Prep Bowls Will Seriously Change The Way You Cook

Prep bowls are the most obvious secret weapon in the world, and they're a must-have for your kitchen.

I have, more than once, started a recipe — like, properly started, as in, bought the ingredients and started preparing them — only to realize that that there was some prohibitive step tucked in toward the end. Like, "Marinate chicken for four hours" or "Let stand overnight."

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This may seem obvious to more organized home chefs, but when I finally began reading the entire recipe before embarking on a cooking project, I became a much better cook.

When I started actually paying attention to mise en place — French for "putting everything in its place" or "just chop everything first, dummy!" (loosely translated) — cooking became a less harried, profanity-laced affair.

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For a long time, I didn't want to use prep bowls because I am strongly averse to any action that creates more dishes. (Water glasses that only *you* use need to be washed, what, every two weeks, right?)

But then I took an Indian cooking class, and the (excellent) teacher really stressed the importance of the ol' mise (she did not call it that). She had a whole set of little glass bowls — similar to the set from Tasty's collection for Walmart, pictured above, or this 10-piece set that includes both prep bowls and mixing bowls. I decided that a few more bowls — tiny bowls, at that — wouldn't increase my dishwashing burden too greatly, and that the rewards would outweigh the dishpan hands.

And, as with most things I irrationally put off doing for months to years (see also: getting a programmable coffee pot and reusable travel cup, washing my face at night, and spending $10 on a laptop sleeve), it has been completely worth it and my only regret is not having done it years ago.

I started using these nesting melamine prep bowls/measuring cups, which I already had. (I had mostly been using them to hold chocolate chips that I wanted to eat in bed. Actually, I still use them for that!)

Sur La Table

I like these bowls a lot, but the one drawback is that they're not clear, so it's slightly harder to see what's actually in the bowl before you dump its contents into your pan. But they do have labeled measurements for 1/8 cup though 1 cup, which is great.

If you need to prep some things way in advance of cooking, you might also consider getting a set of nesting prep bowls with lids. Part storage container, part mixing bowl, part prep bowl, allllll business. (The business of efficient home cooking, of course.)

The point is, no matter what kind you get, prep bowls will change the way you cook for the better!

You know how when you watch a Tasty video, all the ingredients are pre-portioned in bowls, so when the time comes to add them, all you have to do is upend a bowl?

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When you use prep bowls, that's what cooking is like! I mean, yes, you still have to do the measuring and chopping, but the cooking process feels so much less like an emergency when you have everything laid out neatly before you ever turn on the stove.

Get a set of three clear glass bowls from Tasty's collection for Walmart for $6.97 (available in-store only), a set of 10 clear glass bowls from Walmart for $15.87, a set of four storage bowls with lids from Amazon for $23.99, or a set of five measuring prep bowls from Sur La Table for $13.

Check out the entire collection of Tasty kitchenware at Walmart here!

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