Learn how to sharpen your knives

Literally and metaphorically. But in this case literally: that first time you can get a knife to just shinggg a strip off a piece of paper you’re gonna feel so badass, plus your time in the kitchen will be more enjoyable.* It’s not hard to do a good-enough job**, and if you want to get it scary-sharp I can imagine that comes with practice. This video is the best one-stop-shop I’ve found. He’ll tell you what to buy and how to do it at just the right level of detail. A super handy life skill boiled down to a 30-minute video! We live in magical times.

* Except when you cut yourself. I personally go for a middle ground somewhere between “I cut myself because I had to force my dull knife through something and it slipped” and “I cut myself because my knife goes through everything like a surgical scalpel, including mine own flesh.”

** By “good enough” I mean basically getting it to cut like it’s brand new.