burn some wood: Burn the shells -- or at least brown them a bit until dry -- and then pick them out of the fire and cool before double bagging in plastic to pack out. Trust me, you do NOT want to be unpacking at home and be hit with the smell of whatever it is that raw egg produces after a few warm days in the woods!
"

Great advice!

I just threw up a little bit in my mouth reading the last sentence.

The couple times we took eggs was in the plastic 'camp egg holders'. I keep chickens so refrigeration was not necessary since the last eggs gathered for the trip were left out of the fridge. Sizes vary some and some tissue nesting took care of the smaller eggs rattling.
Were I to do it again it would be a regular cardboard egg carton with the bubble wrap. BUT.... since using Oval Easy, I probably won't bother; even though we mostly or semi base-camp.

Fresh, unwashed eggs will stay good for weeks at room temperature. In Europe, eggs are not washed and are not sold in the refridgerated section.

If you wash eggs, you remove a protective coating. Store-bought eggs probably need to at least be kept cool.