Silly Question - Weighing Raw Eggs

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kcm105
kcm105 Posts: 50 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I weigh most everything, but to this point I haven't weighed eggs. I'm not really too keen to start, but I'm wondering, do you crack the egg before you weigh it? I feel like this is the dumbest question ever because I'm pretty sure that yes, obviously, you weigh it without the shell for accuracy. But that would be enough of a PITA that I think I'd skip the weighing step if that was required, so I thought it was worth asking. Thanks!

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  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    You should weigh the portion you're going to consume. If I'm making scrambled eggs I weigh them in the bowl I mix them in. If I'm frying them, though, I'll weigh the entire egg, tare the scale, crack it into the skillet, then put the shell back on the scale to see the difference.
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
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    Crack the egg! It's not a dumb question. Almost every egg I've weighed is larger than the USDA says a large egg should be.
  • kcm105
    kcm105 Posts: 50 Member
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    malibu927 wrote: »
    You should weigh the portion you're going to consume. If I'm making scrambled eggs I weigh them in the bowl I mix them in. If I'm frying them, though, I'll weigh the entire egg, tare the scale, crack it into the skillet, then put the shell back on the scale to see the difference.

    Ahhhhh genius!!!! I have no idea how I didn't think of this! I'm always weighing, taring, re-weighing. Glad I posted my "silly" question! I will now weigh eggs. Thank you!

  • determined24girl
    determined24girl Posts: 382 Member
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    Why have i never thought to weigh my eggs? I always went by MFP. I weigh all my food why not my eggs? SMH
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    eggs are actually sorted by weight, thats how they come up with the "Size"

    weighing them wont hurt anything but the nutrition info should be pretty accurate on them

  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    Yep, crack them, weigh the contents. And eggs vary from one carton to the next (and within). I always buy the same brand, Grade A Large size. I've had 42g eggs, and I've had 63g eggs. That's a difference of ~30 calories (times 4 eggs = 120 calorie difference--substantial if you're only in a 250 calorie deficit).
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited February 2015
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    I make omelets for breakfast most days, so I weigh the eggs. As a result, however, I can accurately predict the weight of almost any egg by size (mine are from a farm and vary in size quite a lot). So when I make fried eggs or hard boil them I don't bother weighing but go with my own estimate.
  • diegops1
    diegops1 Posts: 154 Member
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    I grew up on a hog & poultry farm. We sorted eggs by sizes using a slotted board, and then weighed them by the dozen. So one dozen large eggs should weigh, according to the Agriculture Department, 24 ounces; one dozen extra large eggs should weigh 27 ounces. However, some of the eggs in that dozen will weigh more than others and some less than others. Here is a link to a website that will tell you all about your eggs, including how to tell how fresh they are. If you are buying eggs in a grocery store, they may be several months old. Buy locally from the person who raises the chickens and they are probably less than a week old. When I sold mine, they were always less than 3 days old. http://curbstonevalley.com/blog/?p=3354
  • JPW1990
    JPW1990 Posts: 2,424 Member
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    A while ago I read a blog about frying eggs so that the yolks were still runny, but the whites weren't. It said to break them into a bowl first, then use a fork or a toothpick to break the thicker bit of albumen around the yolk, so it would spread out evenly into the rest of the egg white.

    Ever since I started doing that, I just automatically tare a bowl and weigh them, no matter how I'm cooking them. I was surprised how big a variance I had once I was recording them that way.
  • Sydking
    Sydking Posts: 317 Member
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    Ive never bothered, it the only thing Ive never thought the weight and i wont start either.

    However i do always use the same entry so i am consistent in that way.

  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    edited February 2015
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    4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »
    eggs are actually sorted by weight, thats how they come up with the "Size"

    weighing them wont hurt anything but the nutrition info should be pretty accurate on them

    My eggs are listed as 53g without the shell. So about 106g for 2 eggs.

    Used an egg last night in my soup. It was 60g without the shell. My omelets usually wind up being 110-116g
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
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    Interesting idea. When I slim down so far that my deficit slims down significantly too, I might start weighing them. I would have figured that their weight should be normally distributed around the "official" listed weight so any differences would average over time, but judging from the posts above it turns out we get "more egg" than we pay for on average - who knew :)
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
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    Also, won't the weight vary with freshness, i.e. a bit older eggs would weigh less because water evaporation (judging by how they "shrink" ever so slightly every day in the shell), but have the same amount of calories per egg as slightly heavier fresh eggs? I guess they weigh completely fresh eggs for the nutritional info?

    Just an intuitive guess, now I am wondering...
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
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    4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »
    eggs are actually sorted by weight, thats how they come up with the "Size"

    weighing them wont hurt anything but the nutrition info should be pretty accurate on them

    This is somewhat true. As long as a dozen large eggs weighs 24 ounces with the shell, there can be variation within the carton (as we have all seen for ourselves).

    Mine are usually 51-54 grams each, no shell. So 75-79 calories each, instead of the 70 listed on the carton.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,513 Member
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    I buy Eggland's Best large eggs. I weigh them, not every time, but frequently enough(skip it for fried, usually do it for scrambled/omelets), and have never had one over 53g, or under 48g. They are mostly 49-52. Very consistent.

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