Prepping for a Recipe

There is nothing worse when you are cooking than to be in the middle of preparing something and realizing that you don’t have all the needed ingredients. That is why I always make sure to get everything for the recipe ready to go before I ever start cooking. The fancy word for this is mise en place. For me it’s just good management, and it is something that I had to learn the hard way – I think on more than one occasion.

Doing this is good for a couple of reasons. The first one is obviously you want to make sure you have every ingredient that you need. You definitely don’t want to be in the middle of cooking and realize you are missing something. I usually stay on top of this pretty well with my running grocery list, but there have been a few times I have let something slip through. I did this just recently. I was supposed to have a can of cream of chicken soup, and I guess I just forgot to add it to my list when I was planning out my meals. I usually keep a few staples like that in the pantry, but this was one of those times when I did not have any on hand. Thank goodness I had not started cooking yet, which is why I am sharing this tip. That is exactly what you DON’T want to do. Also, fortunately, I was able to search for a revised recipe and I made the meal work. I knew I did not want to go to the store after getting home and comfortable! Biggest reason to meal prep and plan! I despise having to stop by the store on the way home from work, and I sure don’t want to get back out after getting home because I was not prepared. 

Another reason you want to get everything ready before you start cooking is that some recipes require you to add ingredients after a certain amount of time, and if you don’t have everything prepared, you may not be able to add items in at the right time. That used to be one of my biggest downfalls when I cooked. I would just start the recipe without having everything chopped up, measured out, opened, etc. and ready to go. I would be in the middle of cooking and need chopped vegetables that weren’t ready, or the recipe called for some things that should have already been mixed together before adding them to the other ingredients, and I didn’t have that mixed up. That takes time that at this point I really didn’t have since other things were already cooking. It was after a few of those instances that I learned to get everything chopped, spices and liquids measured out, cans opened, utensils set out, and whatever else is needed for that recipe. It just makes your cooking go so much better. 

So take the time up front to get all your ingredients and other needed items out and ready to go. You will be glad that you did, and your daily chore of getting dinner on the table for everyone will be so much easier and less stressful.