Alternatives to fresh ginger, chili, garlic and lemon
I prefer to use fresh garlic, chili, ginger and lemon in my cooking. But there are days that I don’t care about shopping and I just want to make something of what I have. For these days I make sure I have some good substitutes for the main flavour ingredients. I buy the jars of minced ginger, chili and garlic in immigrant stores. Make sure there are added as little of other flavours and additives as possible. If I find organic types I try them out.
Minced ginger is a very good substitute to fresh ginger and sometimes even more easy to use.

Minced chili is ok and I use it in soups, marinades and in stews. For pasta and Italian food I prefer to use dried chili.

Minced garlic is easy to use. It is great in soups, marinades, stews and sometimes even in a dressing.

I love this small lemon juice kind of vintage-looking bottles from Sicily. I find them as good alternative to fresh lemons. There are so many times we just need a little squeeze. You might even find exactly the same for lime juice. Buy them and be prepared for every moment you’ll need a perfect taste of Sicily!