I was making pancakes this morning and decided to add up the cost of them. If I make a triple batch the pancakes cost about $7 to make and then we use about 1.5 cups of maple syrup at a meal which adds another $3+ to the meal. Add a couple pieces of fruit divided among us and one breakfast ends up costing about $7 for a breakfast.

This is where I have a hard time. If I made pancakes from white flour or a mix and bought cheap corn syrup based syrup our meals would be much cheaper. I don't feel comfortable doing that though so using spelt and whole wheat graham flour and pure maple syrup really brings up the cost. My pancakes also call for a large amount of milk which adds a couple dollars to a double batch in regards to cost.

Do you think it is possible to cut some of the milk and replace it with water or does the protein in the milk help something happen? Another trick I might use is to have the kids put some peanut butter on the pancakes and then just drizzle a bit of maple syrup on them (they had this when we visited Tennessee and they loved it). I wonder if putting jam on htem would be cheaper. Dh grew up in Maple Syrup country and is a syrup snob so getting rid of the syrup is not an option.

hmm, well we replace the milk with fruit juice sometimes, or yogurt-it varies based on what I have in the cupboard. You could also use powdered milk.

We use honey as the topping, and it is so sweet the kids use very little. I usually give them about 1 Tsp each to dip in, and the ask for more once.

I hear you on using quality ingredients, t does make it so much harder to eat cheaply!

We use powdered milk in pancakes, or buttermilk powder bought in bulk.

Also are you buying maple syrup in large quantity? Here a gallon is around $30.

Oh and make fewer pancakes, and serve eggs as a side dish. :)

What about using whole wheat flour? The other thought I had was maybe putting the syrup on the side and letting everyone dip their pancakes instead of drizzling it on top where it soaks in. That might help reduce the amount of syrup used for each meal. :)

I made waffles this morning and was looking at my bag of whole flax seeds thinking next time I'd grind them up and add them. It would add a lot of nutrients, but not cost a fortune, kwim?

I've also been thinking about blending oats into oat powder/flour and adding that to things like muffins - I bet the same would work for muffins.

Are you getting your flour pre-packaged like from Bob's or in bulk? That will make a big difference.

I use water a lot in my pancakes, just because we don't buy cows milk a lot, don't buy soya and I don't like the taste of rice milk in them

i think whole foods are vital to your families health. so I would not skimp AT ALL.

you can water down the milk with water. I used to use rice milk..which is SUPER watery and it worked FINE.

the way we control maple syrup usage is each person gets a shot glass and that is it. So that is one ounce. for your family that would be 5 ounces. each person gets control over their own shot glass....when it is gone it is gone.

also, you can try a small amount of rapadura sugar sprinkled across with a squeeze of lemon juice over and some fruit.

you can also use an egg sub for some of the eggs if you want...if that would save you money. there us a really good one with oil water and Cream of tartar...I can dig it up if you want. I haven't used it in a while:P

hth!

What do people mean by maple syrup? We use maple syrup from a maple tree, so we don't ever use a shot glass each as it can be costly. I think it's about $8 for 500g. We could get the fake stuff, but that is just sugar water for $1,79

What do people mean by maple syrup? We use maple syrup from a maple tree, so we don't ever use a shot glass each as it can be costly. I think it's about $8 for 500g. We could get the fake stuff, but that is just sugar water for $1,79
I am pretty sure Bobbi Jo means the maple syrup from the maple tree as do I.
Yup, expensive.
Dh and the kids love it and we only eat pancakes about once a month.
maple syrup here...it costs $32 for 32 OZ about 1000 g.

nak, that is a lot of syrup!! the real deal syrup is so pricey i am a syrup grinch at time ~ just a drizzle per pancake for us!

It costs $32 for 32 OZ about 1000 g.

WOW that is crazy. I'm in Canada and we buy it from local places, I think I could get 2L for $25 here. 5 minute walk from us we have an urban maple bush. If shipping wasn't crazy I would send you some from up here.
I was at the supermarket last week and so many families put the fake stuff in their carts.

i am a syrup grinch at time ~ just a drizzle per pancake for us!

