That Sack of “Wet Eggs” Might Make More Sense Than You Think

It was the tweet heard around the world, the shocker of the world of culinary order, perhaps the oddest viral food photo in some time — and that is saying something. I mean, we’re talking about the website (Twitter) that brought us the nightmare potato, towering spinach sandwich, and pizza with mustard as sauce, after all. Even still, this week will live on as the one that brought us “wet eggs.“

The original tweet shows photos of a grocery store shelf filled with giant handled bags holding an enormous amount of peeled hard-boiled eggs swimming in liquid. “My local Morrisons,” the poster said of the British supermarket, “is selling actual sacks of wet eggs.” Then they pass a quick judgement: “This is the most wretched and cursed item I have ever witnessed.” In a follow up tweet, they give a few more details, “Also it’s in the meal deal section, which implies this is considered lunch? Does this count as a main, or a snack?? I have so many questions, and no answers.”

Some of those questions might include: why does it say 5 eggs when it pretty clearly is closer to 50? Thankfully, after 13,000 retweets and more than 120,000 likes, Metro dug in for details — and the wet eggs do make more sense than you might think. Basically, when the pandemic forced the grocery store to reformat pre-made meals, Morrisons wanted to find a new way to sell the eggs normally destined for the salad bar. They’re kept in water after they get peeled so that they don’t dry out — because as bad as wet eggs might look, a bag of 50 dried-out boiled eggs could be even worse. 

But maybe the real surprise isn’t that wet eggs exist, but that they cost just £1, because that is about $1.30 — a darn deal for that many eggs, already peeled. In a time when budgets are tight this seems like just the thing that could make a giant batch of egg salad sandwiches to help feed the family — and maybe any hungry neighbors, too.