Reader's Questions: Homemade Freezer Pancakes

Melissa from South Florida asked two great questions:

1. How do I keep food cool in the car ride home from the grocery store in the Florida heat? and
2. She would like the recipe, freezing and reheating method for my freezer pancakes

Florida heat can be sooo, well hot! Today it was 85 degrees on the first day of Spring. For keeping food cool I suggest these things: First, make sure the cashier bags all of the frozen food together without other products. I put all of the frozen food onto the belt first and then the other stuff. If I have popsicles or ice cream I ask the cashier to double bag it. Next, I tie the frozen food bags shut with the flaps at the top. When I put the groceries into the back of the car I put all of the frozen food on one side and pile them on top of each other, rather than spreading them out on the bottom. Being close together keeps them cooler. Some people like to keep a cheap styrofoam cooler in the back of the car but if I'm stockpiling items the cooler isn't usually large enough for my stuff so I just do the above things and then put them away immediately after I get home.

Freezer Pancakes:

This makes a lot of pancakes. I make these usually on a Saturday morning for us to eat for breakfast and then just keep making the rest of the batter for the freezer pancakes. If you don't want to make this many just use your regular recipe or even a box of ready made pancake mix and just cook extra for the freezer.

6 1/4 cup flour
5 eggs
6 cups milk plus vinegar below or 6 1/4 cups buttermilk without the vinegar
6 TBS vinegar
5 teaspoons baking powder
5 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

If using milk and vinegar pour the 6 cups of milk and 6 tablespoons of vinegar into a mixing bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and cook pancakes as usual.
If using buttermilk combine all ingredients and cook pancakes as usual.

Freezing Method:

I use the flash freeze method. I have done it 2 ways. First way is to line some baking sheets with wax paper or aluminum foil. Fill the sheet with a single layer of the pancakes, loosely cover and stick into the freezer for about 30 minutes. Then take them out and place inside either gallon or quart size freezer bags. Doing it this way ensure that the pancakes don't stick together and you can reheat as many as you like in the microwave.

The second way I have frozen them is to put 3 pancakes inside a sandwich bag and then put straight into the freezer. These 3 pancakes stick together but we just put the pancakes onto a plate, microwave for about 45 seconds and they come right apart. I put 3 into a bag because that is the usual serving size for my kids for breakfast.

Reheating method:

45 seconds in the microwave! My kids are able to do this themselves so they have a hot breakfast in a quick way.