I chose to find a common seed to get the perfect plant, combined with gatherer. This is fairly easy when you know where the right spots are. The path leading up to Maywood Glen is the perfect spot to get all the seeds you need.
To level fishing quickly I bought bait for nearly all the types of fish, and once I had caught one, which gives you a huge boost the first time you catch it, I switched bait. At about level 5 I switched back to fishing for minnows.
For painting, it pays to know which paintings are masterpieces. Once she had levelled up, she ditched every painting that wasn't a masterpiece.
For cooking I was going to go for a bought recipe, because those seem to get perfect faster, but In the end I only needed to get to about level 5 or 6 with Natural Cook + Born to Cook, an upgraded top tier stove (part of the 3 unique upgrades) and cook 10 servings of Stew Surprise.
My sims spent a lot of time at the consignment stores, and any energy potions went to Sim B who had way more things to complete. While she was out of potions she ate coffee beans. While she was pregnant she ate Sweetgrass.