From peeling potatoes to mashing them with extra ingredients, making a homemade batch of mashed potatoes requires quite a bit of handiwork and patience. Luckily, there's one common kitchen tool that can do the double duty of peeling and mashing your cooked potatoes all at once, saving you lots of time and arm work.

To get rid of potato skins while you mash them in one fell swoop, boil your potatoes with the skin on, and allow them to cool before cutting them in half and placing them flesh-side-down on a tray. Then, take a baking rack and press it onto the potatoes, which will mash them and separate the skins at the same time.

After mashing, you can simply peel the skins right off your mass of mashed potatoes and proceed with your recipe. A baking rack takes up much less space than a ricer or a stand mixer, and if you don't have one, it's worth buying for not only mashed potatoes, but for baking and cooling a great post-dinner dessert.