A few practical field techniques help a lot with high-contrast landscapes:

• Use a graduated neutral density filter to darken a bright sky while keeping the foreground properly exposed.
• Shoot at sunrise or sunset when the light is naturally softer and the scene’s contrast is lower.
• Expose to protect highlights. With digital and slide film, blown highlights are usually harder to recover than shadows. Spot meter from the brightest important area (such as bright clouds), then use exposure compensation as needed to keep that area from clipping.
• Use low ISO when possible, since this generally gives the best dynamic range.
• Shoot RAW. Even if you want to minimize editing, a RAW file usually holds more recoverable highlight and shadow detail than JPEG.
• Bracket exposures if needed. Taking multiple exposures can help when the contrast exceeds what one frame can hold, though movement in leaves, clouds, or people can make blending harder.

In practice, the simplest approach is: choose better light, use a grad ND for bright skies, shoot low ISO RAW, and meter for the highlights.