Albatross
I don't know if this qualifies as a life hack, but I like to make sure that I always have at least a dozen of each type of food that can be given to the gardeners (and to take those off of autofeed) so that I can always pay Tiny and Bigs. The water and compost they use doesn't draw from your stores, so you can plant higher-level crops more often as well as not having to maintain the crops manually.
Granted, this tip doesn't quite apply to brand-new users who don't have the cooking skill to make those dishes, but I guess it's all the more reason to level up that skill as quickly as possible!
