Yes, I've done it and am still around.

Nancy

Many store didn't refrigerate eggs until fairly recently. You'll be fine. To be safe, use them soon.

Oh yeah. I've done it, too.

When I was in Japan, about 4 years ago, I was fascinated by the totally open air trucks that delivered flats of eggs to the hotels and grocery stores.
I must say they were the best eggs I had eaten since I was a child and had to gather the eggs from our hen houses myself! So I think your eggs should be just fine.
Do not know what science was involved, just know they were deeelish. LOL

Yes, they are fine.

If I gather eggs at 5 pm and then gather them again at 9 am, there's a possibility that they will sit in the nests unrefrigerated for up to 16 hours. (shrug) We never used to refrigerate eggs at all, Grandma marked them so we always used the oldest first, but they'd sit on the counter for a week. Not in the air conditioning either!

Now, I'm not advocating leaving eggs unrefrigerated, especially commercial eggs, but it happens. Our local ag agent told me that eggs mostly don't actually spoil or get rotten, they dry out instead. Unwashed eggs have a protective coating that seals the porous shell and makes them keep longer by preventing the air from entering.

However, I believe that commercially obtained eggs are "cleaned", removing that protection, so I'd definitely refrigerate if I used them.

Annie

annie1992 "Unwashed eggs have a protective coating that seals the porous shell and makes them keep longer by preventing the air from entering."

Thanks for the memory jog, I knew there was a reason but could not recall. Dang these "Senior Moments", the older I get the more I have to relearn!

(most of the time I can't remember to sign my posts)
Red

Me too, Red. :-)

Annie

I have a funny egg story. Or a gross one, depending on your sense of humor...

I hate eggs. I don't eat them at all unless they are mixed up in a cake, etc. I'm not much of a baker, so they are almost never in my fridge. I always buy a half carton for whatever my purposes are whenever I have to buy them - and that is usually too many.

My friend Candy once came to stay with me. She's a very early riser and decided to make breakfast before I got up. She found eggs in my refrigerator (insert ominous chord of music). She cracked one open and a hard, black marble fell out into the frying pan. I woke up to her grossed out screams from the kitchen.

I finally figured they had probably been in there at least six months, possibly longer.

Could have been worse....;)

When I worked in a restaurant in San Francisco, the eggs were always left out in flats unrefrigerated. Since breakfast was one of their busiest times, they got used up fairly quickly, but I worked graveyard making pastries, and so they had been left out for some time by the time I got to them. It was a fairly cold building however (which made working in the kitchen easier).

Lars

To me the only "reason" eggs are refrigerated is to stop the growth...but most grocery store eggs are NEVER at risk for fertilization.....

I did the same thing one time; forgot and left the eggs out overnight. So I came here to the forum to ask you all.

That's when I got it from Roger. He really gave me the "what for"! hahaha!!! I walked away thinking, "wow what a nasty old man!"

I decided that I wouldnt enjoy those eggs no matter how many people told me it was OK to eat them so what I did was I put my son on a step stool at the kitchen counter and I taught him how to crack open eggs.....one....at....a...time.

Then we threw them away! hahahahahah!!!!!!!

Since we're talking eggs, I'll throw in my contribution...'cracked' me up...another snort at the liquor store background.

{{gwi:1545351}}

Thanks all - I thought they would be OK, but wanted to see those who had eaten unrefrigerated eggs were still able to post ;)

Annie, yours don't count because they are so fresh! The eggs in the grocery stores...I never trust how old they are. I used to get fresh eggs delivered to me - they were the best. Lots of double yolks too.

Jessica! hahaha!

Eggs are never refrigerated in the supermarkets here. Flats of eggs are stacked on shelves at room temperature for days.

SharonCb

Jessy, that's hilarious! rofl

/tricia

Jessy - that is hilarious! And cookebook that is quite the story. Glad to see all the non-refrigerated egg eaters are still here to talk about it

A

Since the question has been answered, I'm going to follow a tangent. Jessy - Hilarious photo. It reminds me of a friend who recently told an amazingly gullible city girl (as what she thought was a completely transparent joke) that she was raising "boneless chickens." City girl pressed for details, so my incredulous friend embellished the story to the point that no rational person should believe her... which only fascinated the city girl further.

