Make your Pancake Day less wasteful

Simple Pancake Day tips to reduce food waste and reuse ingredients

Top tips for a waste-free Pancake Day

Today is Shrove Tuesday (AKA “Pancake Day”)! Did you know that pancakes were traditionally eaten on this day to use up rich, indulgent foods such as eggs and milk before 40 days of fasting began?

The recycle-more Team LOVE pancakes so, to mark this annual custom, we have put together the following tips on how you can be less wasteful (which also tie in with the underlying waste-not message behind Shrove Tuesday).

Eggshells: Don’t throw them away

One of the main pancake making ingredients is eggs, which means you will be left with a lot of shells. These can be put into your food recycling container or kitchen caddy; however, eggshells have many uses:

  • They quickly decompose in compost and add calcium and minerals to soil
  • Crushed eggshells can deter slugs and snails in your garden
  • They can help trap solids in sink strainers and support natural pipe cleaning
Pancakes

Freezing leftover pancakes

It’s so easy to make a large number of pancakes, which means that you may end up with leftovers. The great thing about pancakes is that you can freeze them and have them for lunch or breakfast another day.

Pancakes should be frozen separately by putting them one by one onto a baking sheet and placing them into the freezer. That way they will not stick to each other when you are ready to eat them.

If you plan to batch cook pancakes for freezing you will need:

  • Parchment paper
  • Baking sheet
  • Freezer-safe bag or container
  • Permanent marker

Lemon skins: Use every part

A much-loved topping for pancakes is sugar and lemon juice. If this is your pancake accompaniment of choice, avoid putting too many lemon skins into your compost bin, as overfilling it with citrus fruits can make compost overly acidic.

Instead:

  • Grate peel for baking
  • Make candied lemon peel
  • Dry skins for homemade potpourri

 

Overripe bananas: Perfect pancake topping

People are getting more adventurous when it comes to pancake toppings. If you have some brown, spotty bananas in your fruit bowl you could whip up some fluffy pancakes with banana.

Slice bananas into toppings or mash them into the batter for extra sweetness. You could even add leftover bacon for a sweet-savoury twist.

Recipes: Don’t waste pancake batter

It’s good to think of all the leftover foods we can use when making pancakes, but what do you do with leftover batter?

Here are some ideas to inspire you:

Easy baked pancake muffins -Add chocolate chips or lemon zest for a pancake batter snack on the go

Leftover pancake breakfast sandwich – Great with bacon, or fruit like blueberries and strawberries for a sweet breakfast option

Pancake cookies – A banana and chocolate chip-style treat using pancake mix

Pancake mix brownies – Try substituting butter with peanut butter for a richer flavour

Mini pancake donuts – Essentially pancakes in a different shape, perfect for dipping desserts

Enjoy pancakes sustainably

For more inspiration, visit the Love Food Hate Waste website and search pancake recipes for sweet and savoury ideas.

Enjoy your Pancake Day, and remember, small changes in the kitchen can help reduce food waste significantly!

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of recycle-more, Valpak Limited, or any other organisation.