Question about meal prepping vs. cooking fresh every night - what's actually faster?

So I got into it with my sister last week over dinner. She swears meal prepping on Sunday saves her 10 hours a week in the kitchen. I told her that's BS because I spend 3 hours Sunday plus 30 min reheating vs 20 min cooking fresh each night. Math doesn't work out for me unless you count the dishes differently. She said I'm just lazy about planning. Who's right here? Has anyone actually timed both ways for a full week?

Client told me my crown molding had a 'shadow line' issue... I was blind to it

A builder I work with in Denver pointed out that my crown molding was casting a shadow about 1/8 inch wide along the top edge on every run. I'd been installing crown for 7 years and never noticed it. Turns out I was cutting my cope slightly wrong, leaving a tiny flat spot instead of a clean 45 degree angle. He showed me how to adjust the cope knife angle by 2 degrees and it disappeared completely. Has anyone else had a client or builder call out a flaw you honestly couldn't see yourself?

Fixed a finicky transponder with a wire tie trick

Had a KT76 that would drop its reply on cold mornings at the hangar in Anchorage. Chased ground loops for two hours before an old tech told me to zip tie the coax tight to the tray. Anyone ever seen vibration kill signal like that in a piston single?

Unpopular opinion: Hand forging beats pre-made keg shoes for most trail horses

I spent years using factory keg shoes on trail horses in the Smokies, thinking they saved time. Then I started hand forging a set for a rocky customer's mare last fall, and the fit was way better with less slipping. Has anyone else noticed a big difference after switching to forging more of your own shoes?

Spent $40 on fancy 'heritage' cornmeal for my grandma's johnnycakes

The bag said it was stone-ground from some special farm. The cakes came out gritty and dense, nothing like hers. She just used the plain Quaker brand from the grocery store. Has anyone else been tricked by expensive 'artisan' ingredients for simple family recipes?

Appreciation post: I was cleaning shutter blades with a cotton swab for a decade before a guy in a Chicago workshop told me I was just pushing the grit around.

He showed me his method with a soft sable brush and lighter fluid, and now I won't touch a focal-plane shutter without one, so what's your go-to trick for a truly clean blade set?

TIL the difference a proper torque wrench makes on a King Air's nose gear trunnion

For years I just used a clicker wrench and a prayer, but after a 100-hour inspection in Denver last fall, the shop foreman made me use his calibrated Snap-on digital model. The preload readings went from a 15% spread to within 2%, and the shimmy on rollout is completely gone. How many other 'good enough' practices are we all still using that could be this simple to fix?

PSA: I hired a 'done for you' social media agency for $800 a month and my follower count dropped by 300.

Warning: I just read the 2023 shop injury report from the Bicycle Industry Association

It said over 40% of mechanic injuries are from cable ends, not from crashes or heavy tools. I found this in their yearly safety packet that my shop gets. How are you guys handling cable trimming to keep fingers safe?

A trick for getting old trim clips to let go without breaking

For years, I would just pry on old plastic trim clips with a flathead and hope for the best, which usually ended with a snap and a trip to the parts store. About six months ago, I was working on a 2005 Civic and got fed up with breaking the last three clips on a rocker panel. I grabbed my heat gun, set it on low, and gently warmed the area around the clip for maybe 15 seconds. The plastic got just soft enough that the clip popped right out with a little wiggle from my trim tool. I've used this on a bunch of cars since, from Ford trucks to older Toyotas, and it's saved me a ton of time and money on replacement clips. The key is low heat and patience; you don't want to melt anything, just warm it up. It works because the old plastic gets brittle but still softens with a little heat. What other tricks do you guys have for dealing with stubborn, aged plastic parts?