Pancake Day 2024

Pancake day, which will take place on Tuesday 13 February this year, is also known by many as Shrove Tuesday, the day of feasting before Lent begins. Historically, pancakes were made on Shrove Tuesday to use up foods that weren’t eaten during the 40-day period of Lent and to indulge before the fasting began.

Whether you’ll be covering your pancakes on Tuesday in golden syrup or lemon and sugar, we have put together a few tips below of how you can cut waste in the kitchen on pancake day…

1. Buy what you need

We tend to always buy more food than we need. Most of us will have milk and eggs in our fridge already that we can use up, but if not, only buy for people you’re feeding for.

2. Make what you need

One of the reasons why so many pancakes end up going to waste on pancake day (25 million in the UK) is because we make too much batter which many will throw away. Whilst there are ways to use it up, if you don’t want pancakes for the next few days (why would you not?) then the best idea is to think about portions when making them.

3. Leftover batter

However, if you end up with more batter than you anticipated, don’t throw it out! You could put the batter in a covered container for breakfast the next morning, or you could cook all the pancakes and freeze some of them.

Pancake batter can be stored in the fridge for about 3 days if it’s put in the fridge within 2 hours of being made. Once ready to use again whisk the batter back together as it can split whilst in the fridge and use as normal.

To freeze, all you’d need to do is fry off the pancakes, leave them to cool and put them in a labelled container with baking paper separating them. Pancakes can keep in the freezer at their best for a few months. To reheat your pancakes from frozen, place your frozen pancake onto a microwaveable plate and heat on high for about 20 seconds or place straight into a hot pan and cook until fully defrosted.

4. Watch the pancake!

Another few reasons why pancakes are wasted is because they get burnt or flipped onto the floor…The best way to prevent either of these scenarios from happening is by keeping a close eye on them. People tend to say that the first pancake is the worst when making them at home, and this tends to be because the pan hasn’t got hot enough yet, however, you could go to the other extreme and scorch the pancake if you’re not careful.

5. Make the most of your compost bin

Eggs

Once you’ve cracked in your eggs (if you’re using them), you can put the egg shells into your compost bin. You can crunch them up into fine pieces before adding them to your compost or keep them relatively whole which can provide small air pockets in your compost bin.

Lemon peel

If you’re going for the classic lemon juice and sugar topping for your pancakes, we’d suggest making the most of the lemon zest too. Rather than bin the lemon skin straight away, you could use the zest to make a lemon drizzle cake or a lemon posset. Once you’ve made the most of the lemon, put the lemon skin leftovers in the compost – remember that they’re not good for wormeries as they’d be too much in one go for the worms.