Wednesday, January 6, 2010

DIY Powdered Egg Update

    The American Preppers Network has launched a brand new look and a brand new forum.  The forum has really taken off and is a wonderful source for preparedness information.  Check them out if you get the chance!  The following is a post I did over there.  It is also an update on my Powdered Egg experiment.
    I was checking out powdered egg prices from places like Honeyville a few months ago, and thought they seemed a little pricey. I'm "Frugal" remember! Eggs are a great source of protein. As we don't have the capability to raise chickens where we are (no room) I got to thinking about how much I would miss them in a SHTF situation.
    I have read about different ways to dehydrate them at home. Most all of them tell you to make scrambled eggs and then dry the cooked eggs and store. I am sure there must be a reason for cooking them first but I don't know why.    So I figured what the heck. I will do some experimenting myself.
     So I beat up a dozen eggs and poured them into my fruit roll-up trays. I found with my dryer the trays will hold 6 beaten eggs. Trial and error told me to set the temperature at 165 degrees. (That is as high as my dehydrator goes) Let them dry until they are brittle. It takes about 24 hours in my machine.    When they are done they will be hard and just a little oily to the touch. I then put them in the blender and turned them into powder. Then I put them in a jar ,vacuum sealed them, and stored them in a cool dark place. The first batch I did was in the second week of September of this year. I have checked them each month since then. They are still holding up great!
    The first thing I had to try was rehydrating them for making scrambled eggs. I placed one teaspoon of powdered egg and 2 teaspoons warm water in a bowl and let them sit for about half an hour. One teaspoon is about the same as one egg. Stirred them up really good, ( they will be just a little "grainy") put some butter in a pan and cooked them up. Tasted great! Nothing like the powdered eggs I have tried in the past.
    The next month I broke out the jar and used them to make pancakes. They still smelled good and tasted fine.
    In November I used them to dredge my chicken in before frying. Again, everything looked, smelled, and tasted fine.
   A few days ago I had my heart set on breakfast tacos. Of course I was out of eggs. So I pulled out that jar of powdered eggs and used them. They turned out excellent!
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    I do want to make one thing clear. I CHOSE to do this experiment. You might not want to try this at home kids! I can't tell you how safe the process is but I have personally had great results. It has been four months since the first batch was done. They still look, smell, and taste fine. I have about 3 more eggs in that batch and so I will check them again for the next two months. That would be six months storage time for a dozen eggs. Not bad if I say so myself!!
I have put up a few  dozen more  since then and we shall see how it all works out.


The experiment continues!!

4 comments:

  1. Sounds good, I know several people who live nearby who have chickens, they lay more eggs than they can use at any one time, so this would be good for them to know, chickens can and do go through phases where they don't lay for whatever reason, it is good to put up while you have surplus. Thanks for letting us in on your experiment. :)

    Wretha

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  2. I had my first dehydrated eggs last month and I have to say there was no difference. These were proffessional ones, but they were good enough that I may give the home made ones a try. Thanks for posting the results!

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  3. Never seen them recommend cooking them first.I would think that would "seal" the egg's and not rehydrate.I'm not a rocket scientist or a biologist,but as a former cook,I'd think the egg's would slow cook in the dehydrator. And if we assume the shelf life is only 6 month's,that's a lot better than any fresh egg storage.
    Dean in az

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  4. you can take store bought eggs (when on sale) rub them down with mineral oil place them in a sealed container and they would last for a year or longer, checking monthly to insure the mineral oil is still sufficient.

    with this, you can buy them on sale, place them securely in a large container that you can buy at a dollar store and never sacrifice flavor, tecture, only space
    army girl, clay city, ky

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