OAKLAND, Calif., May 2004 — While chefs like Emily Luchetti or cookbook authors like Melanie Barnard may call the kitchen their office, even those with a passion for food have a need for speed when cooking. After all, chefs, cookbook authors and cooking teachers, like everyone else, want to have more time enjoying the company of their family and friends.

When three dynamic cooking experts from different food fields shared their favorite time-saving kitchen tips, they found they all live by the same tenet — save time by taking shortcuts but don't scrimp on taste.

Pastry Chef and Cattle Rancher
Emily Luchetti, pastry chef at San Francisco's celebrated seafood restaurant, Farallon, is known for her magnificent desserts. So in demand are her scrumptious ideas that she has authored three cookbooks, most recently, A Passion for Desserts (Chronicle Books, 2003), and is a popular guest teacher on the national cooking school circuit.

Luchetti and her husband also are cattle ranchers, raising a hundred head on 650 acres in Lake County, Calif. In her "free" time, she enjoys hosting dinner parties for friends, business associates and her husband's large family.

To keep it all together, Luchetti builds dinner party menus around some make-ahead dishes. "It helps if you organize yourself really well so you can do little bits and pieces over the course of the week," she advises.

Emily's Tips

• Bake layer cakes, brownies or pound cakes a day or two in advance to relieve stress on party day. Seal securely in GLAD Press'n Seal™ wrap to maintain freshness.
• When making pie dough, double the recipe. Freeze the second batch in GLAD Press'n Seal wrap to keep out air and help prevent freezer burn. This way you always have a pie crust on hand.
• To shape cookies faster and more uniformly, use small ice cream scoops (a tablespoon or less) to drop dough onto the cookie sheet.

Cookbook Author and Ambulance-Driving Grandma
Her 16 cookbooks speak volumes about Melanie Barnard's expertise in food and cooking. A prolific author, Barnard's latest, Ready, Set, Dough! (Broadway Books 2004) was just released this spring. Barnard also co-authors a monthly column for Bon Appetit magazine called Every-Night Cooking.

Quick cooking is essential for this active grandmother of four, volunteer Emergency Medical Technician and president of the ambulance corps for the town of New Canaan, Conn.

Where once Barnard felt compelled to make everything from scratch, today she relies on shortcuts. "Food and entertaining are about the people, the taste and the being together," she says. "I won't sacrifice flavor. But I will shorten time."

Melanie's Tips

• Buy prepared salads, such as chicken salad, from a high-quality grocery store. Add your own personal touches like handfuls of chopped fresh herbs to give salads a freshly made taste.
• Freeze individual portions of chicken breast or pork chops by placing in a single layer between two pieces of Press'n Seal wrap. Seal around each piece of meat, then put in the freezer. When you're ready to use, simply snip off the pieces you need without having to thaw a whole package.

Queen of Southwestern Cuisine
Cookbook author and cooking teacher Jane Butel has been promoting Southwestern cooking from the days when most of America didn't know a tostada from a taco. She is the author of 16 cookbooks, including six best-sellers.

Butel is chief executive officer of Jane Butel's Southwestern Cooking School in Albuquerque, N.M., named one of the best vacation cooking schools in the world by Bon Appetit magazine. Butel also is the star of a PBS television series, Jane Butel's Southwestern Kitchen.

"I love to entertain," she says. Weekend houseguests or 14 for dinner — nothing fazes this gregarious, talented cook.

Jane's Tips

• For quicker — and healthier — tostadas, bake tortillas on a cookie sheet instead of frying them.
• To handle chiles without rubber gloves, spray hands with non-stick cooking spray or rub with cooking oil. Avoid touching the inside flesh of the chile, which is the most potent part.
• Instead of making individual cocktails, save time when entertaining by making a crowd-pleasing beverage, like sangria, ahead of time. Make the sangria in the pitcher it will be served in, cover with GLAD Press'n Seal wrap and chill. The wrap's spill-proof seal will help prevent refrigerator spills.