Three Kitchen Hints for Faster Prep and Freezing

Wetting a kitchen towel, wringing it out, and placing it underneath a cutting board keeps it from sliding around the counter while chopping, an old trick passed down in plenty of kitchens.

Soups, stews, and ground meat freeze and defrost faster the flatter and wider they're spread. A vacuum sealer works great, but heavy-duty freezer bags with the air squeezed out and laid flat do the job too. Vegetables freeze best cut small (an inch or less), blanched if green, and frozen solid on a tray before going into a bag.

Running meat under cold water defrosts it fastest, but placing it on an aluminum sheet tray or skillet instead saves water and still speeds things up, since aluminum pulls heat from the surrounding air into the frozen meat much faster than a wooden board or stone counter — cutting defrosting time by about 30 percent.