When did you last see a box? I found some in a local supermarket last Friday morning when buying our weekly challah and bought a dozen for us and for our neighbour. 

 

With Pesach looming you may be concerned at how you’re going to manage. If you’re not lucky enough to have your own chickens, you may need to eke those eggs out and reformulate some of your recipes.

 

To make the most of what you have, here are a few egg-related tips and hacks to help you navigate the next few weeks. The headline is that EGGS FREEZE!!

 

Whole egg: Crack them open (or they’ll explode) and beat gently to combine yolk and egg, then freeze in bags, noting how many you have in there; OR freeze them in individual pots. Once frozen you can pop them into a freezer bag to save space. 

 

Defrost overnight in the fridge — if you have frozen a larger quantity of frozen whole eggs, 60g of the egg mixture is equivalent to a large egg. 

 

Egg white: If you have unused egg whites, freeze them individually — ice cube trays are great for that — or in one pot. 

 

When defrosting: remember that a large egg white weighs approximately 40g. 

 

Egg yolk: Before freezing, add a pinch of salt or sugar — depending on what you’re ultimately using them for, sweet or savoury. If you don’t they will become gelatinous and unusable. 

 

If you freeze a quantity you’ll have enough for omelettes; scrambled eggs; cakes; cookies and even matzah brei. 

 

Look to vegan recipes: plant-based chefs have already worked out how to cook egg-free. 

 

There are a number of solutions: 

 

For meringues or roulades, the liquid in a chickpea tin works like egg white. Simply sub 2 tablespoons per egg white and 3 tablespoons for whole eggs in cakes and biscuits etc.

 

Flax ‘egg’ is  also popular — sub 1 tablespoon of finely ground flax seeds and 3 tablespoon of water per egg. As the seeds have a nuttiness to them, the flax egg will be best in dishes like wholemeal muffins, oaty cookies and savoury scones. This also works with chia seeds in the same proportion. 

 

Sadly, as the chickpeas and seeds are all kitniyot, this is not a remedy that will work for Pesach bakers who avoid it. I’m deliberating whether this ‘eleventh plague’ is reason enough to go Sephardi this Pesach, but it is definitely possible to eat delicious savoury dishes without eggs for the eight days and even to bake, using dried fruits and ground nuts.