Dinner time grocery run....not for me!

Early evening hours never seem to run that smoothly in hour house between kids that are cranky after waking up from their nap, kids that needed a nap but didn't have one, I'm usually exhausted and trying to get my hands free long enough to put a quick meal together.  Adding a run to the grocery store in the middle of that is out of the question. Planning out a weekly menu before the weekly shopping trip is ideal and definitely helps in preparation, but in all honesty, sometimes we forget ingredients or have to through together a last minute meal. Below is a chart of my favorite, tested and approved, recipe substitutions. 

When you need…	Use instead:
1 tsp baking powder	1/4 soda+ 1/2 cream of tartar
heavy cream	evaporated milk from the can
shortening	equal amount of butter
1 cup sour cream	1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup buttermilk	1 TBL lemon juice or distilled white vinegar + enough milk to make 1 cup
oil in baked goods	equal amount of applesauce
1 cup brown sugar	1 cup white sugar + 1-3 TBL of molasses (depending on light or darkness)
bread crumbs	slices of bread in the food processor with an herb seasoning mix  or substitute cracker crumbs or dried stuffing mix
1 TBL fresh herbs	1 tsp of dried herb
1 cup beef or chicken broth	1 beef or chicken bouillon cube + 1 cup of boiling water

I have come to love these simple substitutions because most of the items are easy to always have on hand and they do not effect the outcome. I typically only buy heavy cream when we plan to make homemade ice cream, because otherwise it would go bad in my fridge. However, it is easy for me to always keep a few cans of evaporated milk in the cupboard and turn to that when I make soups, cream sauces, homemade caramel, and other recipes that call for cream. I also use it to replace half and half by combining it with a low fat milk. Once again, I have never purchased buttermilk, but this substitution works like a charm. I have even largely increased the ratio of lemon juice to milk and let it sit for a couple minutes until it really thickens to the consistency of sour cream, then used that in place of sour cream in recipes. That trick works great for cakes and sweet breads that use sour cream to keep them moist. 

Hopefully this list can help avoid last minute grocery runs and help prevent less frequently used ingredients from spoiling in your fridge!