diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/mixin/perf/faster_ingredients/IngredientMixin.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/mixin/perf/faster_ingredients/IngredientMixin.java
index 5fa2ab02..5e9b0a15 100644
--- a/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/mixin/perf/faster_ingredients/IngredientMixin.java
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/mixin/perf/faster_ingredients/IngredientMixin.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import net.minecraft.core.registries.BuiltInRegistries;
 import net.minecraft.world.item.ItemStack;
 import net.minecraft.world.item.crafting.Ingredient;
 import org.embeddedt.modernfix.forge.recipe.ExtendedIngredient;
+import org.embeddedt.modernfix.forge.recipe.IngredientItemStacksSoftReference;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 import org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.Final;
 import org.spongepowered.asm.mixin.Mixin;
@@ -31,6 +32,8 @@ public abstract class IngredientMixin implements ExtendedIngredient {
 
     @Shadow @Nullable private ItemStack[] itemStacks;
 
+    private volatile IngredientItemStacksSoftReference mfix$cachedItemStacks;
+
     /**
      * @author embeddedt
      * @reason tag ingredients can be tested without iterating over all items
@@ -95,9 +98,8 @@ public abstract class IngredientMixin implements ExtendedIngredient {
 
     /**
      * @author embeddedt
-     * @reason remove caching of the item stacks, it won't deduplicate anything with tags (since each Ingredient
-     * instance would make new item stacks anyway, and storing them permanently takes up a lot of memory).
-     * We implement an optimized version of some functions that avoids needing to call this entirely.
+     * @reason Change caching of item stacks to use a soft reference, which allows the GC to evict the array under
+     * memory pressure/when it hasn't been used.
      */
     @Overwrite
     public ItemStack[] getItems() {
@@ -105,6 +107,19 @@ public abstract class IngredientMixin implements ExtendedIngredient {
         if (this.itemStacks != null) {
             return this.itemStacks;
         }
+        var cache = this.mfix$cachedItemStacks;
+        if (cache != null) {
+            var stacks = cache.get();
+            if (stacks != null) {
+                return stacks;
+            }
+        }
+        ItemStack[] result = computeItemsArray();
+        this.mfix$cachedItemStacks = new IngredientItemStacksSoftReference((Ingredient)(Object)this, result);
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    private ItemStack[] computeItemsArray() {
         // Fast path for case with one item
         if (this.values.length == 1) {
             if (this.values[0] instanceof Ingredient.ItemValue itemValue) {
@@ -131,4 +146,9 @@ public abstract class IngredientMixin implements ExtendedIngredient {
         }
         return itemList.toArray(ItemStack[]::new);
     }
+
+    @Override
+    public void mfix$clearReference() {
+        this.mfix$cachedItemStacks = null;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/recipe/ExtendedIngredient.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/recipe/ExtendedIngredient.java
index db7014b4..1544cac1 100644
--- a/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/recipe/ExtendedIngredient.java
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/recipe/ExtendedIngredient.java
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@ package org.embeddedt.modernfix.forge.recipe;
 
 public interface ExtendedIngredient {
     boolean mfix$hasNoElements();
+    void mfix$clearReference();
 }
diff --git a/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/recipe/IngredientItemStacksSoftReference.java b/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/recipe/IngredientItemStacksSoftReference.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bfb0c94a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/forge/src/main/java/org/embeddedt/modernfix/forge/recipe/IngredientItemStacksSoftReference.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+package org.embeddedt.modernfix.forge.recipe;
+
+import net.minecraft.world.item.ItemStack;
+import net.minecraft.world.item.crafting.Ingredient;
+
+import java.lang.ref.Reference;
+import java.lang.ref.ReferenceQueue;
+import java.lang.ref.SoftReference;
+
+public class IngredientItemStacksSoftReference extends SoftReference<ItemStack[]> {
+    private final Ingredient ingredient;
+
+    private static final ReferenceQueue<ItemStack[]> QUEUE = new ReferenceQueue<>();
+    private static final Thread DISCARD_THREAD = new Thread(IngredientItemStacksSoftReference::clearReferences, "Ingredient reference clearing thread");
+
+    static {
+        DISCARD_THREAD.setPriority(Thread.NORM_PRIORITY + 2);
+        DISCARD_THREAD.setDaemon(true);
+        DISCARD_THREAD.start();
+    }
+
+    public IngredientItemStacksSoftReference(Ingredient ingredient, ItemStack[] stacks) {
+        super(stacks, QUEUE);
+        this.ingredient = ingredient;
+    }
+
+    private static void clearReferences() {
+        while (true) {
+            Reference<? extends ItemStack[]> ref;
+            try {
+                ref = QUEUE.remove();
+            } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+                Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+                return;
+            }
+            if (ref instanceof IngredientItemStacksSoftReference ingRef && ingRef.ingredient instanceof ExtendedIngredient extIng) {
+                // Null out the reference to the SoftReference object, to allow the SoftReference itself to be garbage collected.
+                extIng.mfix$clearReference();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}