Nutriciologist names 4 easy ways to flavor frozen pancakes

“Each of us has faced a situation when we don’t have time to cook and convenience foods come to the rescue. You don’t have to cook them, you just heat them up, and they are tasty and nourishing. We live in a world where there is less and less time for ourselves. Manufacturers are well aware of this. That is why the range of ready-made products in stores is constantly expanding. But are these products useful? What quality are they? Let’s try to deal with these questions on the example of one of the most popular preparations – frozen pancakes”.

Why are semi-finished products so popular?

The cost of frozen foods is steadily rising. The driving factors behind this process are rising standards of living and changing lifestyles.

Consumers prefer frozen foods because of their well-known convenience. Modern man has almost no time to study recipes, buy the right products, and prepare meals. And that’s why it seems so tempting to think that you can buy a ready-made product that only needs to be heated.

Apart from this, there is another reason why people are buying convenience foods: more natural and organic frozen foods have become available, giving this segment a great benefit.

Consumer concerns about preservatives and other ingredients are mitigated by the notion that if foods are natural or organic, they must be fresh or at least healthier. In fact, sometimes these claims by manufacturers are sometimes a marketing ploy.

What are the dangers of frozen foods?

Semi-finished products refer to processed foods with a significantly altered composition compared to its natural state. Such food is subjected to numerous industrial procedures and the addition of ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, fats, emulsifiers, food coloring, artificial flavors and sweeteners. These are used to alter flavor, texture and shelf life. As a result, the product contains more calories than nutrients.

So it’s no surprise that high consumption of ultra-processed foods has been linked to a host of health problems, including heart disease and hypertension.

Don’t completely give up on processed foods: in situations where there is no choice, it is acceptable to prepare certain convenience foods rather than feeling hungry. To try from time to time frozen pizza or pancakes with filling is not a problem, if in general you have a healthy diet.

Therefore, you should allocate a smaller portion of your diet to such foods: less likely to buy packaged convenience foods that contain unhealthy amounts of fat, sugar, salt and additives. It’s better to focus on whole foods. Not only are they more nutritious, but they’re also cheaper.

Cooking frozen pancakes

There are several ways to cook pancakes, which differ in time and the need to add oil.

Cooking pancakes on a griddle

1. Grease a heated frying pan with vegetable oil.
2. Without defrosting, place the pancakes on the pan and fry them on each side until cooked through for a few minutes.

Microwave

1. Place the pancakes from the package in a dish suitable for heating.
2. Without defrosting, heat the product for three to four minutes at 750 W, but it should be understood that the power may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

In the oven

1. Preheat the oven well to 160-180°C.
2. Grease a baking tray with oil and arrange the pancakes on it.
3. Set the cooking time for about 15-20 minutes.

This method is convenient because the pancakes can not be flipped, and the heat cooks them evenly on both sides.

In a multicooker

1. Grease the bowl with vegetable oil.
2. Place the pancakes in a single layer on the bottom of the multicooker.
3. It is better to leave a small distance between the pancakes, as you will need to flip them.
4. Close the lid and turn on the “bake” mode.
5. The cooking time can be set up to 10 minutes.
6. After five minutes, open the lid and carefully flip the pancakes.
7. For the remaining time, bake them on the other side.
8. After the end of the program, you can hold them on the heating for another minute, and then lay them out on a dish.

To always have the opportunity not only to quickly prepare pancakes, but also to be sure of the nutritional properties, you can once make them yourself and immediately freeze them. This method will be both the most time-saving and healthier when compared to convenience foods.

Is it worth buying frozen pancakes?

It seems that ready-made pancakes are already little different from homemade. In fact, this is not the case. Semi-finished products have a number of negative sides:

• inflated calories;
• high levels of added sugar and salt;
• high levels of saturated fat;
• the presence of additives;
• difficulty in determining the quality of the ingredients used for the filling.

All of these ingredients are added by manufacturers for a reason: to make the consumer like the product and want to buy it again. This is how fats, salt and sugar are added to create positive taste sensations. The result is a product rich in calories, but almost empty in nutritional value.

In the case of self-made pancakes, there is an opportunity to adjust the amount of sugar and salt, choose a quality filling, such as meat, and even use any kind of flour, not just wheat flour, which is a fast carbohydrate.

Recipe for homemade frozen pancakes with cottage cheese

Koostisosad

• whole wheat or oat flour – 170 g;
• milk – 350 ml;
• vesi - 150 ml;
• muna - 4 tk;
• cottage cheese – 300 g;
• sour cream – 3 tsp;
• sweetener, vanilla sugar, salt – to taste.

Ettevalmistus

1. In a deep bowl beat the eggs and lightly beat them with a whisk until homogeneous.
2. Add the sweetener, part of the vanilla sugar and a pinch of salt.
3. Pour in the water and milk at room temperature and stir.
4. Add the flour and mix with a whisk.
5. The dough should be homogeneous, without lumps.
6. Pour the batter onto a heated non-stick frying pan, spread it out.
7. Fry on each side for about one minute.
8. Grate the cottage cheese with a fork or through a sieve.
9. Add the sour cream, sweetener and vanilla sugar.
10. Stir and leave for 15 minutes.
11. Place 2 tbsp of filling on the edge of the pancake, cover so that the edge of the pancake covers the filling.
12. Roll the side edges inwards and roll up the pancake.
13. To prevent the pancakes from sticking together, put them on a board and leave them in the freezer for a few hours.
14. Then transfer to a container, close and return to the freezer.

There is also a second way of freezing: each pancake should be wrapped in cling film and then put into a container.