Review: American Family Supply powdered eggs

We’re in the midst of an egg shortage. My old laying hens have been slowing down, the new chickens won’t be laying for a few months yet, and I don’t want to go to the store during COVID-19. The thing is, along with other long-term storage food shortages, powdered eggs have been hard to come by recently.

So when I stumbled across large cans of powdered eggs on Amazon, I thought they could be perfect for my preps. I ordered two cans of American Family Supply eggs (made by GCF Corporation) for a total cost of $78 (!).

We hadn’t tried this specific brand before, and we wanted to find out if we could recommend American Family Supply powdered whole eggs. So we tried them two ways. The answer: maybe, for baking, but we can’t really recommend them. Here’s what we learned from buying huge cans of these American Family Supply powdered eggs:

  • While it can be tempting to stockpile food, especially during times of strained supply chains, don’t stock up on stuff you haven’t tried.
  • Buy storable foods from trusted brands.
  • Don’t trust Amazon reviews, they’re too easy to game. Both these eggs and the powdered sour cream I recently tried had excellent reviews on Amazon.
  • When possible, avoid buying storable foods from Amazon, since it has problems with counterfeit goods. Hopefully these eggs are legit and are not indeed drywall spackle.

More: Best two-week emergency survival food for preppers

Baking cornbread

The yellow powder in the can smelled terrible, like a mix of old eggs and drywall spackle. I knew from reading blogs and forums that powdered eggs weren’t meant to be eaten on their own. Powdered whole eggs are for baking, not for making scrambled eggs and omelets. We didn’t expect them to be amazing, but we figured they’d at least be acceptable.

I’m not much of a baker, but being a proper Southern gentleman, I can make a pan of cornbread. We used a modified version of the White Lily recipe:

  • 1 teaspoon All-Vegetable Shortening (I used lard, being a fan of healthful living.)
  • 1 large egg (I used the powdered eggs instead.)
  • 2 cups self-rising cornmeal (Nothing against Martha, but I used some of the excellent self-rising cornmeal from Weisenberger Mills instead.)
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1/4 cup pure vegetable oil

The recipe calls for sugar, but we don’t put sugar in our cornbread.

I mixed the egg powder and water in the bottom of the bowl, whisked it smooth, and then added the other ingredients. I cooked it at 425F for about 30 minutes, and the result looked good.

A photo of the finished cornbread

As for the taste? Also pretty good. My wife said there was a faint taste of spackle, but the cornbread was acceptable. I didn’t taste any off-flavors at all. We piled enough pinto beans on top so that we couldn’t tell anyway.

Understanding the larger market

Cornbread isn’t all we like to eat, though, and we wanted to know if these whole powdered eggs would hold up in a scramble. Not wanting to feel like an idiot who wasted $78 on spackle eggs that would only be good for cornbread and baked goods, I did some research. As it turns out, there are two types of powdered egg product on the market:

  1. whole powdered eggs, which is what we have
  2. powdered scrambled eggs.

Whole powdered eggs are nothing but egg. That’s why the label on the American Family Supply eggs refers to them as ‘dehydrated whole eggs.’ They’re best when rehydrated with water and used only for baking. Powdered scrambled eggs, however, include milk and oil. They can be eaten on their own, in a scramble.

Attempting a scramble

Though we now knew it might not work, we wanted to find out how the American Family Supply whole eggs tasted on their own. So my wife made breakfast sandwiches with homemade bread, bacon from a local farm, cheese, and American Family Supply scrambled eggs.

The scrambled eggs weren’t revolting, but they were decidedly not good. They tasted vaguely of overcooked egg, but the spackle smell and flavor were strong. We picked the eggs off our sandwiches.

So we tried a few more tests: one with just eggs and water as the package directed, and another one with fresh milk and a bit of oil added. For the first batch, I mixed two tablespoons of the egg mixture with about three tablespoons of warm water. For the second, I used two tablespoons of egg, two tablespoons of fresh raw milk, one tablespoon of warm water, and a splash of olive oil.

