Put ALL of Your Eggs in These Baskets

Okay... so we're sitting here in a slip in Santa Rosalia, Mexico and enjoying the heck out of this really cool little pueblo. This is our fourth time here in two years. And so I don't bore anyone with old news, I'll start a topic that will hopefully be helpful to any other potential cruisers... on cruising trivia. If anyone else has anything to share, please share and I'll post your reply for all to see.

Egg Holders – these are hard plastic crates you find in the sporting goods section by the camping gear. They're brilliant! My friend Jackie told me I had to get a couple of these and I'm glad I did. First, unless you're in a mega grocery in Mexico you rarely can buy eggs in cartons. Instead, they are sold in large flats of 36. Unless you want to buy 36 eggs at a time, you need these carriers or else you get your eggs thrown into a plastic bag. Needless to say, I've never gotten my bag of eggs home without at least one egg fatality... and a yolky mess to boot.  Link to Camper Egg Carrier

But once we began using the plastic egg holders, we discovered another demise of the eggs: mold. If you store your eggs in the plastic egg carriers, the eggs can't 'breathe'. Many people suspect they bought old eggs. But, in fact, there wasn't enough oxygen circulating and the eggs grew mold on the outside of the shell. So, another thing my friend Jackie told me was that when she used to cruise she would drill holes in her plastic cartons on both sides to keep the eggs aerated.

So, now we folks on Hotspur buy our eggs and carry them home in our hard, plastic crates... when we can remember to bring them with us to the store. Since we've drilled holes in the carriers, we've experienced no more moldy eggs. The only broken eggs we've ended up with are the ones that are so big that the crate can't close completely without smashing the shell. And the occasional egg that jumps to its death from the countertop can put a damper on a quiche making morning.

SIDE NOTE: We do not buy refrigerated eggs and we do not refrigerate our eggs. We also do not wash them until right before we use them. The egg has a protective coating over the shell and if washed off can make the egg prone to bacteria. The only time we put eggs in the fridge is if we want fried eggs. Fried eggs turn out better if chilled the night before.