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Woman Embarrassed When TSA Checked Her Luggage And Found “An Abundance Of Pancake Mix,” Folks Share Similar Stories
Interview
Does any one of you remember the “You Ain’t Got No Pancake Mix Kid”? Boy, I just dated myself…
Well, that kid couldn’t say that to Chelsea, who had an abundance of pancake mix all stashed up in her luggage. How do we know? The Transportation Security Administration, or the TSA, made sure of that.
A picture documenting this interesting turn of events exists in tweet form and got quite a bit of attention from the internet.
Incidentally, if you want to learn more about that pancake mix meme, you’re welcome.
More Info: Twitter
RELATED:
The TSA finds loads of random things in people’s luggage, but that one time they found an abundance of pancake mix was what the internet really needed
Image credits: Chelsnii
So, a treasury analyst at 100 Thieves named Chelsea has been traveling lately. She was on her way to Vancouver to visit some friends. And, turns out, the lovely land of Canadia doesn’t have Trader Joe’s, which means no Ube Mochi pancake mix. So Chelsea figured that’d be the best American souvenir to bring!
“Plus, it’s delicious!” added Chelsea in an interview with Bored Panda.
As you might have guessed already, this isn’t your regular, run of the mill pancake mix. Nope. This is Trader Joe’s UBE MOCHI pancake and waffle mix, the chewy mochi pancake mix with purple yam that only requires some water, eggs and butter for ultimate gustatory pleasure.
So much, in fact, that Chelsea, the lovely lady who was taking said ube mochi pancake mix to her friends in Canada as a souvenir, became the “Pancake Mix Girl” overnight
Image credits: Chelsnii
In fact, it doesn’t really require eggs, as Chelsea explained, because of course we asked her for the recipe! “I recommend omitting the eggs from the recipe on the box! With the egg, it comes out to be the same consistency as a normal pancake, but without the egg, the intended ‘mochi’ texture really stands out.”
But I’m getting distracted.
Nearly 550K likes later, everyone was sharing their TSA stories of weird luggage contents
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Despite having done her research, Chelsea still felt a bit uneasy with all the pancake mix she was transporting
Unfortunately (or is it?) there ain’t nothing that gets past the TSA and they had to search Chelsea’s luggage. Upon opening it, Chelsea felt the need to apologize for the slightly bizarre combination and quantity of baggage contents.
“I looked it up before traveling and it said pancake mix was allowed, but apparently if you are bringing powders over a certain amount, you have to take it out of your luggage for them to inspect it,” elaborated Chelsea.
“I didn’t know about this at the time, and I had thought about asking the TSA agent if I would need to take it out of my luggage, but I didn’t know how to go about asking without exposing the fact that I was carrying a bunch of pancake mix in my suitcase, so I thought it would be embarrassing to ask. I guess they ended up finding out anyway!”
Image credits: Artsy_Marxist
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Image credits: Martijn van Exel (not the actual photo)
While the TSA was a tad bit surprised to find it all, one of them came back with the most wholesome “never apologize for being who you are”
As soon as Chelsea saw her suitcase get pulled to the other side of the conveyor belt, she immediately knew it got flagged. A moment of mental preparation before her flour obsession was exposed. The TSA agent asks whose luggage it was. She raised her hand, followed by an “I’m so sorry for what you’re about to see.”
“Is there anything sharp in here I should know about?” the TSA agent asked. Chelsea came back with a “No ma’am.” The TSA agent popped up the suitcase and lo and behold, they were blinded by the bright purple shine of the pancake mix boxes.
One of the other TSA agents said “Woah, is that pancake mix?” to which she replied “I am so sorry, this is so embarrassing.” The TSA agent , contrary to popular belief, seemed very cool about it and responded in a very wholesome manner with “never apologize for being who you are.” You can’t help but love the guy for his chill wisdom, making things right in the world one piece of luggage at a time.
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“They swiped every box of pancake mix with some sort of explosive-detecting paper and scanned it through the machine. After the all-clear, the TSA agent zipped up my bag and handed it back to me, ‘Must be good pancake mix if you’re traveling with so much of it.’” And she was on her way.
Well, it wasn’t long until a picture of the shake-down found its way onto Twitter and drew quite a crowd. In several days, the tweet has managed to get nearly 550,000 likes with 38,400 retweets.
For the most part, it prompted a lot of stories of folks experiencing similar (or not so similar) TSA stories about the stuff they had the pleasure to find in their luggage. You think whole kilograms of pancake mix is a tad bit weird, try cooked chickens and twelve million kinds of smelly cheese.
