What do you do when you can no longer get your favorite foods or ingredients? Do you just give up trying to get those products?

I liked these From the Ground Up brand of snacks. I bought the butternut squash pretzels because they were made with canola oil. They were discontinued, and the ones that remained were the cauliflower pretzels made with sunflower oil. Since I am allergic to sunflower oil, that was no longer an option. I happened to see the butternut squash pretzels online, but these were also made with sunflower oil now. I was buying Namaste ingredients because they were free of the allergens I had to stay away from. Most of those were discontinued for retail. I already had to buy them online because they were not available in a physical store location.

 Do you find another ingredient and see if that works just as well, or do you cry out to God, asking why all of the food items you were able to eat are being discontinued? 

That depends... How far are you willing to go? Let's find out what our potential options are. You can then decide what steps to take. 

What is the item being discontinued, and are there any replacements?

My unsweetened coconut milk from Trader Joe's was discontinued. It was the only unsweetened coconut milk with the least amount of ingredients I could find. All other brands of coconut milk at other stores were sweetened with different flavors, mixed with other nut milk, or had extra preservatives I didn't want. There were shelf-stable and refrigerated brands available, but I didn't want to use any of them as a replacement in my baking. At this point, I was not able to use the other non-dairy milk of similar or better quality anymore because of new allergies. If you can find them where you live, you can try a brand called New Barn. They are free from preservatives. I bought it when I was able to have almond milk. If this is not available where you are or if, like me, you can’t have certain kinds of milk, then we will look at the next option.

Make it Yourself 

You can make your own fresh, non-dairy milk. This was the next step I decided to take because having the fewest preservatives was important to me. This way, I knew exactly what would be going into my milk.

I looked up what was needed to make my own milk and then filed that away for later since, in that season of life, I was not able to make it myself. For the immediate time being, I went without for a while and just used water in my baking, or I went with canned coconut milk, which is also an option. I learned that water is a sufficient replacement in places where milk is used.

Native Forest and Nature’s Charm only have a few ingredients listed, and they worked well as replacements for the unsweetened refrigerated coconut milk from Trader Joe’s. You may need to add additional liquid as canned milk isn’t as watery as the refrigerated coconut milk. I have a personal preference not to use cans because of the BPA. It’s also important to keep in mind the season of life you’re in because that can also determine the options you’re willing and able to take.

 I have since been able to make my own coconut milk, which I will get to in a moment, but it wasn’t overnight. In this particular season of life, there were many reasons why I thought I was not able to make coconut milk, the first of which was that I wasn't able to buy an almond cow, which is less messy than the nut milk bags, and I didn't want to deal with the mess of nut milk bags in that season. However, in retrospect, it isn't as messy as I thought it would be, and it’s a place to start. (Start where you are, not where you think you should be.)

While BPA in cans is something I care about, water wasn’t going to give me the results I wanted in every recipe (my bar crust recipe, for example), so I went with the cans until I had other available options. Once I was able, I decided to start with the nut milk bags and try them out. They were pretty inexpensive on Amazon, so I bought these Heavy Cotton Muslin Nut Milk Bags. I got two in a bag and got started. You can find out more about that process by going to my homemade coconut milk recipe.

 When the ingredients change or new circumstances present themselves…

When I first became gluten-free, I used Bob's Red Mill ingredients. They are the most widely available brand; therefore, I used all of their products, including the 1 to 1 gluten-free flour and the individual flours they had. When I learned of new food allergens, as well as the processing of their ingredients with those allergens, I had to find a new line of ingredients to use. I was indeed quite sad. I went to King Arthur Brand gluten-free flour, and luckily there wasn’t a huge change in the results of my recipes. There were eventually some reactions I started having to this brand, which is when I continued my search again.

I then discovered Namaste, a brand of allergy-free baking scratch ingredients. I used their ingredients, many of which were ingredients I used with Bob Red Mill, so I was excited.

I worked to try out the ingredients and created many recipes when they became difficult to locate and were no longer available for retail sale. They were only available online, directly on their website and on Kroger’s website. They were still available commercially, but I didn’t need 2000 lbs. of flour in this season of my life. So I went in search again.

After months of searching, I found Azure Standard, and not only did I find all of my ingredients again, but I also found a lot of other ingredients there I’ve not been able to find anywhere else, which opens up more experimenting for me, which I have been excited about. The ingredients have been safe for me to use; however, brands matter, so this meant re-creating my recipes again. I learned this when I switched from Bob Red Mill to King Arthur flour. Different brands of gluten-free flour create different results. I love to bake, though, so at this point in my life, I am up for the experimentation of creating my own recipes. Had I not had all that initial trouble, I wouldn’t be where I am today, able to create from a vast amount of new ingredients used in untraditional ways. 

Whole Earth Sugar-Free Replacement has been discontinued. It was an all-purpose replacement able to be used 1 to 1 with sugar. I was experimenting with sugar-free substitutes in baking. I didn’t want something artificial, and I wanted it to be as close to regular sugar as possible. I had found this Whole Earth sugar-free replacement, and it worked well; it sweetened well, and I could use equal or less than what I would in a sugar recipe, but then I could no longer find it in stores. Instead, I found in certain places the Whole Earth Monk Fruit Replacement, which was similar to the first Whole Earth I bought.

If the item has been discontinued and there isn’t a replacement for it, and making it yourself isn’t an option, the last option is to see if... 

There is a store willing to stock it. Whether at a physical location or online, if the store is willing to stock it, then be sure to get as much as you can when it’s in stock. You don’t know for how long the store will be stocking it, so while it’s available, get it. You can also take stock of your social networks. See if one of your friends can make it and get it from them; if they live in a different geographic region, see if it’s available where they are. Depending on the item and your love for it, determine whether this is an option you want to take.

So in all, if your favorite ingredient or food has been discontinued, see if...

1. There is a suitable replacement (in stores or online).

2. Can you make it yourself (with ingredients available)?

3. You can get it from a friend (a friend with the time, talents, and equipment to make it, or in the right geographic location).

In time, you may be able to restore some of your favorite foods; all is not lost when a store discontinues your food or when the ingredients change.

Disclosure: There may be some affiliate links in this post and I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post, not all links are affiliate links, some are just to more Information about the topic. Thanks for supporting The Love Feast Kitchen