--- Same here:)----

semi-sweet chocolate chips are an easy, cheap, way to add a bit of sweetness, and not as much "sugar" as maple syrup.

And we do the dipping also.

we use real maple syrup too and it is pricey. we don't use it EVERYtime for pancakes. just some of the time. i really like apple butter and pumpkin butter and fruit toppings or bananas/cashews/drizzle of maple syrup

It costs $32 for 32 OZ about 1000 g.

WOW that is crazy. I'm in Canada and we buy it from local places, I think I could get 2L for $25 here. 5 minute walk from us we have an urban maple bush. If shipping wasn't crazy I would send you some from up here.
I was at the supermarket last week and so many families put the fake stuff in their carts.

Ya, I think I got a 1L from the farmers market for $16 iirc. I love it sooo much.

Ours averages out to less than $8 a liter! But then, we are in the heart of maple syrup country. ;)

i am a syrup grinch at time ~ just a drizzle per pancake for us!

--- Same here:)----

lol!
I totally understand.
dh was bummed when I allocated an ounce for him :drop:

Ours averages out to less than $8 a liter! But then, we are in the heart of maple syrup country. ;)

ppffffftttttttt!

Bobbi Jo,

While my recipe is not the exact same, pancakes are not cheap for us either due to the maple syrup, organic free range eggs, soy milk, and the whole grain organic flour.

You may find that the jam/jelly that is made w/out adding sugar is expensive also. (well, so is natural peanut butter around where I live *lol*) I love the Polaner brand jelly and it is expensive. (but the healthiest I can find)

Pancakes could be really cheap...just like you said in your post. I can't make them that way either.

Our solution is to have them once a month....it is a treat I make for the children once a month when dh is gone for his monthly school board meeting.

I have come to believe, at least with the area where I live, that eating really healthy is really expensive. *lol* My food budget seems to be so high, but I won't give up on nutrition to lower it. (I'm just grateful I don't have to, KWIM?)

Michelle

hmm, well we replace the milk with fruit juice sometimes, or yogurt-it varies based on what I have in the cupboard. You could also use powdered milk.

We use honey as the topping, and it is so sweet the kids use very little. I usually give them about 1 Tsp each to dip in, and the ask for more once.

I hear you on using quality ingredients, t does make it so much harder to eat cheaply!

Honey is a great idea! We get that locally and oftentimes we get it for free from ranchers who have excess. Great idea for the expensive maple syrup!!!

Michelle

Anytime sweetener is called for we use real maple syrup, honey, or Rapadura sugar. I know, I posted in the past about making our own syrup, and we still can with the Rapadura, but why bother when they are happy to sprinkle it on?

I try to guide the boys to honey, which I pay $1.40 a pound for (wildflower would be cheaper). Maple syrup from a friend is $8 for 540 ml, or from the store it is $28 for 64 oz. So we might start with a little maple syrup on porridge, and after that they use honey or Rapadura.

I find porridge to be less expensive than pancakes. We make cornmeal mush, brown rice farina, or gluten free oatmeal. For a higher protein meal you could make quinoa porridge.

When we lived in florida I did major syrup rationing. that is a lot of syrup for each person when you are on a budget.
doing part milk part water would also be doable and I often put things in the pancakes, mashed bananas and walnuts, chocolate chips, berries, a small blob of apple butter right in the batter. stuff that works as filler and gives them some character for cheap and then you use less syrup also.

real for everyone else.

My children and I don't like the flavor of real maple, we prefer the flavored alternative.

Only my dh eats the real in our home.

Honey is too sweet for me...on pancakes...

I do really like the sprinkled rapadura with squeezed lemon though.

I am such a ample syrup mama. I love it sooo much.

Cornmeal mush is what I really like maple syrup for. Something about that maple and corn flavor together.

This might sound like a dumb question but if you are using all of these more expensive/better quality ingredients... isn't anything you make going to be expensive?

For a higher protein meal you could make quinoa porridge.

quinoa is high in protein? (hoping it is)

Is it high compared to other vegetarian choices for getting protein?

Sorry for going OT for a post.....