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Image credits: ThatDumbBoi
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Image credits: CrabithaStevens
Image credits: pastryplug
Now all we need is some syrup and we’re set… wait, we’re good, there’s this guy who brings maple syrup in his carry-on. Problem solved!
For the record, the TSA has officially declared that pancake mix is allowed in both the carry-on and the checked luggage, but it’s recommended to stash it away as it’s more than 12 oz. Or let it be radiated in the x-ray machine along with all your electronics, which may or may not add some extra bit of spice to it.
In any case, you can check out the post here. But before you go-go, we would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about excessive quantities of pancake mix in luggage and TSA stories, or shoot us your best pancake recipes in the comments below!
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Grudge-holding Treefrog 3 years ago (edited)
I remember my bag being pulled because I packed a railroad spike on a trip so my stuffed animals could “protect themselves from bad guys” edit: I was 6 yrs old
Disgruntled Pelican 3 years ago
I'm going to sound dumb, but what does an ube mochi pancake taste like?? We don't have fun pancake flavors like this but it looks so lovely!
T. 3 years ago
Had a similar experience after arriving in Melbourne AUS. You're not allowed to take any food into the country because of possible contamination. So arriving in Melbourne, my friend went to use the bathroo and as I waited, a dog sat himself next to my backpack. I wasn't thinking anything about it until I am greeted by teo officers asking if said backpack is mine, which I agree. Then they asked if I brought any food which I didn't. Upon further enquiry it turns out the dog still smelled the apple I took out my pack 12 hours before when I was still in Shanghai waiting for my 10 hours flight.
Rachel Ainsworth 3 years ago
I had an overripe banana in my handbag two days before I came home which was still detectable by a dog.
Load More Replies...
Lytha Hawkeye 3 years ago
We got pulled to the side because our box of MTG cards. I got my husband this amazing carrying case, holds ten decks, play mats and dice. The girl opened it up, laughed and said she was jealous. That box has gotten many sighs of jealousy lol
Snowfoxrox 3 years ago
I travel with my service dog. I always take 3 days of kibble in a zip lock in my carryon just in case our luggage gets delayed/ lost. Was set to fly to Ca. From Denver. TSA was pretty awesome and were really impressed by my girls manners/ training. However, apparently that much kibble looks like a *LOT* of pills in X-Ray lol. They had to open and confirm. They were really nice about it and I understood. Another time, flying from Oregon to Ca, TSA had some questions about my carry on. It was mostly full of packaged meat snacks from the Oberto factory my Step- mom worked at. They reallllllly wanted to confiscate it lol. again, they were very cool about it, just had a good laugh.
maria alexander 3 years ago
I once packed homemade fudge on the way to see family in another state. After they finally got up the nerve to check it and cleared me, I asked what the problem was. I was told it looked like c4. I told them I've only seen it on tv, sorry ill never fly with again. His partner, very snippy, asked why I didn't check it. I explained that everyme I check baked goods they were missing when I landed. She was shocked. I was too, the first time. It took my family and I 3 times to give up.
Memere 3 years ago
I've heard stories of things going missing from checked luggage, but to steal your food??? That's pretty low.
Load More Replies...
Nikki Tieman 3 years ago
My daughter went to Toyko in December of 2019. I asked her to buy Olympic souvenirs to give to my staff as part of a Christmas present. She found cute little key chains. I had her pick up about 15. Fifteen metal keychains look odd on the scanners, so she sheepishly ended up showing them the stash!
Pheebs 3 years ago
Pre-9/11 so this (literally) wouldn’t fly now, but I used to fly up to visit my dad at Christmas. We always brought back 2 loaves of Italian bread from a local bakery (3 if my sib and I were hungry so 2 would make it). One year my sib got a lava lap, so it went in my carry on between the bread to avoid breakage. The TSA person 1, couldn’t decide if they were weirded out by all the bread, and 2, apparently had never seen a lava lamp. They tried to open it, and I told them they’d owe us a new lamp. Another year the hubs and I brought back like 2 dozen specialty donuts. They almost got “confiscated”. Same trip, my carry on got run through the X-ray machine like 6 times, and then searched. Finally, they asked me to get the “pepper spray” out of my bag. It wasn’t a spray. They were earplugs in a metal canister.
Reece Aster 3 years ago
If you're flying out of New Orleans, LA, USA and have a bunch of beads they are likely going to check your bag. I lived there for awhile and when I went to visit family I always got stopped because I was bringing mardi gras beads for them. The coffee tins too with the chicory will also get you stopped.
