Definitely heartily endorse the garlic/ginger minced paste - I used to pooh-pooh it but honestly has made a world of difference in convenience with south Asian food and even the occasional stir fry - without as much of a compromise in flavour as I used to think. Regularly affordable at your local Indian grocer.

With capsicums I normally slice off the top and then pull out the core of seeds from the rest of it using my hand, then cut it in half and use a knife to tick off the remaining seeds/pith. I used to loathe getting capsicum seeds all over my cutting board.

Same with you re garlic peeling and spuds. Half the deliciousness of spuds is in the skin, not to mention so many of the nutrients.