The Yorkshire pudding is a welcome addition and delicious treat on the plate of many people’s roast dinners but making them from scratch can cause problems for your drains.

National Yorkshire Pudding Day is going ahead on Sunday, February 4th and Severn Trent is asking customers to ensure their puddings rise to the occasion, but don’t cause any sewer blockages by binning leftover food waste rather than putting it down the drain.

The batter to make the Yorkshire puddings and the fat, oils and greases (FOG) from a roast dinner that they go on can create potential blockages and create fatbergs in the sewers.

The water company is offering advice to customers as we all indulge in a good old roast over the weekend and make sure they are passing the information on to neighbours and loved ones, so that we can all ‘weather the winter together’. 

When cooking in the kitchen, customers are asked to:

• Use kitchen roll to soak up grease from plates and pans before washing up  

• Collect used cooking oil, fat and grease into a container, jar or tin and put it in the bin once cool  

Grant Mitchell, sewer blockages lead at Severn Trent, said: “For National Yorkshire Pudding Day we want everyone to think about what they are putting down the drains and what happens to it when it goes in the sewers. 

“Yorkshire pudding batter, leftover food from a roast and the fats, oils and greases that it all produces can cause massive problems if it’s washed down the drain.

“All of this combined can quickly harden once it reaches the pipes and can attach to other unflushable items, such as wet wipes and sanitary products, creating a blockage or even a fatberg, which is something nobody would wish to experience.”

A staggering 34,580 blockages were dealt with by waste teams at the water company last year, who also prevented 12.4 million litres of fats, oils and greases from entering the sewer, something that could have been avoided if unflushable items were put in the bin rather than down the toilet and sink.

Along with that, every week, around two and a half tones of wipes and other items which shouldn’t be flushed are pulled out of our sewers – that’s about the same weight as a Range Rover. 

Further information on protecting your home from blockages can be found here.