Not Again! I'm Out Of... Cooking Substitutions To Help In a Bind

For a lot of cooks, there are times when we don’t have the appropriate ingredients in the pantry to make our desired recipe. If you find yourself in this situation, don’t despair, you probably have a suitable substitution on hand, saving the cook a trip to the grocery store. Here are a few.

Milk
Many recipes call for milk. If you find you are out of milk or short on the amount necessary to finish a specific recipe, make sure you have a supply of evaporated milk on hand. Evaporated milk or reconstituted milk can be kept for long periods of time and once mixed with water and usually a drop of butter, can easily taste as fresh and delicious as regular milk.

Baking Powder
If you don’t have baking powder readily available, use baking soda and a drop of buttermilk. For a tablespoon of double acting baking powder, substitute 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and a 1/2 cup of buttermilk.

Self Rising Flour
Self rising flour is convenient to create at home, just combine one cup of all purpose flour with 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

Butter Milk
Out of butter milk? You can easily prepare your own. You can substitute 1 cup of butter milk with 1 cup whole milk and a tablespoon of vinegar. You can also substitute 1 cup of butter milk with 2/3 cup of plain yogurt and 1/3 cup whole milk.

Garlic
Need garlic, but don't have any? Replace it with garlic powder instead. About 1 clove of garlic equals 1/8 of a teaspoon of garlic powder.

Honey
You can simply replace honey with sugar and water. 1 cup of honey is equal to about 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar and a 1/4 cup of water.

Substituting Sugar
If you are short on sugar on hand or would like to replace it because of health concerns, here are some hints to substitute sugar:

Sugar can be exchanged with maple syrup, corn syrup, brown sugar, honey, Stevia, and molasses. However, some recipes will call for sugar or a granular sweetener instead of syrup due to baking and texture requirements.

If you would like to reduce the amount of sugar you eat because of health issues, consider the many sweeteners, sometimes called sugar alternatives at the supermarket. They include, Sweet and Low, Splenda, Equal, and plant derived Stevia.

Dine Without Whine is a great menu planning service for active families. Go to Dine Without Whine - A Family Friendly Weekly Menu Planner to discover even more rewards to menu planning.