Right before we moved I tried to use up as much as possible from our freezer, fridge, and pantry, but it just wasn't enough.  A family of three can live for a while the way I stock up, which is good when times are tight but not so great when you're trying to pack!  I ended up passing along a lot of frozen items and perishables to my friend M. for her family to make use of, and packed our canned and dry goods in a large case.  The problem came about when we realized there wasn't enough room in our already packed vehicle for a case that big.  It was pass on the pantry goods or leave the dog behind.  Hmmm... well, ultimately the next-door neighbors ended up with a big bin of canned goodies.  (They wouldn't take the dog.  *chuckle*)

Now I'm trying to figure out what I left behind - I've caught myself looking at recipes and the pantry shelves here thinking, I could have SWORN I had that in here; ohhhh, wrong house!  Double oops.  Thankfully I came across the following article (reprinted with permission) that will help me figure out what to substitute from my spice rack (the one thing the movers packed) until I can get to the commissary and replenish the pantry shelves once again. 

Oh No! I Don't Have Any... Cooking Substitutions To Help When You're Out

For a lot of cooks, there are occurences when we do not have the exact ingredients on hand to prepare our desired dish. If you find yourself in this situation, don’t despair, you probably have a suitable substitution on hand, saving the cook a drive to the grocer. Here are some tips.

Milk
A lot of recipes call for milk. If you realize you are out of milk or short on the amount necessary to complete a specific recipe, make sure you keep a supply of evaporated milk readily available. Evaporated milk or reconstituted milk can be kept for a long time and once mixed with water and sometimes a drop of butter, can easily taste just as good as regular milk.

Baking Powder
If you do not have baking powder available, use baking soda and a dash 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 mix 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
Ran out of butter milk? You can quickly whip up 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
Ran out of garlic? Replace it with garlic powder instead. About 1 clove of garlic equals 1/8 of a teaspoon of garlic powder.

Honey
You can easily 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 reasons, here are some hints to replace sugar:

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

If you would like to decrease your intake of sugar because of health issues, consider the many sweeteners, sometimes called sugar substitutes at your grocery store. These sweeteners include but are not limited to, Sweet and Low, Splenda, Equal, and plant derived Stevia.

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