Eggs and use by date

I can't read the sell by dates stamped on the eggs anyway

I used to have hens and these days buy expensive eggs because they're the best I've found. I cracked some from a slightly less expensive company this morning. They were well within the Best Buy date but the whites spread out thin. They tasted ok but I won't be saving 20pence buying them again.

I don't even keep a record of the date purchased or use by to be honest.

When you crack an egg if the yolk is round and the white is firm it's fresh and if it is flat and the white spreads out thin then time to consider using them up and buy in fresh works for me.

Crack and sniff for me too! Never had a bad one, weeks after the date.
I note that Elegran found some out of date eggs in her fridge. I always store mine at room temperature which doesn't seem to affect the shelf life.

Same here. Just crack the eggs individually and smell them and if they smell all right I just use them. I have discarded some that don't look quite 'right', but they may well have been OK to use - I just wasn't brave enough to chance it!

I was going to say the same as whitewave
The float test (in shell) and then a sniff test.

Our neighbour in France became allergic to eggs. Rather than kill all her chickens she saved the eggs until we came over each month and then presented them to us.

So each month I was presented with sometimes as many as 4 or 5 dozen eggs of uncertain age. I would give some away and use the rest over the following month. In 5 years I had only had one rotten egg and nobody went down with food poisoning. then the chickens went and the supply stopped.

Thanks all I'll use the break and sniff test I think.

Agree with the break and smell routine. I don’t tend to set too much store by use by dates and mostly use my eggs in baking and cooking anyway. If we are eating them, I use the ones that are in date.

I found half a dozen eggs in my fridge a MONTH after the "best before" date. Reasoning that before date labelling came in I would have broken each separately into a cup and sniffed it before using it, (even if it claimed to be fresh) I did just that. They smelt fine so I made cakes. The cakes were delicious.

Float them. If they float discard if they sink they can be used for things like egg on toast etc if they half sink decant them into a cup before use and if they smell ok use in cakes etc.

I have kept eggs for over a week after "best before" date but when I have used them eg scrambled or in an omelette I have opened each separately in case one was "off" and I did not want to ruin the others. I have never had a problem.

Correction it's not 'use by' it's 'best before' date.