Eggs provide a natural source of protein alongside several micronutrients, making them a great choice for athletes.
They are also a good source of vitamin D with one medium egg providing 16% of your daily requirement. Vitamin D is important to support our immune system as well as for healthy bones and teeth.
Eggs are also a good source of vitamin B12 which is required for the formation of red blood cells. One medium egg will provide 93% of your daily vitamin B12 requirement.
What types of eggs should I buy?
Try to source eggs locally and choose free range eggs. Eggs come in all different sizes, and producers cannot choose what size of eggs are produced.
If everyone chooses to buy large eggs there will be a lot of small and medium eggs going to waste, so when you're shopping consider buying eggs that are different sixes or small/medium eggs.
If you need a specific size of egg for a recipe, you can weigh them - a medium egg would be classed as 53g and a large egg 63g.
How can I tell if an egg is fresh?
The dates on eggs from the shops is the 'best before' date, but this doesn't necessarily mean you can't eat them after this date. Most eggs are still perfectly OK to eat and there is an easy way to check if they're still fresh!
- Place egg in a bowl of water, deep enough for the egg to be submerged
- If it sinks to the bottom and lies flat on it side, the egg is very fresh
- If the egg is a bit older but still good to eat, it will stand on one end at the bottom of the bowl
- If the egg floats to the surface, it's no longer fresh enough to eat
In the UK 720 million eggs are thrown away each year because they're past their best before date, so please check your eggs and love food, hate waste!