In this era of low cholesterol, many households use only a few eggs per week. Egg purveyors have responded by creating 6-egg cartons rather than the standard dozen; but what do you do when you want just one or two eggs?

Supermarkets should sell eggs in the same way they sell potatoes, onions, avocadoes, and other small spheroids—stacked up in a big bin, from which the customer can take the ones he or she wants, throw them in a bag (or directly into the shopping cart), and pay for them by the pound.

The only problem is that regular eggs would break if you treated them this way. Therefore, I propose that eggs be coated in a layer of epoxy to prevent breakage during handling.

Imagine the pleasure of tossing eggs around as though they were turnips! Carelessly you throw them into your shopping bag, haul them home with reckless jostling, and pour them out into the drawer at the bottom of your fridge!

Each Egg Single is equipped with a pull tab (similar to those found on cardboard frozen juice concentrate containers) making it easy to open when it’s time to eat your weekly allowance of low-density lipoprotein and saturated fat.
-- AO, Sep 11 2003

Egg Beaters http://www.eggbeaters.com/
Same idea, different packaging (and no yolks). [Worldgineer, Oct 17 2004]

I'm skeptical that this would really work. But I'm hopeful that it really would.
-- k_sra, Sep 11 2003


I'll bite. +

When can we expect the new GM chickens that produce the epoxy themselves?
-- grip, Sep 11 2003


An eggsoskeleton, hey? Nice.

(can't believe I said that)
-- RoboBust, Sep 11 2003


What if you just want half an egg?
-- phundug, Sep 11 2003


"I'd like 1/12th of a dozen, please."

Add four patches of velcro (two of each kind) on the sides so one can connect four or six or nine, etc. to take home.
-- FarmerJohn, Sep 11 2003


//What if you just want half an egg?//

The pull tab could be resealable. We did a thing once that let you scramble the egg while it's still in the shell. You could use that, pour out what you want, and seal it back up.
-- snarfyguy, Sep 11 2003


Baked. Well, boiled. Kind of. They sell single eggs at my local Safeway, which are shrink-wrapped. Of course, they're also boiled so this is where it diverges from your concept of the idea.

As another solution to this problem, I recommend the little resealable cartons of eggs. In fact, I don't buy in-shell eggs anymore except to boil.
-- Worldgineer, Sep 11 2003


Instead of the eggsoskeleton (wa wa wa waaahhh [Robobust]), why not just make the cardboard cartons modular with perforated joins. Barcode them all individually and then you can just tear off one or two from a half dozen or dozen box. Downside of this is that most people will still buy them in 6's or 12's due to years of consumer programming and you'll end up with loads of single ones at the bottom of the crate.
-- squeak, Sep 12 2003


Upside is you'll get to tear the little pods off along the perforations...which is very satisfying to do and makes a nice sound.
-- squeak, Sep 12 2003


I don't eat eggs but if I need 2 or 3 for Yorkshire puddings or pancakes my local corner shop sells me how many I need.
-- sufc, Sep 12 2003



random, halfbakery