diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-butcher-recipes.R b/tests/testthat/test-butcher-recipes.R
index 2d5b958..543e82a 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-butcher-recipes.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-butcher-recipes.R
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ terms_empty_env <- function(axed, step_number) {
 }
 
 test_that("recipe + step_nnmf_sparse + axe_env() works", {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("recipes") < "0.1.17.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("recipes", "0.1.17.9001")
   rec <- recipe(HHV ~ ., data = biomass_tr) %>%
     step_nnmf_sparse(all_numeric_predictors(), num_comp = 2, seed = 473)
   x <- axe_env(rec)
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ test_that("recipe + step_nnmf_sparse + axe_env() works", {
 })
 
 test_that("recipe + step_nnmf_sparse + bake() works", {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("recipes") < "0.1.17.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("recipes", "0.1.17.9001")
   rec <- recipe(HHV ~ ., data = biomass_tr) %>%
     step_nnmf_sparse(all_numeric_predictors(), num_comp = 2, seed = 473) %>%
     prep()
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-parsnip-extension-messaging.R b/tests/testthat/test-parsnip-extension-messaging.R
index 1306834..81450fc 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-parsnip-extension-messaging.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-parsnip-extension-messaging.R
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 test_that('messaging with unknown implementation (bag tree, tidymodels/parsnip#793)', {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("parsnip") < "1.0.2")
+  skip_if_not_installed("parsnip", "1.0.2")
 
   library(parsnip)
 
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ test_that('messaging with unknown implementation (bag tree, tidymodels/parsnip#7
 })
 
 test_that('messaging with unknown implementation (decision tree, tidymodels/parsnip#793)', {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("parsnip") < "1.0.2")
+  skip_if_not_installed("parsnip", "1.0.2")
 
   library(parsnip)
 
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ test_that('missing implementation checks prompt conservatively with old objects
   # extension packages, as well as model specs generated before parsnip 1.0.2,
   # will not have this slot. ensure that these messages/errors aren't
   # erroneously introduced when that's the case
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("parsnip") < "1.0.2")
+  skip_if_not_installed("parsnip", "1.0.2")
 
   library(parsnip)
 
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ test_that('missing implementation checks prompt conservatively with old objects
 
 test_that('missing implementation checks prompt conservatively with old objects (decision_tree)', {
   # see comment in above chunk
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("parsnip") < "1.0.2")
+  skip_if_not_installed("parsnip", "1.0.2")
 
   library(parsnip)
 
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ test_that('missing implementation checks prompt conservatively with old objects
 
 test_that('missing implementation checks prompt conservatively with external objects (arima_boost)', {
   # see comment in above chunk
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("parsnip") < "1.0.2")
+  skip_if_not_installed("parsnip", "1.0.2")
 
   library(modeltime)
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-recipes-nnmf_sparse.R b/tests/testthat/test-recipes-nnmf_sparse.R
index c3247b5..5d16bb5 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-recipes-nnmf_sparse.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-recipes-nnmf_sparse.R
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ library(recipes)
 suppressPackageStartupMessages(library(Matrix)) # Waiting for fix in RcppML
 
 test_that('Correct values', {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("recipes") < "0.1.17.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("recipes", "0.1.17.9001")
 
   rec <- recipe(Species ~ ., data = iris) %>%
     step_nnmf_sparse(all_predictors(), seed = 2432)
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ test_that('Correct values', {
 })
 
 test_that('No NNF', {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("recipes") < "0.1.17.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("recipes", "0.1.17.9001")
 
   rec <- recipe(Species ~ ., data = iris) %>%
     step_nnmf_sparse(all_predictors(), seed = 2432, num_comp = 0) %>%
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ test_that('No NNF', {
 })
 
 test_that('tunable', {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("recipes") < "0.1.17.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("recipes", "0.1.17.9001")
   rec <-
     recipe(~., data = iris) %>%
     step_nnmf_sparse(all_predictors())
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ test_that('tunable', {
 })
 
 test_that('keep_original_cols works', {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("recipes") < "0.1.17.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("recipes", "0.1.17.9001")
 
   rec <- recipe(Species ~ ., data = iris) %>%
     step_nnmf_sparse(all_predictors(), seed = 2432, keep_original_cols = TRUE)
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ test_that('keep_original_cols works', {
 })
 
 test_that('can prep recipes with no keep_original_cols', {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("recipes") < "0.1.17.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("recipes", "0.1.17.9001")
 
   rec <- recipe(Species ~ ., data = iris) %>%
     step_nnmf_sparse(all_predictors(), seed = 2432)
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ test_that('can prep recipes with no keep_original_cols', {
 })
 
 test_that('tidy method', {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("recipes") < "1.0.6.9000")
+  skip_if_not_installed("recipes", "1.0.6.9000")
 
   set.seed(1)
   rec <- recipe(~., data = mtcars) %>%
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-stacks-columns.R b/tests/testthat/test-stacks-columns.R
index 2a091f5..a951029 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-stacks-columns.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-stacks-columns.R
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ library(dplyr)
 
 test_that("stacks can accommodate outcome levels that are not valid colnames", {
   # skip on pre-0.2.4
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("stacks") < "0.2.3.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("stacks", "0.2.3.9001")
   skip_if_not_installed("tune", "1.3.0.9006")
 
   data("penguins")
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-stacks-tuning.R b/tests/testthat/test-stacks-tuning.R
index 3abc631..def97a2 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-stacks-tuning.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-stacks-tuning.R
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ wf_set <-
 
 # tests ------------------------------------------------------------------
 test_that("stacking with grid search works", {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("stacks") < "1.0.0.9000")
+  skip_if_not_installed("stacks", "1.0.0.9000")
 
   wf_set_grid <-
     workflow_map(
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ test_that("stacking with grid search works", {
 })
 
 test_that("stacking with Bayesian tuning works", {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("stacks") < "1.0.0.9000")
+  skip_if_not_installed("stacks", "1.0.0.9000")
 
   wf_set_bayes <-
     workflow_map(
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ test_that("stacking with Bayesian tuning works", {
 })
 
 test_that("stacking with finetune works (anova)", {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("stacks") < "1.0.0.9000")
+  skip_if_not_installed("stacks", "1.0.0.9000")
 
   wf_set_anova <-
     workflow_map(
@@ -229,8 +229,8 @@ test_that("stacking with finetune works (anova)", {
 })
 
 test_that("stacking with finetune works (sim_anneal)", {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("stacks") < "1.0.0.9000")
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("finetune") < "1.1.0.9001")
+  skip_if_not_installed("stacks", "1.0.0.9000")
+  skip_if_not_installed("finetune", "1.1.0.9001")
 
   wf_set_sim_anneal <-
     workflow_map(
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ test_that("stacking with finetune works (sim_anneal)", {
 })
 
 test_that("stacking with finetune works (win_loss)", {
-  skip_if(utils::packageVersion("stacks") < "1.0.0.9000")
+  skip_if_not_installed("stacks", "1.0.0.9000")
 
   wf_set_win_loss <-
     workflow_map(