Don’t flip out, but the cost of making a simple pancake has jumped by more than a third since 2020. The Central Statistics Office’s (CSO) breakdown of pancake inflation, published to coincide with Shrove Tuesday, indicates the cost of a basic pancake mix – eggs, milk, and flour – has risen by 35.2 per cent in the last five years.

Between December 2020 and December 2025, the agency noted the cost of two litres of full-fat milk increased by 72 cent (42.6 per cent); the cost of 2kg of flour grew by 62 cent (31.6 per cent) while a carton of six large eggs rose by 57 cent (32 per cent).

Pancake inflation is higher than general food-price inflation, which was put at 27.3 per cent for the five-year period.

Higher food prices reflect the lagged effect of higher energy prices. Daragh Cassidy of price comparison website Bonkers.ie said gas prices are still “double where they were three or four years ago before the war in Ukraine, and electricity prices are around 70 to 80 per cent higher than they were”.

Inflation here, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, is hovering at about 3 per cent.

While other sectors like education had bigger year-on-year price increase, food and restaurants, including coffee shops, have a significantly bigger weighting in the headline rate.

The cost of meat, and in particular beef, has been highlighted as one of the single biggest factors driving restaurant prices.

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Inflation is a fuzzy concept. It’s not one single measurement but an estimate of price changes across a range of goods and services. How it translates into purchasing power is not straightforward.

“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,” said the CSO, noting that the price of a 1kg bag of sugar has risen by 69 cent (60.5 per cent) over the five years since December 2020.

One consolation was that the price of sugar was flat as a pancake last year.