With the holidays approaching, thinking about and planning for cooking and baking is getting into high gear.

It’s with this thought in mind that I offer some specific tips on how to work and cook smarter, and not harder. I have two time-tested beliefs around this kitchen approach:

1. If things are easier to do, we’re more inclined to do them.

2. When an efficient foundation for work is laid, and good habits are in place, success and genius is more inclined to show up.

Past articles have talked about planning ahead, knowing how to use your knives, making meals (or parts of meals) in advance, prepping everything before cooking and creating mixing stations (the mis en place approach), cleaning up while cooking, keeping your pantry/cupboards stocked using an ongoing inventory list to avoid running out of things, and keeping staple ingredients that you use often within arm’s reach. And I know from your responses that you’re doing these things.

So let’s look at some other ideas you may not have thought of or may not be trying yet. For instance:

Note the time it takes to prepare things. Many recipes include this information, but you might have noticed a discrepancy between what the recipe says and what actually took place for you. So time yourself and note on the recipe the real time it took you. This is valuable information if you like to piggy-back your cooking/baking efforts (an approach that saves loads of time).

Skip shredding cheese one recipe at a time. Do it all in advance. An expensive time-saver, pre-shredded cheese, is as you know, pricier than a block of cheese. So buy the block and shred the entire thing yourself. Then freeze all but what you need for the week. And bag the all the rest in amounts most of your recipes call for. Label appropriately. Cheese freezes well and you’ll save money and in the long run, TIME.

And you might consider going in with a friend or two and buying several “family size” blocks of cheese and shredding it together. More time and money saved!

If there are certain combinations of herbs and spices you use over and over, consider mixing them in advance. Make batches, label them, and store in airtight containers. I like to store these in the freezer to further protect their flavors.

And speaking of herbs and spices, separate your cooking herbs from your baking spices and store them separated from each other. This common sense organization approach saves time when looking for ingredients. You won’t be pawing through things you don’t need at the moment, for the few you do need right then.

Mix liquids (whipping cream, puddings, gravies, and so on) in a paper bag that you place in your sink. Place your bowl of ingredients in the bottom of the bag and reach in with your electric hand mixer. All the splatters will land on the insides of the bag instead of on your black-splash, counter appliances, or underneath the upper cupboards. It’s a big time-saver if you can avoid splatters and the cleanup they involve. And the reason to place the bag in the sink? This habit creates an ergonomically correct position for mixing—no hunching your shoulder as you mix.

Move your garbage container to your prep station or tape a plastic bag to your counter where you’re prepping. Lots of steps are saved by not running back and forth to the trash.

Don’t waste time scraping tomato paste out of that little can or scraping cream of whatever soup out of its can. Instead, after you remove one end of the can, tip it over (nothing will spill out) and stab a hole in the other end with a sharp, sturdy knife. This releases the vacuum, and the entire can contents will slide right out—no muss, no fuss. Or use the can opener on the other end of the can and use it to push the contents out.

Lastly, save cleanup time when carving meat and poultry. Place your entire entrée on a jelly-roll pan rather than a cutting board. All juices and carving remnants will fall into the pan rather than drizzle onto your counter top or ooze under the cutting board. For cleanup, simply rinse the pan and place it in the dishwasher.