One Old Mason Jar Is The Secret To Easier Morning Pancakes

Making a really nice breakfast on the weekend is one of life's great pleasures. Sitting down with friends or family to a full spread of eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, and, of course, pancakes is tough to beat. The trouble is that this takes a fair amount of work and, well, it's the weekend when we're supposed to be relaxing. Making pancakes, in particular, can be a stressful experience, digging through the pantry for all of the ingredients and then carefully measuring them out. No one wants to be using measuring cups first thing on a Sunday morning. All you need to avoid this hassle, though, is a good old-fashioned mason jar.

If you have a good-sized mason jar lying around, you can whip yourself up a batch of dry pancake mix and then stick that in the cupboard. Just take your favorite easy pancake recipe, and measure out the dry ingredients into a jar. When the weekend rolls around, all you have to do is add the liquid ingredients, give it a good stir or shake, and you're ready to start cooking. For extra ease, you can slap a label on the side that tells you exactly what liquids you need and in what quantities. At its simplest, that might just mean adding a bit of water — especially if you've used buttermilk powder in your mix — but if your favorite recipe calls for milk, vanilla, or eggs, having it listed on the side keeps things easy and quick.

The beauty of this technique is that it gives you as much ease as anything that you can buy from the store, but it is less expensive and you can tailor it to exactly how you like your pancakes. Boxed pancake mixes aren't worth the cost, and that is especially true with those plastic bottles of mix that only require you to pour in water and shake them up. With this method, you're in total control, and it costs pennies.

While this technique would theoretically work with any kind of container, there is one reason that a mason jar might be the best choice — at least for certain audiences. The lid of that jar can be the perfect hack for making McDonald's McGriddle-style breakfast sandwiches. All you have to do is turn it upside-down in the pan and pour some of the pancake batter into it. For the most accurate copycat version, adding some maple syrup to the batter will give it the signature sweetness. Cooked in the lid like this, the pancakes will be a perfect thick circle, ideal for sandwiching eggs, cheese, and your favorite breakfast protein. For best results, you might want multiple lids, so that you can cook both sides of the sandwich at once, as well as making a perfectly circular egg to go in the middle.

With a trick like these mason jar pancakes up your sleeve, those beautiful weekend breakfasts become a simple affair. Some other time, when you have some energy to spare, you can portion out a few jars and stick them in the pantry. Then, when the time comes, pancakes are that much simpler to get from mind to plate — and belly.