Missing A Key Ingredient? We Have The Substitute For That

Unless you're very experienced or one of those naturally intuitive chefs, you can probably relate to the feeling of the rug being pulled out from under you when you don't have all the ingredients to make a new recipe.

If you're not a particularly confident cook, having all the tools in your arsenal before you start can be comforting – and if you forgot to pick up harissa or crème fraîche when you were shopping it can feel like you're dooming yourself to failure. All of which leads you to leave your onions browning on the lowest setting while you sprint to the nearest supermarket.

But slow your roll, friend! Learning to be a good cook, an eco-friendly cook and an economical cook is all about adaptability. With that in mind, MOB Kitchen's new book Earth MOB: Reduce Waste, Spend Less, Be Sustainable shows you how to deal with the ecological problems of our age and how you can tackle them from your kitchen. And a good place to start is learning which ingredients in a recipe can be substituted with something else.

Ahead, we've listed the smartest substitutes as outlined in Earth MOB – none of which will make a big impact on a recipe's end result but will certainly help out the planet (and your wallet). It's the first step to becoming the kind of intuitive cook you want to be.