“Many of the alternatives listed in this book were born of a desperate need to find something (anything!) that would work when I was out of something. Moments like that tend to encourage your imagination,” says Carol Ann Rinzler, author of What to Use Instead: A Handbook of Practical Substitutes.
Having had plenty of moments like that, plus others when I was absolutely not going to go out and spend more money, I’ve come up with several alternatives of my own. But this book gets into things even I had never thought of. (It also has blank lines at the end of each chapter where you can write your own ideas.) The chapters cover substitutes for foods, personal care products, cleaners, and more.
“If you’re planning to run away to a desert island and can only haul along one household chemical, take chlorine bleach . . . Tuck a box of baking soda in your backpack and you’ll have it all,” says Ms. Rinzler.
Can’t find your clothes brush? Use masking tape. Need an ice pack? Grab a bag of frozen peas. Do you have paint spattered on the floor, but no paint remover in the house? Try nail polish remover. Out of eggs for the meatloaf? An envelope of unflavored gelatine dissolved in a cup of warm water stands in for two of them. (I haven’t tried this yet, I admit.) There are six possible substitutes for bread crumbs, including grated raw potato (squeeze out as much moisture as you can). Does your recipe call for cake flour? Don’t just “measure out the all-purpose and hope for the best” – take two tablespoons out of the cup of all-purpose flour and you’ve got an adequate substitute.
“Adequate” is the key word here, and Ms. Rinzler is realistic about that. No, drained vanilla yogurt is not going to be just like whipped cream. You can’t replace your deodorant with baking soda permanently, though it’ll do in a pinch.
Although some of the information in this book is now dated, most of it is timeless – and so is the thinking that inspired it.
What to Use Instead: A Handbook of Practical Substitutes, by Carol Ann Rinzler, is published by Pharos books (1987).
Book Review: What to Use Instead - A Handbook of Practical Substitutes
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