How you prepare vegetables makes all the difference in how excited you’ll be to eat them. For instance, I don’t want boiled Brussels sprouts anywhere near my plate, but roasted? Now we’re talkin’. All you need is a sheet tray, some olive oil and seasonings, and you’ll be on your way to crispy town. This brand won the top spot in my roundup of the best baking sheets after I put nine brands to the test.

A sheet tray’s most obvious use is probably baking cookies and roasting vegetables, but I’ve also used mine to make cakes (you can cut out layers or make a large sheet cake), homemade Pop-Tarts and galettes. Oh, and if I’m baking something runny in a pie or cake pan, I always stick one of these bad boys underneath to catch any drippings — easier to clean the tray than the bottom of my oven!

💰 Good deal: Nordic Ware is a trustworthy brand and has never let me down; my pans are old enough to be museum relics at this point, and they still perform just as well as the day I got ’em. This trio, which includes half-sheet, quarter-sheet and jelly-roll pans, is currently within $3 of its Black Friday price and doesn’t often go on sale.