Why do my eggs crack open in the fridge?

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ac_claire

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Sorry for posting this in Family Life. My posts in the Water Cooler don’t get as much traffic. And amazingly I was unable to find an answer on google! :eek: So, I’ll buy a carton of eggs and put them in the fridge. A few days later, when I open the carton at least half of them are cracked and ruined. This happens every time. Lately I’ve only been getting 2-4 good eggs from a dozen.

Does anyone know what’s going on and how I can fix it? My best guess is that my refrigerator may be too cold? It used to be much colder but my vegetables were freezing so I turned it down. Thought I turned it far enough, but maybe not? TIA
 
This used to happen to me all the time. I finally figured out my fridge was too cold. I turned down the temp and it still happened. So I just started putting my eggs in other parts of the fridge. For instance, my top shelf (at the very back of the shelf) will TOTALLY freeze things. So I make sure I put my eggs on one of the lower shelves or the door. Hope this helps!🙂
 
ac_claire said:
Sorry for posting this in Family Life. My posts in the Water Cooler don’t get as much traffic. And amazingly I was unable to find an answer on google! :eek: So, I’ll buy a carton of eggs and put them in the fridge. A few days later, when I open the carton at least half of them are cracked and ruined. This happens every time. Lately I’ve only been getting 2-4 good eggs from a dozen.

Does anyone know what’s going on and how I can fix it? My best guess is that my refrigerator may be too cold? It used to be much colder but my vegetables were freezing so I turned it down. Thought I turned it far enough, but maybe not? TIA
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too cold, if your control is unreliable get a thermostat
do you find things in back like packages of lunchmeat are getting frost?
or you have the carton where people have to move it when they want to get something and they are shaking it
or they had microscopic cracks when you bought them which opened up as the carton got moved around.

or the door is opening and closing a lot, or does not close completely, and the fridge is working harder so it gets too cold in spots, check the seal around the door as well
 
puzzleannie said:
too cold, if your control is unreliable get a thermostat
do you find things in back like packages of lunchmeat are getting frost?
or you have the carton where people have to move it when they want to get something and they are shaking it
or they had microscopic cracks when you bought them which opened up as the carton got moved around.

or the door is opening and closing a lot, or does not close completely, and the fridge is working harder so it gets too cold in spots, check the seal around the door as well
Click to expand...
You don’t really need to keep your eggs in the refrigerator. God designed them to stay in a chicken’s nest for three weeks with no ill effects.
 
St_Francis said:
You don’t really need to keep your eggs in the refrigerator. God designed them to stay in a chicken’s nest for three weeks with no ill effects.
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When commercial eggs are washed, they loose the coating that protects them. After washing, they have to live in the fridge.

The OP - your fridge is too cold.
 
St_Francis said:
You don’t really need to keep your eggs in the refrigerator. God designed them to stay in a chicken’s nest for three weeks with no ill effects.
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Not so! If they were fertilized, then chicks will hatch in 3 weeks. if they were not fertilized, they will be rotten by the end of the 3 weeks!
 
St_Francis said:
You don’t really need to keep your eggs in the refrigerator. God designed them to stay in a chicken’s nest for three weeks with no ill effects.
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No, God designed them to be fertilized, incubated, and hatched in 3 weeks. If you leave commercial eggs on your counter for 3 weeks are are inviting salmonella.

OP I agree, your fridge is too cold. We used to have this problem too. IIRC refergerators don’t have thermostats, the temperature settings just tell the fridge how often to remove heat from the inside of the box. If your house is cooler, the fridge will be cooler. If it is warmer, your frige will be warmer. We have to adjust our fridge in the fall and spring for the rising and falling temperatures otherwise our eggs crack and veggies freeze in the winter, and all our food goes bad in the summer. 👍
 
St_Francis said:
You don’t really need to keep your eggs in the refrigerator. God designed them to stay in a chicken’s nest for three weeks with no ill effects.
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My husband told me that it’s very common in some places (like Europe?) to keep eggs out of the fridge. Maybe it has something to do with how they’re handled prior to shipping (like kage mentioned)? That would make sense. Do you keep your eggs out, St. Francis, and they’re okay? That would be kinda neat.
 