Michelle

I dunno - pancakes ARE super cheap for us. But then I use ww flour, with some wheat germ and oat bran in them. I use yogurt instead of buttermilk, and water, and normal eggs. Then on top we use hm syrup (equal parts white sugar, brown sugar and water (boiled for about 5 minutes), and then add a little bit of vanilla extract). But just as frequently we top with whatever fruit we have laying around and more yogurt.

I gotta say that we don't like the taste of real maple syrup either. I'm ashamed that we buy the jugs of generic pancake syrup. But I'm a kiwi and I use lemon juice and sugar anyway, or cream cheese and jam. I'm careful about how much the kids use of the pancake syrup too, because it's not good for them, I know! I would like to make it myself, but it seems it's still made from white sugar, which can't be good.

Pancakes are a treat, and I don't think they're the healthiest thing out there. I add extra eggs for protein, serve them with applesauce or fresh fruit and milk to add some nutrition, and call it good for an occasional meal!

Kerri

Yes, we sub half milk half water, have for a while.

You can also dice apples or other local-in-season fruit pretty well and add it right to the batter.

Or for a special treat chocolate chips (or your variant).

Also have other topping choices at the table, jam, fruit, pb, applesauce, etc.

Also, I swear I read someplace (mothering? someplace like that) where you can cut pure maple syrup with other syrup types and it's barely noticeable. Now I don't know about it because we almost never have "real" syrup, we can't afford it. I know there are organic table syrups, we have them buy us but we have a LOT of organic strange things here, it's just mostly really way out of our budget.

Hope you find a good compromise mama!

Thanks for everyones advice.

The pancakes I make us spelt flour, whole wheat graham flour, eggs, safflower oil, ground oatmeal, ground flax seed, milk and vanilla. I buy my flours, oil, oatmeal, and flax in bulk from the co-op, and my eggs from the co-op as well. We do not use powdered milk in them because the processing that milk goes to to make it powdered takes away most of the nutrients from it. To make my $7 batch last through three meals I have to limit each person to three pancakes.

Maple syrup here is $37 a gallon and that is me getting it at a reduced rate by buying 13 gallons at a time (8 are for us and 5 are for friends). The regular rate of a gallon here is between $40 and 42 per gallon. I did fnally find some through a co-op that tasted pretty good (not as good as what we normally get) for a few dollars less than that. We go through 10-12 oz. at a meal with each persn eating on avg. 3 pancakes.

The kids don't like the fake stuff either and since most of it is full of corn syrup or white sugar I would rather not give it to them. I do get the Organic peanut butter jars from Costco for a good price which is why I am wondering if adding that would be a good comprimise. I do try to give them eggs on the side to limit the amount of pancakes but two of my kids have a really sensitive gag reflex to certain textures and eggs is one of the foods that bothers them.

For those of you who do not like maple syrup I can guess that you are not getting it from a good source that processes it well. Many syrup makers (both small and large operations) use aluminum buckets for collecting and aluminum pots for boiling down the sap. The aluminum leaches into this syrup and gives it a very metallic and sometimes acidic taste. The place we get ours from is dh's parent's neighbors (dh used to collect sap for them as a teen) and they use all stainless steel in their sap cooking. There syrup is awesome. If your only experience with maple syrup has been from a large store or from a small operation using aluminum you really should treat yourself to the good stuff. Also, there are several different grades of syrup from light to dark. Often the dark stuff is what is sold in most stores and it is much thicker and has a stronger taste than the medium to medium light that we prefer.

Well it sounds like for you pancakes ARE a pretty extravagant treat... I would limit them to special occasions. Dh's family loves eggs benny but they only have them on Christmas.

See, we don't drink *any* milk regularly, so for us using powdered is just more for flavor than for nutrients. If we had milk on hand just for the once a week we have pancakes it would go bad. (We don't use it for much else if anything, as far as cooking.) It is a relatively small amount in our recipe.

Oatmeal or quinoa porridge an option for breakfasts? My kids eat oatmeal or eggs for daily fare. Pancakes are a once a week thing, Saturday or Sunday morning.

