I dont tend to use guides as the guide creators situation may differ from your own and may have access to resources that others dont, like levelled gathering classes.

When I'm crafting I mostly use a database like mooglebox and work out my own levelling path that suits my situation.
Generally speaking, I tend to go for synths with minimal ingredients, never more than 3 ingredients, but thats just me.
If all else fails theres always leves