IF you have chickens or know someone who has them and you can get fresh, unwashed eggs… you can coat them with oil and store them pointy side down (or up, I’ll have to ask my food preservation expert friend) and they will last without refrigeration for a year.
 
While it is best to keep eggs cool and probably best in the fridge… years ago when my kids were young teens, our fridge died. And I didn’t have the cash for a new one. So we did without for a year. Eggs stayed on my counter for up to 2 weeks and we cooked them and ate them without ill effect. And while not having a fridge had it’s drawbacks, it wasn’t the big deal that most people would think it was. 🙂

Anyhow, to the OP, I agree, fridge is too cold! You might want to keep the eggs in the front of a shelf.
 
kage_ar said:
IF you have chickens or know someone who has them and you can get fresh, unwashed eggs… you can coat them with oil and store them pointy side down (or up, I’ll have to ask my food preservation expert friend) and they will last without refrigeration for a year.
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Awesome. 😃
 
Thanks for the replies. I turned my fridge temp down another notch and now I’m gonna keep the eggs on the shelf inside the door for good measure. Hopefully this’ll take care of the problem!
 
Those of us like myself who are WAY too familiar with the film ‘Ghostbusters’ are thinking

‘right, the fridge is obviously a portal to Hell which is why the eggs are cooking in there … if you start hearing a funny voice saying ‘Zuul’ that’s a dead giveaway’

Those unfamiliar with the film won’t have a clue what I’m on about - watch it, it’s very funny.
 
LilyM:

😃 I was going to say something very similiar but chose not to, and then, here you are! 😃

Great minds DO think alike.
 
I know in my fridge, anything that I put on the top shelf to the back of the fridge freezes. Rest of the fridge is just fine. I presume that there is an insulation problem between the freezer and the fridge. Either way, might solve your problem…

Eamon
 
kage_ar said:
IF you have chickens or know someone who has them and you can get fresh, unwashed eggs… you can coat them with oil and store them pointy side down (or up, I’ll have to ask my food preservation expert friend) and they will last without refrigeration for a year.
Click to expand...
A YEAR??

A raw egg coated in oil and can sit on your kitchen counter for 365 days and still be edible? ? ?

I, personally, would NEVER eat that.

From the egg site:
[
ncegg.org/EggInformation/Eggcyclopedia/tabid/112/Filter/P/Default.aspxhttp://www.ncegg.org/EggInformation/Eggcyclopedia/tabid/112/Filter/P/Default.aspx
](Egg Recipes, Egg Nutrition, & NC Egg Farmers. NC Egg Association)
 
Catholic90 said:
A YEAR??

A raw egg coated in oil and can sit on your kitchen counter for 365 days and still be edible? ? ?

I, personally, would NEVER eat that.
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Me neither. Although it’s a very interesting bit of trivia that I didn’t know. But I don’t think I’d tempt fate like that.
 
ac_claire said:
Sorry for posting this in Family Life. My posts in the Water Cooler don’t get as much traffic. And amazingly I was unable to find an answer on google! :eek: So, I’ll buy a carton of eggs and put them in the fridge. A few days later, when I open the carton at least half of them are cracked and ruined. This happens every time. Lately I’ve only been getting 2-4 good eggs from a dozen.

Does anyone know what’s going on and how I can fix it? My best guess is that my refrigerator may be too cold? It used to be much colder but my vegetables were freezing so I turned it down. Thought I turned it far enough, but maybe not? TIA
Click to expand...
I’ve asked a friend online, and this is their best guess which I’m sure was already posted:
assuming they checked the eggs prior to purchase and didn’t squoosh them, my next guess would be to wonder if maybe the fridge is too cold
it might be freezing the eggs a bit and making the runny bits expand
bursting the eggs
Click to expand...
 
Time for me to throw some eggs in my freezer and see what happens 😃
 
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