EGGS · IN THE FRIDGE
3–5 weeks
Three to five weeks in the refrigerator. Not three to five days past whatever the carton says — weeks, and USDA has put raw shell eggs at that window for years. Eggs are among the longest-keeping perishable things in a normal kitchen, and they get thrown out early more than almost anything else.
These are quality windows drawn from published USDA food-safety guidance — an estimate of how long food stays good, not a safety date. If the package carries a printed use-by date, that date governs.
ALSO SOLD AS shell eggs · raw eggs · a dozen eggs
By storage method
- In the refrigerator
- 3–5 weeks
- In the freezer
- Not in the shell
Near the end of the window?
An aging egg is a better boiling egg. As it ages the white's pH rises, which weakens the bond to the shell membrane, so older eggs peel more easily. The forgotten carton at the back is the one you want for deviled eggs.
Don't freeze them in the shell — USDA is explicit. Beat the yolks and whites together first and they freeze fine. Out of the shell but unbeaten, raw whites and yolks keep two to four days.
The date printed on the carton is answering a different question than the one you're asking: eggs last longer than the carton suggests.
SOURCES
- FoodSafety.gov Cold Food Storage Chart, Eggs: "Raw eggs in shell — 3 to 5 weeks refrigerated. Do not freeze in shell; beat yolks and whites together, then freeze." Raw whites and yolks out of the shell keep 2 to 4 days refrigerated.
- USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Cold Food Storage Charts (fsis.usda.gov).
Ranges are as published. Treat the short end as your real window — grocery produce is already days past harvest, and a cooked dish starts its clock at the stove.
Looking up your groceries one at a time is a hobby. A bad one.
Savery scans your grocery receipt and tracks these windows for everything you bought at once. The spinach, the strawberries, the milk you forgot about — all on one shelf.