Vinegar + milk is a better flavor replacement for buttered milk than what they suggest. Milk + yogurt would basically give you thick milk.

Stravos

My dad once used egg nog instead of buttermilk in his sunday-morning waffles. I'm sure we ate them. Family lore.

Maulleigh

yeah, applesauce can often work well instead of oil in baking

patrickhowell

I usually try to replace bread crumbs with ground oats. Supposed to be healthier. I've tried a few times to make baked goods healthier by replacing the fat with applesauce, with mixed results.

vered

Lemon juice and milk (1 tbsp per cup) is also a great substitute for buttermilk. Cream of tartar will work too. Chemical leavening is all about balance of acids and bases. Screwing around with leavening agents without knowing what you're doing is a good way to end up with a fallen cake.

halesje

@Stravos: modern buttermilk is exactly that, acidified milk.

On a side note, baking powder made with soda and cream of tartar makes single acting powder. So if the recipe calls for baking powder, it means double acting powder, so you may need to use a bit more.

randjamal

There are MUCH better resources for this kind of thing.

My personal favorite is [foodsubs.com] which I think is the most complete out there.

Also any decent general cook book (i.e. Betty Crocker, Joy of Cooking, etc.) will have a substitutions section... so check that out if you have it.

cupbeempty

I have used tomato soup instead of tomato sauce on many occasions. Just thin it down a little. Dont always have tomato sauce but always seem to have soup

inthepit

1/2 banana = 1 egg

pigeoninpink

If you are using wheat flour, you can cut the recipe up to 1/2 with any other kind of flour (oat, millet, maize, soy, gram, etc.) if you are willing to tolerate a denser loaf. Adding baking powder (esp with squeeze of lemon or lime juice) will help lighten it up.

In the event of a lifehacker shortage, I use 4 parts Boing Boing, 3 parts Consumerist, and 3 parts Slashdot.

Christovir

I use oil for eggs, usually ounce for ounce or a little bit less.

sceo

@pigeoninpink: Not recommended with steak.

Grapes2dot0

more like recipes for cooking ingredients than substitutions... you aren't substituting crap.

theRIAA

substitutes for eggs: 2 T ground flax seed in about 2-3 T hot water (after adding the water I usually toss it in the microwave for 30 seconds) Let it sit before you use it. Applesauce or banana (I have the single-serve applesauce containers, which are the equivalent of about 2 eggs, bananas have too much sugar.)

sour milk: add a teaspoon or two of vinegar to your milk.

If you can't or shouldn't have wheat, create a mixture of other flours. Cornstarch added to massa harina, rice or bean flour will give you a softer texture (not like with the gluten in wheat, but it's pretty good) I use a coffee grinder to make my own rice and different kind of bean flour.

karlawithak

@pigeoninpink: I use that one quite a lot, esp in cakes. 1/2 cup applesauce works well too.

Christovir

I have been baking and cooking for years and I can honestly say I have no idea what recipe would call for cream of tartar. LOL I have however tried the sub for it and it does work but you do have to use a bit more because it doesn't leaven as much.

Re:Christovir - thanks for the info on the wheat flour I will have to try it it. I have been trying to make a decent wheat bread for weeks now but it doesn't rise as much.

sly100100

@sly100100: Cream of tartar is often used in meringues.

amb1124

If you don't have baking powder, are you really going to have cream of tartar?

pinkUZI

@pinkUZI: I was going to say the same thing!

Really, if the replacement for a common item requires a specialty ingredient, what are the odds someone's going to have that? What I tend to run out of are perishable items like milk or eggs. So some things (like using oil in place of eggs) is a good tip. But if I need a bizarre rare ingredient good odds it's not in the cupboard either.

Woody

I'm honestly surprised that cream of tartar is considered a "specialty ingredient"... but then, I bake. Like amb1124 said, you need it for meringue. It's also needed in many icing recipes.

C'mon, guys, if you can buy it in the little McCormick bottles, it's not. that. rare.

MameDennis

if you do a few pulses of granulated sugar in the food processor, you get confectioner's sugar. out of corn flake crumbs, crush up corn flakes. when im making pancakes from a mix and I come up a little short, I usually eyeball a mix of flour and baking powder.

curlymeatball38

DAMN YOU LIFEHACKER! My Suflet is ruined! I blame the apple sauce

ivealwaysgotmail10

@MameDennis: Easy to buy != commonplace in kitchens. I know lots of people who bake who've never used cream of tartar, and fewer still who keep it on hand.

sweth

@Woody: I've always thought the same thing about the cream of tartar recommendation. It occurs to me, though, all you really need in your substitute is a dry acid to react with the baking soda--and non-dairy creamer powder (which is a far more common thing for people to have) usually has both tartaric acid and aluminum silicate (a common high-temp acid used in double-acting baking powder), so it should fit the bill. (I have no idea what the concentrations are in n-d creamer, though, so you might end up having to use copious amounts of Coffeemate in your pancakes. Someone should do some experiments to see how that works...)

sweth

I always have cream of tartar, and I don't bake that often. You need it if you're ever going to bake a real cream or merengue pie. You can also use it in biscuits and various cookies and cakes. It's by no means an exotic or specialty ingredient.

trippingchristy

1 egg = 1 and 1/2 Tbsp yogurt, cream, buttermilk, or sour cream in baked goods. I also second the flaxseed subsitution for eggs. It's harder to run out of flaxseed, since it freezes well.

libraryjenn

I've got a good one: if you need evaporated milk, just get out some powdered skim milk, and mix it up with half the amount of water that the package calls for.

HeartBurnKid