So, it's $7 for three meals? 'Cause that's not too bad :)

For those of you who do not like maple syrup I can guess that you are not getting it from a good source that processes it well. Many syrup makers (both small and large operations) use aluminum buckets for collecting and aluminum pots for boiling down the sap. The aluminum leaches into this syrup and gives it a very metallic and sometimes acidic taste. The place we get ours from is dh's parent's neighbors (dh used to collect sap for them as a teen) and they use all stainless steel in their sap cooking. There syrup is awesome. If your only experience with maple syrup has been from a large store or from a small operation using aluminum you really should treat yourself to the good stuff. Also, there are several different grades of syrup from light to dark. Often the dark stuff is what is sold in most stores and it is much thicker and has a stronger taste than the medium to medium light that we prefer.

where do you live? I have never heard of syrup makers using any reactive metal. Here they all use plastic buckets to collect and stainless steel to cook.
(we make our own syrup now and did a lot of research on this last year)

So, it's $7 for three meals? 'Cause that's not too bad :)

Okay, good question.

For some reason when I read the OP I thought she was saying $7 a plate. But now that I re-read it sounds like $7 a meal?

We live in Michigan and through talking to a few different people who make it and through a business that sells equipment for it we got the information. I am not sure if it is people who have had their equipment for a long time or what but some do use aluminum and it does drastically change the taste IMO.

$7 a meal. We are trying to eat for $17 a day though and since everyone talks about breakfasts foods being cheap I was just scratching my head about how uncheap a breakfast is for us when using whole food ingredients.

Here is our pancake recipe. We are vegan. Fresh ground whole wheat flour, flax seed meal (optional), applesauce, baking powder, baking soda, a little salt and you can add some sweetener if you want. That is it and then add water to the desired consistency. Fairly cheap and delicious!

Would you mind giving specific measurements for your pancakes? I would like to try them since they eliminate two of the most expensive ing. in mine (milk and eggs).

I don't think $7 a meal for a family your size is expensive at all.

I don't consider pancakes a particularly healthy meal, so they are always a treat breakfast we do. My eldest can't stand pancakes -- it is probably his least favourite food (and he only has three or four things he won't eat). He would eat liver before eating an American style pancake. We have sugar and lemon on our english style pancakes (he likes that kind because there is no baking soda in them).

Oatmeal is crazy cheap (we like ours with frozen blueberries) and much more nutritious that would really help your budget and then you could have pancakes as a once in a while blowout and not worry as much about cost and nutrients.

To make my $7 batch last through three meals I have to limit each person to three pancakes.

why do you need it to last three meals?

The batch I make will last three meals. I make it up all at once and freeze the leftovers so that they can be popped in the teaster during the week.

Oatmeal is cheap but with 2 kids with a really bad gag reflex to foods like oatmeal, potatoes, etc... it is not a breakfast we can all enjoy. I still do make it but only on days that I am offering boxed cereal to the other two or else the third kiddo will pick whatever else I am serving over it as well.

One of the main issues I have with breakfasts is that it seems that at least 1-2 people in our family have an aversion to any breakfast food. Pancakes and waffles are the one thing that most in our family can agree on other than homemade granola.

If countrygal will post her recipe I am going to try it since it will cut about $1 off of my per meal pancake amount. I am also going to try to do the shot glass syrup trick as well to cut them down on what they consume which should also save me at least a buck and a half per meal. That would take it down to about $5 per meal which fits better into the budget I have for us.

what about serving the pancakes cold with a schmear of apple butter on them? In Britain you eat scotch pancakes which are like American pancakes only smaller (about 2-3 inches across) with butter and jam, sometimes they have raisins and lemon rind in them too. Perhaps if you don't call them pancakes, call them scotch pancakes instead then your family won't have maple syrup issues.

Is Dh on board with this budget or is it just you? If he is then talk to him about the syrup thing.

What about (gag puke -- I can't stand them!) bean burritos for breakfast?

For those of you who do not like maple syrup I can guess that you are not getting it from a good source that processes it well.

I can assure you that I can afford the top of the line stuff, but I still don't like it. I don't like the smell or taste of it.
Nothing to do with quality, it's as question of taste.

