We tried pre-made supermarket mixes for Pancake Day – the best was only £1

Simply add 400ml of milk to the powder, whisk until smooth in a bowl and you are good to go.

These sizzled away nicely and resulted in tasty, consistent pancakes.

The mix was very smooth, which made it easy to swirl round the pan to keep the thickness the same all the way through – and they tossed easily, for nice even results.

This was the priciest mix I tried but the resulting pancakes were very good.

Quite sweet but lovely with a squeeze of lemon.

Rating: 3/5

Morrisons American Style Mix, 200g, £1

(Makes around 12)

IF you like your pancakes with a sweeter, US breakfast-style fluffy texture and ­flavour then this is a good batter choice.

Despite being a pre-made mix, these still required a fair bit of kitchen input from me, so it’s not the packet to buy if you’re looking for a lazy option.

After adding two eggs and water to the mix, whisk up well, ladle and fry as usual and you’ll get a good stack of diner-style snacks.

Not the traditional UK pancake taste, but this sweeter crepe-like batter pairs well with fruit, honey or even ice cream.

Excellent value.

Rating: 5/5

Mcennedy Mix 200g, 99p

(Makes 12-14)

A WHOPPER-sized shaker from Lidl for less than £1, so this offers superb value if you’ve got lots of mouths to feed.

However, do bear in mind that this mix is designed to be made up with milk, not water, which means a bit more expense is needed for this extra ingredient.

A bit of a fiddle to make but all good fun if you are cooking with kids.

You add 400ml of milk – not especially easy to pour into the container so I’d suggest a measuring jug – shake well and leave to stand for a few minutes before frying.

Quite thick pancakes, but they tasted okay with chocolate spread.

Rating: 3/5

M&S Mix Shaker, 155g, £1

(Makes 6)

NICE packaging from M&S, whose slimline shaker was far easier for people with smaller hands – like me – to really give it some welly after adding the water.

And the lid was user-friendly too.

This mix was smooth after shaking so the pancakes turned out the correct thickness and were easy to cook evenly instead of being too thick or thin.

Golden after cooking and easy to toss, this was my favourite of all the shaker-style mixes as it was the easiest to pour carefully, although the taste still wasn’t outstanding, and the Lidl pre-mix does offer better value.

Rating: 3/5

Tesco Mix Shaker 155g, £1

(Makes 6)

THIS mix-and-fry pancake shaker comes in a plastic container which was far easier to pour the required 290ml of water into than some of the cardboard cartons I tried.

I did have to shake for a bit longer than the two minutes stated on the instructions to ensure all the powder was absorbed into the water.

Edible, easy to make, but it was hard to control how much liquid glugged out into the frying pan.

Once fried and flipped they looked golden and tasted okay, but you wouldn’t mistake them for home-made batter.

Rating: 2/5

Aldi Classic Mix 232g, £1.19

(Makes around 10)

THIS Pantry pre-mix is a pancake in a box that’s perfect to throw in your basket as a Shrove Tuesday standby.

Making up the batter was very easy. I just added 500ml of cold water to the contents and whisked it together.

My first couple of pancakes were a little thick, but once I’d got the amount right these turned out well, and it’s easier to control the quantity when you can ladle rather than pour.

Not too sugary, so they’d be delicious with savoury fillings like cheese if you fancy a change from chocolate spread or jam.

Rating: 4/5

Asda Mix Shaker 155g, £1

(Makes 6)

THIS shaker seemed to share a similar design to all the other plastic batter bottles, but I struggled to get the lid off, which caused later issues when it came to mixing and pouring.

Despite following the instructions carefully and using the correct ratio of water, this liquid seemed to have a strange consistency.

Once fried they were rubbery and doughy.

The taste was more Yorkshire pudding batter than pancakes, and the slow-to-cook mix stayed white and pale, which wasn’t appetising, no matter how much maple syrup I then drizzled on.

Rating: 1/5

Sainsbury’s Mix Shaker, 155g, £1

(Makes 6)

PANCAKE shakers are the ultimate Shrove Tuesday hack.

You just add water to the packet the batter mix comes in, give it a good old shake – the clue’s in the name – and you’re ready to make.

In theory this means it should be easy to dish up a stack of pancakes, but that was not the case here.

The orange juice-style carton was very tricky to decant water into.

I liked that the packet clearly marked the water amounts for different servings of pancakes, but it was still fiddly to make.

The resulting pancakes were gloopy and stuck to the pan.

Rating: 1/5