If you follow my Facebook page, you may have seen a post I made a few weeks ago about making pancakes for the freezer. So, I thought I’d type up a quick post to show you guys how to do it (it’s not difficult at all)!
Freezing pancakes is one of those tricks of the trade that our grandmothers used to do and I remember my frugal mom doing so we could have hot breakfasts before school. If you add in Making Your Own Butter or Making Freezer Jam, all of this will take you back a few years and feel nostalgic.
🍴 Why This Recipe Works
Been Around for Decades – This trick has been around forever and is a tried and true technique for busy families.
Meal Prep – This is one of those perfect meal prep recipes that you need in your back pocket for breakfasts, after school snacks or those famous “breakfast for dinners” that a lot of us love to have.
Frugal – There is no need to buy these from the freezer department at the grocery store when you can make your own at home for pennies.
Fast – Busy families don’t need more added to their plate, so making a few batches of these will be super fast. It will cut down on the stress of crazy mornings when you need to get everyone fed and out the door.
🧈 Ingredients
Pancake Mix – Whether you choose to buy a store bought version or make your own is all up to you for this recipe. Both work out great and the key is to just get them made and in the freezer for later use.
🥞 Instructions
Step One: Cook up the pancakes. I usually make it from scratch, but just didn’t feel like making a big mess this morning, so I used a box mix. It made about 20 pancakes. I know it could’ve been cheaper had I made it from scratch, but sometimes efficiency is worth just as much as frugality. Even so, $1 for several days of breakfast for two is extremely cheap.
Use a nonstick pan to make a couple of pancakes at once.
Step Two: Lay them flat on a cookie sheet and separate each “tier” with aluminum foil to prevent sticking. Once all of the pancakes are cooked up, put the sheet pan into the freezer for two to three hours. It is ready when you can lift the aluminum foil from the pancakes without much sticking.
The reason I freeze them on a tray instead of just stuffing them in a bag immediately after cooking is to prevent them from sticking together. By using this method, you can freeze as many pancakes as you’d like because you can just keep stacking and separating with aluminum foil.
Freezing them on a tray and separating allows you to pull them out individually and only heat up the exact amount you need. Wouldn’t it suck to pull out seven stuck-together-pancakes and only need three?
I don’t have a ton of room in my freezer and actually had to transfer my ice maker tray (it takes up HALF of my bottom-shelf freezer space!) to the fridge while the pancakes were freezing.
Step Three: After freezing, stack them and separate them with small squares of parchment paper.
This made it so much easier to take just one or two out of the bag to reheat for breakfast. I didn’t have to worry at all about them sticking.
Note: I have been grabbing one as a snack in the evenings too, when I get hungry and want something sweet. I add a dab of maple syrup and this really satisfies my sweet tooth!
Step Four: After the pancakes are stacked, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag. They fit perfectly without taking up much space.
Step Five: Reheat these in the toaster, toaster oven or microwave.
❗ Expert Tips
Use the Parchment Paper – If there is just one big thing I would suggest with this technique is to make sure you use parchment or wax paper to separate the flapjacks as they will stick and not come apart.
Use Freezer Safe Bags or Containers – If you don’t use freezer grade bags/containers then the pancakes will get freezer burn very fast and all your hard work will be in the trashcan.
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How to Freeze Pancakes
Ingredients
- Pancake Mix Store bought or homemade
- Parchment Paper
- Ziplock Freezer Bags Gallon Sized
Instructions
- Prepare pancakes as your normally would and allow to cool.
- Lay them flat on a cookie sheet and separate each "tier" with aluminum foil to prevent sticking. Once all of the pancakes are cooked up, put the pancake-filled sheet pan into the freezer for two to three hours. It is ready when you can lift the aluminum foil from the pancakes without much sticking.
- After freezing the pancakes on the sheet pan, stack them and separate them with small squares of parchment paper.
- Transfer them to a freezer-safe bag and they fit perfectly without taking up much space. Some people use a bread bag to store and stack their pancakes. I think that is such a great idea because it would save TONS of space.
- Reheat in toaster, microwave or toaster oven.
Notes
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
Very clear instructions!! Good to make ahead in a batch
Try saving the bags from ceral boxes. Cut the bag open & then cut squares out to fit your panckes, hamburgers or whatever you’re freezing that you want to stack.
Genius!
Inevitably, with pancakes or waffles, there must be bacon, at my house at least. I usually cook 3-5 packages at once so I don’t have to do it (or, especially, to clean up afterwards) as often. I spilt it into 3-5 ziploc freezer bags and put it in the freezer. It doesn’t seem to stick together, so I don’t bother with freezing on a cookie sheet.
How long can I keep in these in the freezer for? Would they be able to last 2 weeks?
School is about to start again and I’m trying to find breakfast ideas like this one and keep them in my dorm fridge/freezer. I am also going to do your “bake ahead eggs” recipe and bring it to college =) Except I’ll probably cut it up with my fork after heating it up and eat it with rice instead.
Thanks!
I haven’t done these in a while, but I think I remember them lasting about a month if I made enough at once. We always run out before too long haha! Since you’re putting these in a dorm freezer try saving a bagel/bread bag so you can save room when stacking. I’ve seen that tip all over Pinterest and thought I’d pass it along. 🙂
I’ve been doing this for years. But I have come up with a *loaded* pancake recipe. I add sliced(crumbled) sausage and bacon. I add strips of maple syrup also. Use the real kind not the fake kind. Tastes and cooks better. You can get a good deal at ALDI’s for the syrup.
Great idea!
Interested in the strips of maple syrup…Do you add the syrup to the pancake batter before cooking? Trying to make syrup infused pancakes to make homemade McGriddles
I make a double batch of pancakes every two weeks for my family. I let them cool on a cookie rack to speed up the cooling process then once cool, I slide a paper plate with them into the freezer for about 20 minutes. After that I layer them in three’s and slide them into a cheap sandwich baggie. I put the sandwich baggies into a freezer bag and then I have an individual serving for anyone that wants them and they can stay that way for months and months, although they rarely get to stay that long. I don’t use tin foil and never have a problem with sticking when its not used. So the biggest benefit of doing it this way is I get to sleep in on a Saturday morning and they get to have homemade pancakes whenever they want them!
Great idea. I do the same thing with homemade waffles as well! They reheat well in the toaster.
One suggestion for freezing individual layers – waxed paper! It is far less expensive than foil.
if you have a side by side it is easier to use a cutting board than a cookie sheet! I can get my cutting board in the freezer but a cookie sheet is too wide.
Great tip, Rebecca!
I have an idea so you do not work so hard and do not spend in foil, just let them cool on your desk and when they are cold bag tthem in a tower in the freezer, the do not stick! also works with waffles.