diff --git a/hugolib/page.go b/hugolib/page.go
index dd8d9445594..d5055e7c11e 100644
--- a/hugolib/page.go
+++ b/hugolib/page.go
@@ -369,50 +369,12 @@ func (p *pageState) TranslationKey() string {
 // AllTranslations returns all translations, including the current Page.
 func (p *pageState) AllTranslations() page.Pages {
 	p.s.h.init.translations.Do()
-
-	// Hugo attempts to reuse content providers while preparing each page for
-	// rendering. This approach means that sometimes, content providers for
-	// translations are not initialized. If needed, initialize them here.
-	for _, tr := range p.allTranslations {
-		tp, ok := tr.(*pageState)
-		if !ok {
-			continue
-		}
-		if tp.pageOutput.cp == nil {
-			cp, err := newPageContentOutput(tp, tp.pageOutput)
-			if err != nil {
-				// This will be caught by texttemplate.safeCall
-				panic(fmt.Errorf("error rendering page translation: %w", err))
-			}
-			tp.initContentProvider(cp)
-		}
-	}
-
 	return p.allTranslations
 }
 
 // Translations returns the translations excluding the current Page.
 func (p *pageState) Translations() page.Pages {
 	p.s.h.init.translations.Do()
-
-	// Hugo attempts to reuse content providers while preparing each page for
-	// rendering. This approach means that sometimes, content providers for
-	// translations are not initialized. If needed, initialize them here.
-	for _, tr := range p.translations {
-		tp, ok := tr.(*pageState)
-		if !ok {
-			continue
-		}
-		if tp.pageOutput.cp == nil {
-			cp, err := newPageContentOutput(tp, tp.pageOutput)
-			if err != nil {
-				// This will be caught by texttemplate.safeCall
-				panic(fmt.Errorf("error rendering page translation: %w", err))
-			}
-			tp.initContentProvider(cp)
-		}
-	}
-
 	return p.translations
 }
 
@@ -673,7 +635,19 @@ func (p *pageState) RenderString(args ...interface{}) (template.HTML, error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	c, err := p.pageOutput.cp.renderContentWithConverter(conv, []byte(s), false)
+	var cp *pageContentOutput
+
+	// If the current content provider is not yet initialized, do so now.
+	if lcp, ok := p.pageOutput.ContentProvider.(*page.LazyContentProvider); ok {
+		c := lcp.Init()
+		if pco, ok := c.(*pageContentOutput); ok {
+			cp = pco
+		}
+	} else {
+		cp = p.pageOutput.cp
+	}
+
+	c, err := cp.renderContentWithConverter(conv, []byte(s), false)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", p.wrapError(err)
 	}
@@ -1009,6 +983,24 @@ func (p *pageState) shiftToOutputFormat(isRenderingSite bool, idx int) error {
 			}
 		}
 		p.pageOutput.initContentProvider(cp)
+	} else {
+		// We attempt to assign pageContentOutputs while preparing each site
+		// for rendering and before rendering each site. This lets us share
+		// content between page outputs to conserve resources. But if a template
+		// unexpectedly calls a method of a ContentProvider that is not yet
+		// initialized, we assign a LazyContentProvider that performs the
+		// initialization just in time.
+		if lcp, ok := (p.pageOutput.ContentProvider.(*page.LazyContentProvider)); ok {
+			lcp.Reset()
+		} else {
+			p.pageOutput.ContentProvider = page.NewLazyContentProvider(func() (page.ContentProvider, error) {
+				cp, err := newPageContentOutput(p, p.pageOutput)
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				return cp, nil
+			})
+		}
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/resources/page/page_lazy_contentprovider.go b/resources/page/page_lazy_contentprovider.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9979856f8c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/resources/page/page_lazy_contentprovider.go
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+// Copyright 2019 The Hugo Authors. All rights reserved.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package page
+
+import (
+	"html/template"
+
+	"github.com/gohugoio/hugo/lazy"
+)
+
+// LazyContentProvider initializes itself when read. Each method of the
+// ContentProvider interface initializes a content provider and shares it
+// with other methods.
+//
+// Used in cases where we cannot guarantee whether the content provider
+// will be needed. Must create via NewLazyContentProvider.
+type LazyContentProvider struct {
+	init *lazy.Init
+	cp   ContentProvider
+}
+
+// NewLazyContentProvider returns a LazyContentProvider initialized with
+// function f. The resulting LazyContentProvider calls f in order to
+// retrieve a ContentProvider
+func NewLazyContentProvider(f func() (ContentProvider, error)) *LazyContentProvider {
+	lcp := LazyContentProvider{
+		init: lazy.New(),
+		cp:   NopPage,
+	}
+	lcp.init.Add(func() (interface{}, error) {
+		cp, err := f()
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+		lcp.cp = cp
+		return nil, nil
+	})
+	return &lcp
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) Init() ContentProvider {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) Reset() {
+	lcp.init.Reset()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) Content() (interface{}, error) {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.Content()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) Plain() string {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.Plain()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) PlainWords() []string {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.PlainWords()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) Summary() template.HTML {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.Summary()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) Truncated() bool {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.Truncated()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) FuzzyWordCount() int {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.FuzzyWordCount()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) WordCount() int {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.WordCount()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) ReadingTime() int {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.ReadingTime()
+}
+
+func (lcp *LazyContentProvider) Len() int {
+	lcp.init.Do()
+	return lcp.cp.Len()
+}