Tips To Have A Sustainable Pancake Day
Whether you observe Pancake Day as a religious holiday or as an excuse to load up your plate with stacks of fluffy goodness, Shrove Tuesday is rooted in the spirit of zero waste. In its conception, Pancake Day was a time to use up perishable ingredients before the fasting of Lent began. Back then, it was treasures like butter, eggs, or milk that were being saved from the bin. Nowadays, in honouring the indulgent holiday, we throw away 660,000 eggs and 360 million litres of milk every year. That’s around four million pancakes annually. In fact, around 25 million pancakes are wasted in the UK on Shrove Tuesday alone every year. That’s a pretty big heap on the top our your bin. Whilst the religious heart of Shrove Tuesday may have melted into Lurpak two-for-ones and Nutella jingles, with a few small adjustments, the anti-waste spirit of the day doesn’t have to fall as flat as that first pancake in the pan.
At Open House Deli, the zero waste mindset of Pancake Day is still alive and flipping. We have some tips to reduce the amount of waste in your household this year:
1. Reduce Your Food Waste
Egg shells are a big bi-product of crafting your perfect pancake. But they’re also great product in your compost heap. Crush the shells up and add to your soil, they decompose fast and contain lots of lovely minerals. They also deter slugs and snails from getting first dibs on your veggies. If you’ve got left over bananas going black come Ash Wednesday, squish them up and make them to use banana pancakes. Pancake Day round two!
2. Use Up What You've Got
In reigniting the spirit of pancake day, it's the perfect time to scour the cupboards to see what ingredients it's time to use up. Why not utilise that almond flour you bought for a specific recipe last year and go for a gluten free pancake day? Or finally use up that baking chocolate that’s been hiding at the back of your cupboard?
3. Shop Local
The best way to reduce your carbon footprint for Pancake Day is to shop locally. By popping into your local farmers market, or waste free store, you are saving an immense amount of carbon emissions that come from farming and transporting produce needed to sculpt your pancake stack. At Open House Deli, we use only Vale Farm eggs, that come from a farm in Kings Worthy, Hampshire in our buckwheat pancakes. We also sell them in our retail fridges by the dozen. 
For toppings such as honey, fruit and maple syrups, why not have a hunt for produce that comes from down the road? At Open House Deli, we get our fruit and veggies from Bellord and Brown who’s stock always changes with the seasons. If you’re Winchester based, our Forage and Forge honey from Sparsholt is a great alternative to the non-sustainable supermarket alternatives.
4. No Batter In The Bin!
If you do end with an eyes bigger than your belly situation, make sure to freeze your batter for a later date. Frozen pancake batter can last in the fridge for up to three months, and in the fridge between two to four days. Alternatively, you can easily repurpose the batter for another recipe.
5. Go Out To Eat
Consider going out for pancakes this Pancake Day! We may be biased, but our Buckwheat Pancakes are worth the trip out for. Not only are you getting some top notch pancakes, but there’s no risk of wasting ingredients in the process. And a bonus? There’s no mess to clean up afterwards... We’ve got the washing up covered.
