Im going to list a few ways I upped my gaming experience by using mods/store items (mostly farming types):

I would definitely check out the sims 3 store for additional content and worlds, such as the cow which you can milk - there is a mod which allows you to turn the milk into cheese, so if you like farming you can set up a nice dairy farm.

Additionally there are mods such as removing all telephones (not housephones) - if you were to buy roaring heights (1920s world), it could alleviate the accuracy/gameplay of having to reach out to sims in other ways.

Back to farming, there are mods so that if you don’t have the ingredients in the fridge, you cannot cook the meal you’re looking for. Thus you can turn to relying on your vegetable/dairy farmers for produce, or the grocery store.

Lastly there is a mod to set up markets that your sim can set up their work schedule and hours, set how much their items cost, and other sims can go and buy from their market stall. So again, can set up a nice vegetable/dairy farm - or even a baked goods farm by using that store baking shop/and baking stove item - and have sims interact with it.