Cooking hacks

[OldTinHat]

I love butternut squash but loathe preparing the damn things so don't have it nearly as much as I'd like. I know you can get frozen squash but it has the skin on which I find unpleasant.

Anyway, imagine my delight discovering that if you cut off the top and bottom, score the skin and microwave it for at least 3m 30s, it's a doddle to peel. Why did I not know this 20 odd years and dozens of squash ago?!

What are your cooking hacks to make life easier that I should also have known years ago?

(Peeling ginger with a teaspoon is another duh one of mine that I discovered a few years back - thanks cooking programme!)

Frozen ginger and garlic - Asian foods section are such time savers and cheaper. Finely chop leftover parsley and coriander and freeze, use straight from frozen. Freeze half cans of tomatoes when you only need half, you can use from frozen.

I buy the frozen bags of finely chopped carrot, onion &celery mix to use as a base in loads of sauces, so much easier than buying separate and chopping my own