I wanted to give these eggs every opportunity to succeed. And since I’m a fan of healthful living, I seasoned my cast iron skillet with generous dollops of lard.

A photo of Josh pouring the egg mix into a cast-iron skillet

The eggs cooked surprisingly fast. Even on medium-low heat, they were basically done as soon as they hit the skillet. The first batch of eggs, with just water, were a bit overdone. Unfortunately, while I improved the texture, the flavor and smell were no better.

A picture of the scrambled powdered eggs

I turned the heat way down for the second batch, but they still cooked too fast. Still, they turned out better. The oil helped to reduce the dryness and the milk helped reduce the spackle smell and flavor, but they still weren’t great. I was able to eat a few bites with a generous helping of salt, but I didn’t even finish the “one” egg I’d cooked.

The final verdict

It’s good to know that these powdered eggs can be useful in baking, because I have literally pounds of them, but as a whole I’m not sure I can recommend them. I’ve tried some more-established egg brands that I didn’t smell like something you’d buy in a five-gallon bucket at Home Depot, and I’m really wondering what’s in these powdered eggs.

American Family Supply Dehydrated Whole Eggs

American Family Supply Dehydrated Whole Eggs

We recommend these eggs if baked goods are essential to your preps, or if you’d like to buy some powdered foods before others come back in stock.

Have you had better experiences with powdered foods than we have? If you know of any good ones, let us know in the comments.


  • 6 Comments

    • Kay

      For baking, I keep Ener-G Egg Replacer on hand for when I don’t have enough fresh eggs for a recipe or want to make something without common allergens and/or vegan for a potluck. Despite not being eggs at all, it works well with no odd flavor. It’s cheaper than powdered eggs and available at my local “health foods” grocery. It doesn’t have the shelf life of a can but since I do use it in regular life as a convenience, I keep it in rotation. Now that I’m considering it, it might be worth experimenting with other types of egg substitutes like potato flakes for baked goods to develop some sort of matrix of results vs shelf life. For me the bonus in another type of substitute would be that it could have more uses than just egg replacer. Thanks for getting the wheels turning…

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    • Vaylon

      “The recipe calls for sugar, but we don’t put sugar in our cornbread.”

      As is correct. The only thing I’d change about your recipe is using buttermilk instead of regular milk. I’ve seen powdered buttermilk on the store shelf, and I’ve been tempted to try it out. Maybe I’ll give it a shot and keep you updated.

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      • Cebrf Vaylon

        I use powdered buttermilk frequently and it works great.  I can tell a slight difference in taste with my dumplings when using fresh vs powdered but the family can’t. The brand I buy from the  local grocery store is The Saco Pantry Cultured Buttermilk blend.  Refrigerate after opening.  I just opened the container and it’s good till 2024.  I’ll use it up way before expiration.  Also I’ve used Milkman dry milk powder.  I’ve used the low-fat white milk and chocolate milk and it was surprisingly good.  Make sure to let it get cold before drinking.  Milkmanmilk.com.

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      • Nomore Cebrf

        I second the recommendation for Saco buttermilk so long as it’s going into baking (not so great reconstituted & drunk all by itself in my experience though)

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      • Josh CentersContributor Vaylon

        I agree with you on the buttermilk, but we haven’t been to a store in three months. We get our milk from a local producer. I might try the powdered buttermilk if I work up the courage to buy more powdered food.

        9 |
    • Open Space

      Yes, I’ve had great luck with them for baking and making meals for camping/backpacking.  Hoosier Hill Farms egg and butter products make great pancake mixes – both of those smell great, no spackle.  I’ve also used cheese powders from a couple of places (Hoosier hill and nuts.com), and milk powder to make soups and sauces when camping.  If you are making a soup or sauce from dairy powders, add some fat like butter or ghee to get some of the richness back – it makes a big difference.  The cheese powder makes great popcorn seasoning also!  I also recommend freeze dried veggies from north bay trading co for making fast and easy soup.

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