Eggs-ellent Egg Carrier for Backpacking

We all love fresh eggs on a camping trip, but those typical plastic carriers from the camping store are more likely to break eggs than protect them. This clever design solves the problem by enhancing your store-bought cardboard carrier with a little reinforcement.

For this instructable you will need:

• An empty egg carton
• Thin bubble wrap (about 1/4" thick) - smooth on one side, bubbly on the other
• Duct tape - choose a color to match your bubble wrap - or pick something colorful - live a little
• Scissors
• A small Velcro fastener with a guide ring that allows it to "wrap back on itself" (they have them at the hardware store)
• Nice flexible adhesive like RTV or Shoe Goo

First, take your empty egg carton and a serrated kitchen knife (or scissors) and cut the carton in two so you end up with two "six-pack" cartons. Draw a line with a dark pen down the middle of one of the cartons to use as a reference for the bubble wrap. Line up one edge of your bubble wrap (smooth side toward the carton - bubbles to the outside) and wrap the bubble wrap around the carton - just like a birthday present.

Cut the wrapped portion of the bubble wrap so it just matches the edge that you lined up with the line on the carton and then, using a long piece of duct tape, seal the seam. For best results make sure that your duct tape is at least as long as the egg carton from end-to-end.

After the first step you essentially have the cardboard egg carton contained in a "semi-rectangular tube" of bubble wrap. The next step is to seal off one end. Staring down the end of the tube toward the carton, imagine the corners of the rectangular tube and make a cut down each of the four corners all the way down to where the bubble wrap meets the carton.

Next, you want to fold the two shorter sides into the middle and trim them so that they just meet together at the halfway point. Seal those two flaps together with duct tape. Now repeat this step with the two wider flaps and seal them with duct tape as well. The finished result should look like the picture.

Turn your attention to the other (open) end of your egg carrier. Follow the previous steps as you did for the sealed end, folding and trimming so that the flaps meet in the middle EXCEPT do not tape any of the flaps. Leave them so that they are free to open and close.

Next comes the step requiring the most dexterity. Take the loop of Velcro self-closure and close it on itself to create a loop. On the part of the loop opposite the "buckle", cut through the loop. Now you will probably need a helper to fold all of the bubble wrap flaps in and hold it closed around the carton, while you put the flexible adhesive on the ends of the Velcro closure, and then tape those ends to the bubble wrap to hold them in place until the adhesive cures (about 24 hours just to be sure).

Once you are done, you can now open the carrier, slide the carton out, fill it with six eggs, slide it back inside of the carrier and Velcro it closed for your camping trip. I've found that this size fits perfectly, on end, inside of a small sized Bear Vault brand bear-proof canister in case you happen to be camping in an area that requires that kind of thing.

Keep in mind that fresh eggs can keep for weeks unrefrigerated, however you do want to keep them in a cool-ish area, not in the hot blazing sun. This bubble wrap carrier has the added attraction that it provides a degree of thermal insulation for your eggs as well as protecting them.

PRO-TIP:

If you want to make the most of your eggs and you really love omelets, scrambled eggs, breakfast burritos and such, I've found that you can do a mixture of two eggs plus two portions of "OvaEasy" brand egg powder (2 Tb egg powder + 3 Tb water = 1 egg) and it cooks up with the same texture and taste as if you had used four real eggs. So it is an eggs-ellent way to extend your six eggs into a dozen eggs worth of protein.

Enjoy your new egg carrier - this will last for years plus you get to reuse some material that you might otherwise just throw away.