The frugal way to dye eggs

I love to dye eggs at Easter. Peanut would too, but usually I have her conscripted as slave labour turning the eggs, and keep her there working long after the novelty has worn off. I think we nailed the dyeing process this year, so I'm sharing it here. (Otherwise next year I'll forget how we did it...)

But dyeing eggs can be so messy (food dye!) and wasteful (all those eggs! All that vinegar!) 

I found the solution. We dyed our eggs in a silicone friand tin. (Who actually makes friands at home? Not me, I usually just use mine as a misshapen muffin tin.) The eggs fit in perfectly!

I mixed the 50:50 vinegar and water solution in a small jug, and it only took a cup's worth to fill the tins. (Ok, truthfully? I used a huge jug. I had enough mix to fill the tray four times over. But that's alright, I used the rest in my cleaning spray bottles.) 

Before adding the dye I checked the tins wouldn't overflow when I added the eggs. Don't skip that step! Otherwise the tins might be overfull, and when you add the eggs the dyes will splash out and mix, making your eggs a manky brown instead. Once you've got the liquid depth right, add the dye.

I dye plain old raw eggs. We don't actually display our decorated eggs, the pleasure for us is in the dyeing process itself, so they don't need to keep out of the fridge. The girls are too young to get into complex decorations so the eggs are not handled much. Also, we are not huge boiled-egg eaters. Using raw eggs means the eggs aren't wasted - we crack them open for breaky on the Easter mornings. (Ohh, purple eggs! So much fun!!)

I put the eggs in the prepared tray, then let Peanut (in a rubber glove) gently turn them until they are the colour I like. Then I just fish them out with a spoon and dry them in their egg carton. Make sure you rotate the eggs a couple of times in the drying process so they don't stick to the carton and break when you try to pull them out. 

And there you have it, frugal dyed eggs!