As far as pancakes, I use either water or rice milk, because of Vedavati's allergies. They come out just the same. I like to put apple sauce in batter actually to give it more "body" if that makes sense.
We make ours with quinoa and potato flour mostly.

And well, if you want to feed your family the best stuff and are convinced that that's what you want, then price shouldn't matter (as long as you can afford it of course) but $7 for 3 meals is pretty darned cheap :)

Dh is definitely on board. He does lurve him some real maple syrup though and since he doesn't every ask for anything specific but this I hate to tell him to tone down the syrup use. He does try to save money though by making sure he uses his finger in the empty syrup pan to mop up and eat every last drop (this is after we have poured the leftovers back in the jug) since he says it is to expensive to not waste any of it :lol:

I have never had pancakes with sugar and lemon on them. I will have to try it. When we were kids we were very poor and my mom would make us french toast with half egg, half water on bread from the day old breadstore and she topped it with margarine and granulated sugar:eyes: I can't even stand to think of that concoction now but back then we used to eat it up. Just remembering it makes my teeth hurt.

When we were kids we were very poor and my mom would make us french toast with half egg, half water on bread from the day old breadstore and she topped it with margarine and granulated sugar:eyes: I can't even stand to think of that concoction now but back then we used to eat it up. Just remembering it makes my teeth hurt.

we had that too, though we weren't poor at all, quite the opposite. Oh and the bread was more than a day old ;)
Didn't suffer from it in any way :p

I haven't tried this with spelt, however I do it with other whole grains (and you may already do this): Try buying spelt grain in bulk rather than spelt flour. Grind it in your blender until fine enough for your liking, and then measure it for your pancakes or other uses. Buying it as the grain should be cheaper than buying spelt flour.

Top of this page has good info on substituting -- they mention using a ripe banana in place of egg, etc.

Vegetarian Journal Nov/Dec 98 Vegetarian Action -- The Vegetarian Resource Group (http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj99jul/99julpancakes.htm)

There are several variations there, as well, and some of them may provide you with options you can use more cheaply, esp if you can buy when the varying ingredients are on sale or you find them cheap in bulk, and then keep on hand.

Bobbie Jo,
There is an Amish family that sells maple syrup at the GR farmer's market for $36 a gallon. Once I bought a case (4 gallons), and I think they sold it to me for $32. I don't know what kind of buckets they use. It's yummy. I also get organic maple syrup from costco for about $17 a half gallon. (Again, I don't know how it's collected).

Kbsmama Do you know Anja at the GR market. Her and her husband own Trillium Haven CSA? If so, you can see my handiwork at her booth because I LWI'd all the shirts that she sells :)

Also, have you ever seen the organic pancake syrup at Costco? It isn't maple syrup but was organic. I remember looking at it once and almost bought it but when I went back the next time it wasn't there :(

I have never gotten the breakfast for dinner thing being cheap. Unless someone is talking hot cereal. But the whole bacon, eggs, potatoes, toast/pancakes thing is just as expensive as a dinner.

I don't know Anja, but I am familiar with Trillium Haven. I will have to watch for your stuff next time we go...in May. :wah:

I have not seen the pancake syrup.

I don't know if this is helpful so I'm just throwing out info:

(;peek: okay, that's too weird. They upped the price as I was looking at this page and then came back to it after navigating away a minute. Freaky.)

Non-organic spelt flour on the vita-spelt site is listed at $7.03 per 2 lbs. ($3.52ish per lb.)
https://www.purityfoods.com/VitaSpeltProducts/tabid/55/CatalogItemID/17/CatalogID/1/psnavcmd/CatalogItemDetails/Default.aspx

Non-organic spelt grain, same site, $9.50 per 5 lbs ( $1.90 per lb)
https://www.purityfoods.com/VitaSpeltProducts/tabid/55/CatalogItemID/59/CatalogID/1/psnavcmd/CatalogItemDetails/Default.aspx

Organic spelt grain, same site, $10.40 for 5 lbs. ($2.08 per lb.) and it gets cheaper from there, of course, as you buy in bulk.
https://www.purityfoods.com/VitaSpeltProducts/tabid/55/CatalogItemID/62/CatalogID/1/psnavcmd/CatalogItemDetails/Default.aspx

https://www.purityfoods.com/Default.aspx?tabid=55&master=6

I don't recall how much flour one can consistently get from a cup of grain, though... I can try to find a reliable conversion, I think my cookbook might have it.

