A few days ago, you’ve noticed that you still have some pancake mix left. It goes way back and expired a few months. Does pancake mix go bad? Is it still okay to use it?
You’re wondering because you want to bake some pancakes to celebrate your birthday. We all get it, you don’t want to throw the pancake mix away, because that’s why you’re here.
Most likely, the pancake mix will be just fine to use.
This article will cover all you need to know about pancake mix, its shelf life, how to store it properly, and its spoilage signs.
Enjoy the read!
How Long Can Pancake Mix Last
We will start with a quick table for your convenience:
| Pancake Mix | Pantry |
|---|---|
| Unopened | Best-by date + up to 6 months |
| Opened | Best-by date + up to 6 months |
As you can see, pancake mix does last for a long time: up to 1 year. The thing is, the pancake mix just doesn’t get bad that fast when you’re storing everything correctly. You could use it easily some months after the expiration date. Unopened or opened, when stored correctly, it should be no different.
When you open other products, foods, or drinks, they will spoil a lot faster because they’re exposed to external threats like heat, air, sunlight, bacteria, moisture, strong odors, and so on. Pancake mix that has been opened, but sealed tight after that, won’t spoil faster on one condition: proper storage.
There are a lot of brands for pancake mixes like Dr. Oetker, XXL Nutrition, Birch Benders, and so on. These brands will always give you advice and a best-by-date. Just like with cake mix and other foods, a best-by date is meant to give us general guidance and is by no means an expiration date or date whereafter the pancake mix will be very bad. Just think of it as an indicator of quality. It will do the job just fine.
Can You Use Expired Pancake Mix
Of course, you can. Just don’t eat expired pancake mix, no one has gotten better from eating pancake mix, expired or not.
Be thoughtful when you use pancake mix that’s a long way over time. It’s the same for cake mix, it will still do the job but don’t expect great pancakes. You can add baking powder or baking soda to your pancake mix when your pancakes are quite flat. Over time, it will lose its potency.
Try to apply the following ratio or rule for upgrading your expired pancake mix:
Weigh the pancake mix on a scale and add about 1/5th of that weight of baking powder. That should do the trick in most cases. The longer it is expired, the more likely you should add more baking powder to the mix. We generally say if it’s up to 6 months, 1/5th will do just fine.
Just be careful as this is general advice, pancake mixes aren’t universal and differ from brand to brand. Just use the above trick when you’re in need of it and don’t have a plan B (new pancake mix).
The above periods can be used when your pancake mix was stored properly.
How To Store Pancake Mix
Pancake mix should be stored in the same way as your store similar dry ingredients. This will most likely be in a cool and dry area like the pantry or cupboard.
Where do you store ingredients like sugar, baking powder, flour, and your cake mix? Store your pancake mix there as well.
We’ve mentioned the pantry and the cupboard. The pantry is a cooler place than the cupboard in your kitchen and you can place the opened ingredients in the cupboard, closer to you when cooking and baking. Store the unopened ones in the pantry.
When storing products, you should always be careful after you’ve opened the product as when you don’t need it, you should reseal it tightly when it’s not in use. Mostly, it can’t be resealed in the same way as you’ve bought it in the store. Transfer everything to an airtight container and label it with “pancake mix”.
The bottom line is, to make sure it is safe from the external threats out there like: heat, air, moisture, bacteria, strong odors, and so on…
Also, sometimes, you’ll see pantry bugs, from the moment you see this, just get rid of all the pancake mix and look at what way the other products are affected.
You can always opt to freeze your pancake mix, but since this product can stay good for quite some time after the best-by date, we won’t cover this subject in depth.
You can also prepare the pancake batter, thus using your pancake mix, and freeze the pancake batter for later use.
How Can You Tell If Pancake Mix Has Gone Bad
As we’ve said before, pancake mix is a product that doesn’t spoil easily. It can sit in your pantry or cupboard for a very long time, so you won’t have to worry about this.
Pancake mix will go bad and decrease in quality and effectiveness after some time. You always need to look for signs of spoilage before you’ll use the product for making pancakes.
Guidelines for detecting when your pancake mix has gone bad:
- Have you seen some pantry bugs or pests? You can see this from other products stored in the pantry (like cornstarch), are there any holes in the package or insects in the mix, discard the mix immediately.
- Does the pancake mix have another color? If yes, toss it away immediately, black spots can be a sign of mold, don’t take any chances here. Discard it immediately.
- Does the pancake mix have a sharp smell? If you smell something funny or unpleasant, toss it away.
- How is the taste of your pancakes? Do they taste odd or off? You should get rid of them and the mix directly. Rinse your mouth with water to get rid of the taste.
As always on GoodOrGoneBad, we should think about the taste and the reason why we’re baking with pancake mix. If your pancakes aren’t great or don’t taste great in the expired pancake mix, just discard them.
Always when there is doubt involved, trust your senses and if there’s still doubt, just toss it.
A great tip is that you can use it to make enough pancake batter for baking a few pancakes for testing, but when sharing the pancakes with yourself and other guests, don’t take any chances or risks to your health and theirs. For a fairly low price, we can get some new pancake mix and be safe.
Enjoy your pancake (mix)!