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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be shocked that anyone buys ready made batter, let alone horrible cold ready-cooked pancakes

93 replies

SebbysMum · 23/02/2009 20:48

Pancakes contain eggs, flour, milk and butter. They require one bowl, one pan and one fork to make. Quick, easy, cheap and fun. Why would anyone want to pay for ready-made, heavily packaged batter or pancakes for tomorrow?

Is this the final proof that part of our population has lost all connection with real food?

Growing up I remember pancake day cooking better than any other evening of food. If kids don't see their parents making pancakes what hope is there that they will grow up feeling able to tackle cooking themselves?

OP posts:
FairLadyRantALot · 23/02/2009 23:07

rofl,jennie you got a point there.....op....fess up....

Twinklemegan · 23/02/2009 23:17

BarcodeZebra - do we "do" Pancake Day up in Scotland (presuming you're north of the border)? I don't know I've only been here a year and a bit.

As for buying them ready made. I buy everyday pancakes because mine are always rubbery, and I like to grab a couple for a morning snack at work. But as for Shrove Tuesday "crepes" - isn't half the fun actually making them and tossing them? What do you do with the ready mades - do you still heat and toss them, or do they go in the microwave??

ilove · 23/02/2009 23:48

I'm working from 9am tomorrow morning till 11pm tomorrow night, with a 90 min break in the middle.

I bought ready made pancakes...from experience feeding my lot them from scratch involves having 2 pans on the go at once and a minimum of 2 hours cooking/flipping/turning etc. Not do-able at all tomorrow!

Twinklemegan · 23/02/2009 23:51

I do put a little melted butter from the pan in my batter, to be fair to the OP!

islandofsodor · 23/02/2009 23:56

I too am perfectly capable pof amking pancakes but we don;t use flour so it's easier to buy 1 pack of ready mix than to get a big bag of flour for just dd. I hate pancakes myself. And we go through eggs so fast in our house we always run out as egg on toast is a favourite.

However dd is at ballet tomorrow night and we don;t get back in until 7pm so I'll have to see if Morrison's Cafe has pancakes on the menu

Clary · 24/02/2009 00:03

I am amazed that so many people don't have flour in the house.

Reminds me of a colleague who was planning to bake cakes with her DD - I said, don't bother to buy SR flour, just use the plain you have with baking powder - turned out she had no flour either!

What do flour-less folk use for a white sauce/pastry/scones and biccies/rolling frozen pastry/gravy/thickening casseroles/coating meat before frying????

Twinklemegan · 24/02/2009 00:04

I think the big clue is the fact they don't have flour. Microwave meals anyone?

queenceleste · 24/02/2009 00:05

I was staring at a bottle of ready mix pancakes today at the supermarket and feeling a little sad. I like making them, they have to taste better homemade dont' they?

queenceleste · 24/02/2009 00:05

Also, maple syrup has shot up in price innit?!!!

TeenyTinyToria · 24/02/2009 00:10

I don't have flour in the house - all my meals are cooked from scratch but nothing I make requires flour. I also don't have eggs because they make me ill.

I can actually bake quite well, I just go to my mum's house as she uses tons of flour and eggs.

I will be making little fat Scottish pancakes tomorrow - the thin ones are no substitute.

queenceleste · 24/02/2009 00:13

the Jamie Oliver recipe is good for the American style pancakes

missfib · 24/02/2009 01:16

sorry prefer the ready made ones!!!
i cant make sweet pancakes to save my life unless anyone had a good recipe ???

islandofsodor · 24/02/2009 10:26

I use cornflour for sauces etc. I don't bake as we don't really eat cake plus my oven cooks enevenly.

islandofsodor · 24/02/2009 10:27

Although as I absolutely hate white, cheese or other sauces I rarely do them either. I mostly make tomato based sauces for the dc with passata and tomato puree.

mm22bys · 24/02/2009 10:44

Zebra

we do have pickled lemons in the fridge, but I am not sure they are Moroccan, oh and spuds too!

I use cornflour for thickening casseroles etc.

I don't really bake - our ovens always seem to take a lot longer to bake cakes than the recipe suggests - last one we made was just way too heavy.....

Rachmumoftwo · 24/02/2009 10:59

The dog always gets the first pancake in this house as it is a gloopy mess

chocolatedot · 24/02/2009 11:36

I mixed up my batter last night so can cook them after work tonight. You absolutely have to have a non stick pan (or a very well seasoned ordinary pan) but making crepes is time consuming. It will take me at least 30 - 40 minutes to cook up the 20 or so I will need tonight.

ClaraJo · 24/02/2009 11:47

the ones my 14-year-old DD made last night did. I was surprised, but apparently that's what Delia says to do, and I have to say, DD's pancakes didn't burn and smoke (like mine always seem to when I put the butter in the pan first). She made a batch up, and I did the bolognese and bechamel sauces for pancake cannelloni. Cba to make pancakes for b/fast this morning, so that's why we had them last night.

SheSellsSeashellsByTheSeashore · 24/02/2009 11:57

My mil had a thing about ready made pancakes a while ago. She was always going on about how sil uses them and her dc have pancakes for breakfast because they are so quick, they only take five mins in the microwave. I should get some seeing how dd1 likes pancakes so much.

I kept telling her it only takes five mins to make proper pancakes on a morning if you prepare the batter the night before, but she was bloody obsessed with these pancakes.

She even bought dd1 some. Her obsession ended when upon producing the second pack of panckes dd1 announced "I didn't like those. They tatsed of poo poo. We fed them to the dog and mummy made proper ones."

Still her heart was in the right place. I later heard from sil that everytime she saw the frozen pancakes in her freezer she would say "Oh you know Seashells always makes her pancakes fresh, she makes up the batter the night before, yes she mashes banana in them sometimes to flavour them....."

pingping · 24/02/2009 11:58

YANBU

noddyholder · 24/02/2009 12:04

What if you are brilliant at blow jobs but crap at pancakes

Rachmumoftwo · 24/02/2009 12:50

I thought of this thread while in Asda earlier.

The voice on the tannoy was promoting ready-made pancakes on aisle whatever, then said 'or if you would rather make them from scratch, we have batter mix on aisle 8.'

wideratthehips · 24/02/2009 12:58

does anyone want to solve the "is it a pancake or a crepe" arguement in our house??

today i will make crepes (thin ones that you can roll up or flip, have with sugar and lemon)

when i make pancakes (or drop scones to some) i like maple syrup or jam on them and they are big and fluffy.

are they all pancakes in essence???

MadameCastafiore · 24/02/2009 13:45

I had to buy a packet mix to get gluten and wheat free!

I do buy ready made crepes for the DCs for brekkie from Waitrose - they are by DDs account better than daddies!

Really do you guys not have anything better to get worked up over?

OrmIrian · 24/02/2009 13:49

Hands up ! I confess. I cannot make pancakes, or yorkshire pudding. I know how to make them in theory but they never work. Too thick, or too thin, or they don't rise enough. I am a reasonable cook, and can tackle most things, but nothing including batter.

A few years ago someone here had a recipe that involved beating the whites seperately and then folding them back into the mix. Works quite well. But I still don't know what I did wrong with a simple food that every other numpty can get right