My kids love pancakes, I am more than happy to make them from scratch on the weekends but on the busy school mornings the frozen variety is our only option. This past weekend, we had quite a bit of extra pancake batter so decided to take a stab at making some of my own frozen pancakes.
As you may think, cooking these are pretty self explanatory. The only thing you need to remember is to keep the pancakes a uniform size (1 inch diameter seems like a good target) otherwise you could end up with some cold or very hot pancakes when you reheat depending on the size.
I then placed the pancakes into a freezer bag ad left them in the refrigerator unsealed for a couple hours with the idea of getting their core temperature down while also letting some of the moisture leave so when freezing I do not end up with a large frozen pancake blob.
Last I spread out the frozen pancakes with as few layers as possible to avoid too many pancakes from sticking together.
Once frozen, take 6-7 mini pancakes and place on the outside edge of a plate and microwave for 60 seconds.
The Contender – Store Bought
The competition: Krusteaz Miniature Pancakes – 15 Oz, $2.50 for 12 frozen mini pancakes.
Ingredients: Water, Enriched Bleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folate), Whey, Sugar, Dextrose, Soy Flour, Canola or Soybean Oil (Contributes Trivial Amount of Trans Fat), Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Salt, Artificial Butter Flavor (Contains Dairy), Palmitate (Vitamin A), Niacin, Vitamin B12, Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin, Thiamin Hydrochloride, Reduced Iron, Folate, Soy Lecithin, Eggs.
The Challenger – Homemade
I am planning on buying some buttermilk and making pancakes from scratch, but this time I was limited to good old “Baking Mix”
Here are the costs of making the pancakes yourself:
Ingredient | Amount | Cost |
Baking Mix | 1 cup | $ 0.289 |
Milk | 1/2 cup | $ 0.093 |
Egg | 1 egg | $ 0.133 |
Vegetable Oil | 1 teaspoon | $ 0.009 |
Electricity | Stove (15 minutes) | $ 0.003 |
So for only $ 0.53 you can make your own frozen mini pancakes. Now there is a little effort in cracking an egg and mixing and cooking for a few minutes but for 20% of the price this is pretty low effort, even better if you just make a little extra when making fresh pancakes.
The Decision…
Store bought |
Homemade |
|
Price | ||
Taste | ||
Difficulty |
The price was not even close here and according to my kids (who tried them out this morning before school) the homemade ones tasted much better. So yet again homemade is the winner
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I do this with blueberry pancakes when blueberries are in season and it also works quite will with french toast.
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Rather than trying to freeze pancakes, we like to make up a batch of Swedish pancakes (http://www.cnuland.com/recipes/SwedishPancakes.php). Mixing them in a blender, you can store them in the container, give a quick blend again in the morning in the time it takes to heat a skillet and have fresh, hot pancakes!
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@Pam, that is a great idea. My daughters are not much for blueberry pancakes but will have to remember that for a few for myself next summer.
@cnuland, I could imagine swedish pancakes probably wouldn't freeze well cooked but this is a great idea to get homemade pancake even on a tight schedule.
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