Press Statement - The Cost of Pancakes 2026

Ahead of Pancake Tuesday tomorrow, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 February 2026) calculated the rising costs of making pancakes using the prices of some of the items included in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the official measure of inflation in Ireland.

Looking at the costs of the ingredients in a basic pancake mix of eggs, milk, and flour, we have compared prices for December 2020, December 2024, and December 2025 (See Editor’s Note).

In the last five years, our analysis shows that the cost of making pancakes has risen by 35.2%. Over the five-year period from December 2020 to December 2025, the cost of 2 litres of full fat milk increased by 72c (+42.6%), and the cost of 2kg of flour grew by 62c (+31.6%). A carton of six large eggs rose by 57c (+32.0%) over the same period.

Topping off your pancake with a sprinkle of sugar is more expensive too, with sugar showing the largest percentage increase of all four items we looked at. Although the price of a 1kg bag of sugar has risen by 0.69c (+60.5%) over the five years since December 2020, interestingly this price was the same in December 2025 as it was in December 2024.

Indeed, we can see that in the year to December 2025, the price of flour has fallen by 2c (-0.8%), whilst the price of both milk (5c or 2.1%) and eggs (9c or 4.9%) went up over the same 12-month period.

The prices of lemons or lemon juice are not included in the average basket of goods and services.