I can assure you that I can afford the top of the line stuff, but I still don't like it. I don't like the smell or taste of it.
Nothing to do with quality, it's as question of taste.



I agree with this. My whole family loves real maple syrup and I just can't do it. There is an aftertaste that I can't get past and I have tried many many kinds (including the variety that my friend's family produces in Northern Canada).

Yeah, the aftertaste is weird and sour or something. Ugh.

I buy 25 lb. bags of vitaspelt organic spelt flour for less than $25 a bag including co-op fees so it is less than $1 a lb.

I will agree that the really dark stuff does have an aftertaste. To each their own I guess. I actually wish my family didn't like it since it would save me about $300 a year!

Mmmm, we love the dark stuff best.

I won't say yet, but if we happen across the right equipment or can borrow some, we might sugar ourselves this spring. Around here it is all stainless steel equipment as far as I have seen, and plastic buckets or tanks.

Sorry to take it OT...I agree $7 for 3 meals sounds pretty cheap to me. I hear you on the gag reflex/pickiness issue. It is one of our biggest barriers to eating cheap around here. In fact the only thing I really want to do with our increased income is buy better quality food and buy stuff that everyone will eat and not worry about it. I spend so much energy trying to come up with frugal stuff that works for everyone and doesn't involve cooking 3 separate meals. It drives me crazy!

It is $7 per meal not for 3 meals. I can make 3 meals worth of pancakes for $7-8 but by the time you add the syrup it ends up being $7 per meal. Heck, if I could feed my family pancakes for $2.50 I would be on cloud nine.

I love pancakes! I always have on hand, in the freezer, and mixture of 2 parts ww flour : 1 part flaxmeal : 1 part wheatgerm. The wheatgerm is nice and binding, so I can eliminate, or at least cut down on the egg requirement. I add a little cinnamon to it, too, to boost the taste, and vanilla. I also really love a squeeze of lemon juice in the batter. Yum! Another idea is to use oat flour in your dry ingredients. Lots of ways to cut down on the cost!

I love the idea of the jam mixed with cream cheese, I'm going to have to switch to that. We love real maple syrup, but mama doesn't love the sticky finger and faces and clothes that are an inevitable result. :lol:

Wanted to add - three pancakes is a lot for each person! Your family members are all still hungry after 3 pancakes? DH and I are even full after 3. I would definitely have a bowl of hot cereal (either straight oatmeal or a mix of oats, quinoa and millet with a pat of butter and a touch of honey or sugar) to fill up the belly. Some fresh fruit would be even better! Or you can make a giant batch of sweet potato muffins (I looooove the recipe I have from Wondertime) that will fill them up the rest of the way.

And I just, again, saw that your fam goes through 12 ounces of syrup! That's a ton! We do the dipping thing, too, and it works great. No need to have your pancakes swimming in syrup.

this thread is making me crave pancakes.

I guess I don't see three as being a large amount. They are about 4" each and I don't see three as being any different than eating a full sandwich with two pieces of bread and the innards. The syrup is not drowning the plate at all. I may try the dipping thing but I am wondering if it will make a mess and if the pancakes will break up into the dipping container and cause alot of whining from my anal retentive children:lol:

We do have fresh fruit with our pancakes as I stated in my OP. We generally go through at least 2 apples and an orange with a breakfast like this and usually more.

We also heat our syrup which makes it runnier. I am wondering if I didn't heat it if I could get away with less because it would soak in less.

Bobbie Jo,
Thank you for making me actually evaluate the cost of maple syrup...We have been using maple syrup in everything for years now, I use it to make granola, pumpkin muffins, pudding, chocolate syrup (these are not things I make all the time...), but we also put it in our oatmeal, rice, etc.

