just did a search...turns out a lot of things can be a substitute for shortening....but....you need to also consider what you are baking or making. Things I found listed are butter, coconut oil, margarine, lard, vegetable oil, applesauce, prunes, bananas. But some of these things work better in some things like vegetable oil does not work as well for things that need to be flaky like pie crust, applesauce works well in cakes. So you need to be aware.