If you freeze berries or rhubarb for future baking projects, pre-mesure the amounts called for and freeze them seperately. This allows you to whip up desserts later without messy measuring of frozen ingredients.

When making a pie topped with meringue, always be sure to spread the meringue so it extends out to the edge of your crust. That way it won't pull away and come up short during baking.

Use an egg slicer to make nice even slices of fresh mushrooms.

Instead of taking the time to make meat balls, you can make meat squares by spreading your meat mixture in a baking pan and bake, then cut the meat into small squares.

Use your electric knife to cut chilled and rolled cookie dough into perfect even cookies.

If your potatoes sprout before you can get them used, try this. Peel, slice, and boil them until partially cooked. Remove them from the water and freeze them in small quantities. Then when you want mashed potatoes, just pop them into boiling water to finish cooking them.

If you're tired of picking up a dozen containers of spices on a shelf at eye level to find the one you want, just put them in a pull out bottom shelf or a drawer and label the tops of the containers and arrange them in alphabetical order.

Save empty plastic bread bags and double bag store bought bread before freezing it. This freezes the bread without freezer burn. This saves extra trips to the store for bread.

For fast, easy cleanup of food stuck inside pans, boil a little vinegar and water in the pan before washing. No scrubbing is required, the pan practically wipes clean.

To prevent icing from running off your cake, try dusting the surface lightly with cornstarch before icing it.

Before mesuring honey, syrup or molasses, spray the measuring spoon or cup with a coating of nonstick cooking spray. The sticky ingredient slides right out with no mess on the measuring spoon or cup.

To roast marshmellows without burning the outside, dip them in water and roast them while they're still wet. The inside will be soft by the time the outside is golden brown.

To speed up peeling and cutting vegetables, wear a rubber thumb cover which you can purchase at a stationary store. You can work alot faster when you're not worried about slicing your thumb.

Prepare a batch of ice cubes using lemonade instead of water and use them in iced tea. You'll have a cool refreshing tea with wonderful lemon flavor.

With left over sloppy joes or barbecue sandwiches, line a muffin tin with cupcake liners, fill each with the leftover meat and freeze in the pan. When solid, place these individual servings in a freezer bag and store in the freezer. For a quick sandwich, heat one filled cupcake liner in the microwave.

To keep a meatloaf from coming out greasy, put two bread "heels" on the bottom of the pan under the meat before cooking. The bread soaks up the grease.

For fast pizza, use flour tortillas for the crust. Top with prepared pizza sauce, shredded cheese and other ingredients like green pepper, onions, or olives and bake for about 10 minutes at 475 degrees.