I guess I just figured I was getting such a good deal on it comparatively, I didn't even consider how much it was still costing. I will be paying closer attention to how much we use. Like you, we don't drown pancakes, but I will often just pour some into our cereals, so I will be rationing it a bit more. It is easy to be generous with it if you're pouring it out of a gallon jug. Also, though we haven't fed our extended family in some time, I won't be sharing the real stuff with them since they don't seem to care anyway, and do drown things in it....(Just call me scrooge).

When we lived in florida I did major syrup rationing. that is a lot of syrup for each person when you are on a budget.
doing part milk part water would also be doable and I often put things in the pancakes, mashed bananas and walnuts, chocolate chips, berries, a small blob of apple butter right in the batter. stuff that works as filler and gives them some character for cheap and then you use less syrup also.

anything to add to the consistency and sweetness is also loved by my family as well & we do all of the above. especially bananas and berries - whichever is on sale or even out of date (they get mushed up anyway).

I have never gotten the breakfast for dinner thing being cheap. Unless someone is talking hot cereal. But the whole bacon, eggs, potatoes, toast/pancakes thing is just as expensive as a dinner.

we found this to be true for us as well. not to mention the breakfast menu isn't the healthiest to be repeated for dinner, kwim?

this thread is making me crave pancakes.

:lol: Me too.

Bobbi Jo, I think you're right about not heating it up. Also we put ours into a narrow-mouthed container so you can really dribble it out instead of it pouring out of a pitcher or jar or jug. (We fill from the gallon jug.)

We dip, because otherwise the syrup soaks in and then it's "gone" according to my kids. But we don't dip in a separate container. Pancakes are on one side of the plate, and a little puddle of syrup is on the other. I'd say the four of us go through, max, 1/2 cup of syrup with a batch of pancakes for breakfast.

We also make our pancakes differently though. No baking soda. They're like a cross between pancakes and crepes and Katie calls them "pancrepes." (She is the one who makes them.) We do use white flour, or now we'll have to figure out how to make them GF, actually. We have them just on Saturdays so I'm not terribly concerned about WW flour and have just never had luck getting pancakes we like with WW flour. We like them thin and eggy.

Thin and eggy also means they don't soak in as much syrup, and they hold together better for dipping into syrup. I know you said you really don't want to change your ingredients/recipe, but just thought I'd throw out there, how our "system" works.

I swear I have never given pancakes this much thought! LOL.

I know I'm late in the game here, but we switched to an old squeeze bottle for dispensing syrup. It's working well. My kids are using much less over all, as it comes out in a drizzle. We used to dip, but that soaks up just as much as pouring it on in my experience. HTH

my suggestion is different ) make mini pancakes that can be dipped :) It sounds like the pancakes you make are very cakey and sucking up a lot of syrup. If you make small ones then you could dip them into the syrup instead of drenching them in it.

lol sorry , I missed that there was a second page to this before I replied!
heather

I have a great idea... just get some chickens and a milk cow and then pancakes will be much cheaper. :lol: Actually I am very grateful to have those things to use at my disposal, even with the feed costs figured in, it saves us a ton of money.

I will second (or third..) the suggestion for apple butter as a topping. It is very yummy on warm pancakes. I like it better than the syrup even.

Or you might try mixing some maple syrup, vanilla and cream cheese and put "frosting" on their pancakes. :)

I think city zoning may frown upon me having a couple of cows and chickens on my 3/4 acre city lot :) Not being able to have animals is one of the drawbacks of choosing a cheap home in town but the location and the small housepayments are to great to pass up for the time being.

The kids did try apple butter today and really liked it so maybe that is an option.

Mmmmm...I might have to try apple butter...

I have gotten a ton of great ideas from this thread. I love it!

Now to convince dh to get a milk cow... ;)

LOL! We live in a townhome with flats over top in a larger city:)

I have a great idea... just get some chickens and a milk cow and then pancakes will be much cheaper. :lol: Actually I am very grateful to have those things to use at my disposal, even with the feed costs figured in, it saves us a ton of money.

I will second (or third..) the suggestion for apple butter as a topping. It is very yummy on warm pancakes. I like it better than the syrup even.

Or you might try mixing some maple syrup, vanilla and cream cheese and put "frosting" on their pancakes. :)