Use light-colored metal pans: Preferably aluminum, greased to prevent sticking. Dark pans absorb heat, often resulting in burnt loaves. Glass pans are worse. Glass will act as an insulator and often burn the bread.
  Check your ingredients: If your baking powder and baking soda are outdated, buy fresh. Otherwise you risk wasting more expensive ingredients for the sake of using old leavener, which is relatively inexpensive.

Our power-shopping resources recommend the following: GROCERIES

• Make meals ahead and freeze them.

• Go vegetarian a couple of nights a week to eliminate pricey meats.

• Stay on the “outside loop” at the supermarket, where produce, dairy and frozen foods tend to be, rather than the inner aisles, which usually house processed foods.

Start early: Sufficient lead time is necessary to connect with job possibilities. Parents might ask their own employers about summer positions. Neighbors, friends and relatives also might provide leads.
  Go to the government: The stimulus bill enacted in February includes some $1.2 billion in youth-related jobs and training. This money is distributed through states, and some of the funds are targeted for jobs this summer. These jobs may be targeted toward teens from households under certain income limits. Check with the state unemployment office career center.

The slow, moist heat of a slow cooker is ideal for stews, sauce-based dishes and for tenderizing inexpensive cuts of meat. It will bake beans evenly and produce fall-off-the-bone pulled pork. It also turns out a mean chicken stock. Slow cookers will not produce crispy chicken, and nicer cuts of meat, such as pork tenderloin or filet mignon, will be ruined. Pastas can be tricky (they can turn mushy), and delicate cream sauces and white fish require careful timing.