So, I bought 2 dozen eggs and some food grade mineral oil and went to work. I had my kids carefully rub the oil over each egg (they loved it!) and then we put the eggs back in their styrofoam container and put it on our shelf in our food storage room. I tried to forget about them for a while, but I couldn't help but steal a peak every now and then. About 2 months later I was making cookies or something that called for eggs. I don't remember the exact recipe but I remember thinking that I needed real eggs this time instead of the powdered ones I usually use in a pinch. I brought the eggs up and they were as fresh as if I had just bought them - they mixed up well and were as fluffy as ever. After that, I was brave enough to try them in omelets and scrambled eggs (ok, if the truth be known, they always start out as omelets and always end up as scrambled eggs). They tasted GREAT! Oh, and the added bonus was a few weeks after I had prepared my eggs, one of my children had horrible stomach pain from constipation. I was able to give them a spoonful of mineral oil to help things pass a bit easier - good thing I had it on hand.
Ok - my other experiment was with cheese. We were taught in one of our classes that we could purchase a block of Tillamook cheese and leave it on our shelves, unopened for several months. We were warned that the cheese will sharpen over time but that was the only "issue". So I went to Costco (if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it up big, right) and looked at the Tillamook cheese, it was medium cheddar. I thought that if it was going to sharpen over time, I wanted to start out with mild. Right next to the Tillamook was the Kirkland brand, same 5 lb brick and wrapped the same way, so I bought it and brought it home. To be extra safe (since the packaging was supposed to be the key) I vacuum sealed it and then stuck in on my shelf. 2 months later I was making a Sunday dinner for my inlaws and I was planning on a plethora of soups. I had planned on Taco soup (that calls for cheddar cheese as a garnish) and Broccoli cheese soup. I had everything bubbling along and I asked one of my kids to go downstairs and get some cheese out of the freezer. They came up and told me that we were all out. No - that couldn't be! I couldn't go to the store and the soups were ready for the cheese. So, I decided that this was as good of a time as any to try my experiment (hoping beyond hope that I wouldn't mortally mame my inlaws). I opened up the package and smelled it - it smelled like cheese. It tasted like cheese - It was wonderful cheddar cheese. The soup tasted wonderful and we have continued to use the cheese on tortillas, cheese sandwiches, cold cut sandwiches, etc.
Just thought I would share my results so you won't be afraid to try it. Great to know that when the power goes out - not all my food will be lost :)
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