Instant potato flakes aren’t exactly high on most lists of pantry essentials. You may keep them around in chilly months as a quick and easy shortcut to creamy mashed potatoes, but they’re probably more likely collecting dust on supermarket shelves.

What you might not know, though, is that these little flakes — made most often from either russet potatoes or Yukon Golds that have been cooked, mashed, and dehydrated — can work their magic in a surprising amount of dishes. Similar to potato starch, they can act as a thickener for gravies and soups. But they can also make chicken crispier, focaccia fluffier, and meatloaf more moist. Read on for our favorite ways to use them.

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Five hundred bucks is nothing to sneeze at. You can get a lot of groceries for $500, book a weekend away, or have a few nice meals out on the town. You can’t, however, usually renovate a kitchen for $500, but you can buy at least one thing that’ll make a huge difference in how you use or feel about your kitchen.

We asked three of our favorite designers to tell us the best way to spend $500 on a kitchen. Here’s what they had to suggest.

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If there’s one Costco fact we’ve been trying to prove to you lately, it’s that the warehouse store carries plenty of healthy foods. For starters, there’s the top-quality produce. There’s all sorts of healthy snacks for a lunch box, good-for-you frozen items, and there’s even a pretty healthy food court option.

We actually have a favorite among the many healthy options — and it happens to currently be on sale.

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My new mantra is “just get me to October!” September has been busy with back-to-school events (Parents’ Night, Harvest Fest) and lots of solo parenting. Here’s the magic of meal plans, though — when a calendar week is hectic I can use meal planning to make one part of each day easier. (In this case dinner.)

This week’s meal plan includes one slow cooker recipe we stashed in the freezer a few weeks back, plus three new but ultra-easy recipes that everyone will love. There’s still our regularly scheduled pizza on Friday, which uses up leftovers but doesn’t use the slow cooker. Here’s how a week of slow cooker dinners is making my week easier.

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If you’re sticking to a calorie budget, you likely understand the importance of planning and prepping your meals. Starting the week with a fridge full of packed Tupperware can help you stick within your calorie range and prevent mealtimes from being stressful. But picking and choosing the best recipes to prep? Now that’s where things get tricky.

It’s also where we come in. This Power Hour plan is packed with lean proteins, fresh vegetables, and whole grains to create an entire week’s worth of meals that all clock in at 1,500 calories a day or fewer — a common calorie goal for those looking to lose weight or consume fewer calories.

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During everyone’s most-and-least favorite holiday movie, Love, Actually, Prime Minister Hugh Grant lists all of the reasons why he thinks Great Britain deserves that first part of its name: “We may be a small country, but we’re a great one, too,” he said. “The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham’s right foot. David Beckham’s left foot, come to that.”

That’s a good start, but he somehow failed to mention Britain’s most impressive contribution to world cuisine: the fry-up. (Variations on the always-massive meal are known as the Full English, Full Scottish, or the Full Irish — there’s a theme here — depending on which country you’re ordering one in). Regardless, the most well-known version has to be the Full English, which traditionally includes eggs, rashers of bacon, bangers, black pudding, grilled tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, baked beans, and toast.

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You likely know Shepherd’s pie as a homey, comforting casserole — one that combines a flavorful stew of ground beef, peas, carrots (and sometimes corn) with mountains of creamy mashed potatoes. This skillet version has all those classic components, but takes less than an hour to make and skips the fresh vegetables (and the prep that comes with them) in favor of the frozen kind — letting you focus your efforts on the creamy potatoes.

This Shepherd’s pie is a complete meal in a single skillet, and just the kind of dinner you want to tuck into as the weather cools. Plus, it’s so easy you can make it on a weeknight.

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Have you ever wished you had an extra pair of hands while cooking to flip the pages of your cookbook, set a timer, look up how long the chicken should roast, or read the next step in your recipe? Well, starting today, you can, thanks to a new set of features from Amazon on Amazon Echo devices — and a new Kitchn relationship with Amazon.

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Potato soup is such a fall classic. Tender pieces of creamy russet potatoes mingle with onions, garlic, and salty pancetta for a bowl of soul-soothing solace. The only possible upgrade to this classic is to make it easier with the help from the slow cooker. And let’s be real — this soup is one hundred times better when it’s made in the slow cooker.

To make the absolute easiest potato soup, this recipe relies on pantry staples to create a bowl of creamy, comforting soup that’s as easy to make as it is to love. Here’s how it’s done.

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