Serena Brixey Bussell 3 years ago
I was flying from Lake Charles, LA to visit my daughter in Missouri. I had checked two suitcases full Rabideaux's sausage, boudain, tasso and a couple of bags of cracklins' amongst other things. I had to have my bags checked also.
Load More Replies... Grudge-holding Treefrog 3 years ago (edited)
I remember my bag being pulled because I packed a railroad spike on a trip so my stuffed animals could “protect themselves from bad guys” edit: I was 6 yrs old
Disgruntled Pelican 3 years ago
I'm going to sound dumb, but what does an ube mochi pancake taste like?? We don't have fun pancake flavors like this but it looks so lovely!
T. 3 years ago
Had a similar experience after arriving in Melbourne AUS. You're not allowed to take any food into the country because of possible contamination. So arriving in Melbourne, my friend went to use the bathroo and as I waited, a dog sat himself next to my backpack. I wasn't thinking anything about it until I am greeted by teo officers asking if said backpack is mine, which I agree. Then they asked if I brought any food which I didn't. Upon further enquiry it turns out the dog still smelled the apple I took out my pack 12 hours before when I was still in Shanghai waiting for my 10 hours flight.
Rachel Ainsworth 3 years ago
I had an overripe banana in my handbag two days before I came home which was still detectable by a dog.
Load More Replies... Lytha Hawkeye 3 years ago
We got pulled to the side because our box of MTG cards. I got my husband this amazing carrying case, holds ten decks, play mats and dice. The girl opened it up, laughed and said she was jealous. That box has gotten many sighs of jealousy lol
Snowfoxrox 3 years ago
I travel with my service dog. I always take 3 days of kibble in a zip lock in my carryon just in case our luggage gets delayed/ lost. Was set to fly to Ca. From Denver. TSA was pretty awesome and were really impressed by my girls manners/ training. However, apparently that much kibble looks like a *LOT* of pills in X-Ray lol. They had to open and confirm. They were really nice about it and I understood. Another time, flying from Oregon to Ca, TSA had some questions about my carry on. It was mostly full of packaged meat snacks from the Oberto factory my Step- mom worked at. They reallllllly wanted to confiscate it lol. again, they were very cool about it, just had a good laugh.
maria alexander 3 years ago
I once packed homemade fudge on the way to see family in another state. After they finally got up the nerve to check it and cleared me, I asked what the problem was. I was told it looked like c4. I told them I've only seen it on tv, sorry ill never fly with again. His partner, very snippy, asked why I didn't check it. I explained that everyme I check baked goods they were missing when I landed. She was shocked. I was too, the first time. It took my family and I 3 times to give up.
Memere 3 years ago
I've heard stories of things going missing from checked luggage, but to steal your food??? That's pretty low.
Load More Replies... Nikki Tieman 3 years ago
My daughter went to Toyko in December of 2019. I asked her to buy Olympic souvenirs to give to my staff as part of a Christmas present. She found cute little key chains. I had her pick up about 15. Fifteen metal keychains look odd on the scanners, so she sheepishly ended up showing them the stash!
Pheebs 3 years ago
Pre-9/11 so this (literally) wouldn’t fly now, but I used to fly up to visit my dad at Christmas. We always brought back 2 loaves of Italian bread from a local bakery (3 if my sib and I were hungry so 2 would make it). One year my sib got a lava lap, so it went in my carry on between the bread to avoid breakage. The TSA person 1, couldn’t decide if they were weirded out by all the bread, and 2, apparently had never seen a lava lamp. They tried to open it, and I told them they’d owe us a new lamp. Another year the hubs and I brought back like 2 dozen specialty donuts. They almost got “confiscated”. Same trip, my carry on got run through the X-ray machine like 6 times, and then searched. Finally, they asked me to get the “pepper spray” out of my bag. It wasn’t a spray. They were earplugs in a metal canister.
Reece Aster 3 years ago
If you're flying out of New Orleans, LA, USA and have a bunch of beads they are likely going to check your bag. I lived there for awhile and when I went to visit family I always got stopped because I was bringing mardi gras beads for them. The coffee tins too with the chicory will also get you stopped.
Serena Brixey Bussell 3 years ago
I was flying from Lake Charles, LA to visit my daughter in Missouri. I had checked two suitcases full Rabideaux's sausage, boudain, tasso and a couple of bags of cracklins' amongst other things. I had to have my bags checked also.
Load More Replies...
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