Somewhere out there is a woman who believes that boneless chicken comes from boneless chickens, which have to be turned by hand in their coops a couple times a day and hand fed because they can't walk, but that the farm dog affectionately carries them around in his mouth like rag dolls.

Well I've been to a Boneless Chicken farm. It was very sad to see them all just laying around.

"Well I've been to a Boneless Chicken farm. It was very sad to see them all just laying around."

Grins!

That's a hoot, jessy! About the eggs... I thought you could test them by putting in a pan and covering with water just like you were about to hard-boil them. If they stay on the bottom of the pan, they're fine. If they float to the top -- breaking the surface of the water even slightly -- they need to be discarded.

Don't ask me where this little factoid came from. It seems like I've 'known' it forever. But since no one has mentioned it, I'm wondering if it's even true. Anybody know?

LOL we have collective memories of Gary Larson's iconic 'Boneless Chicken Ranch' cartoon

Yes...good eggs sink...eggs that have begun to turn, due to the developing gas inside, float.
Even if they are left out over night...if they aren't smell bad spoiled....they will be fine if well cooked. And if they are smell bad spoiled, you will know as soon as you crack one.
Sure no need to throw them out!

Steelmagnolia - it is true.

Gently drop the egg into the bowl of cold water. If it:

Sinks to the bottom and stays there, it is about three to six days old.
Sinks, but floats at an angle, it's more than a week old.
Sinks, but then stands on end, it's about two weeks old.
Floats, it's too old and should be discarded.
For a test just to see if the eggs are all right to use, dissolve 2 tablespoons salt in 2 cups cold water, then put the egg in the water. If it sinks, it's good; if it floats, it's too old.

Eggs act this way in water because of the air sac present in all eggs. As the egg ages, the air sac gets larger because the egg shell is a semi-permeable membrane. The air sac, when large enough, makes the egg float. Eggs are generally good for about three weeks after you buy them.

Or you can grow your own boneless chickens at home!

{{gwi:1545353}}

I miss Roger!

Yes, I would keep them and use them with no problem at all. I'm just sitting here LOL at all the links to boneless chickens....

Roger and his pal Pete are a another post for sure...LOL!!

David

Roger and Pete....another subject...eggsactly...darfc

Darn it! I threw out a dozen jumbo eggs last week because I'd left them out overnight. Now I know better.

Only on this forum could a basic question get 30 un-basic replies :)

I want me some boneless chickens too! LOL.

Just adding another "refrigerating eggs is new". Our egg lady down the road used the back room of her house for all her eggs and when the hens were laying heavy that room would get pretty full. Matter of fact, I just remembered, sometimes she'd call my Mother up and tell us to come get some for free or send her daughter with some. I do understand that now all the washing the eggs get would warrant keeping them in fridge, but leaving them out for a day or two wouldn't be a problem. My neighbors chickens come to visit my dog Jessie and had laid a dozen eggs in one of my window wells. They looked to have been there for a few days at least. I tested them and none even stood up. They were very fresh down in that deep window well, and very good.

Time for my annual post! One of the many things I learned when we got our small flock of hens last year is that eggs don't need to be refrigerated until they are washed.

In the US, eggs are washed and immediately refrigerated when gathered from commercial hen houses. This remove the protective coating, or bloom, that the hen secretes when she lays the egg and allows bacteria to enter. It is true that It is true that egg operations here whose focus is providing fertilized hatching eggs refrigerate eggs to retard the growth process, but unfertilized grocery store eggs are refrigerated to prevent bacteria growth. I don't refrigerate my hens' eggs unless they're cracked or one is so filthy I have to wash it. A few weeks ago, my husband thought that the egg in the fridge was hard-boiled and took it to work for breakfast. It took him a while to clean the egg off his desk.

In other countries, eggs aren't washed until the consumer takes them home from the store and wash them, so they don't need to be refrigerated. Just thinking of all the energy saved not refrigerating eggs makes me wish we did that here.

Floating eggs in water tells you how fresh the egg is, but not if bacteria is growing in it. I'd use grocery store eggs that were left out overnight.

The Two Fat Ladies reel in shock at the mention of refrigerating eggs at all.

Also, FYI, egg cartons are dated and you can see how old the eggs actually are when you buy them. Stores can vary on how long they have them before you get them.