The other option you seem to allude to, that is just go IMC to get to VMC conditions runs shivers of fear up my spine. Too many people have got killed doing that.
One doesn't (at least I don't) "just go IMC".
One flies in accordance with IFR, which includes MSA as well as cruising level (and the appropriate altimetry). (But in the UK outside controlled airspace it doesn't involve much else - no flight plan, no need to talk to anybody - the clue is in "
outside controlled airspace".)
If I haven't prepared for an IFR flight, eg I don't know where MSA is, then I don't go into IMC. Messing around in clouds is something I do
only when I've planned the flight as IFR (even if I'm expecting to fly all of it VFR). (Knowing "I'm safe above x,000' within y nm of my home field" would count as "planning" a local bimble for IFR.)