I think I must be a slow food prepper. I find that I rarely meet the estimated prep times given in recipes.
Are you usually faster, slower, or about on the mark when an estimated preparation time is given in a recipe? Just curious about this, especially when many of you (not me - we are going out) are likely doing more food prep than usual leading up to Thanksgiving.
I really don’t look much at the prep time unless it involves like a fermentation or refrigeration time point.
I review the recipe and then based on the steps decide how long it will probably take me - and if I’m willing to go take that amount of time for the product!
I never look at prep time either. I just have a feel for how long it will take me based on the type of food/recipe.
I am always slower. Always.
I also find it amusing when the recipe tells you how many servings it’s making. Rarely is that realistic. I have a recipe for beef fajitas that calls for 3/4 pound beef and alleges it serves eight. In what universe??
I glance at the prep time and I think the first time making something I’m probably slower.
My sister (who can whip up a fabulous meal for 12 with an hours notice) says it’s all in the pre-prep.
She’s got ziplock bags of sliced onions, cubed carrots, mushrooms in her freezer- arranged like books on a shelf so you just quickly pull out the one you need. She’s got loaves of home made bread, cookies, pounded chicken breasts. Always a few bags of stew which defrost quickly in a bath of water and then get reheated.
She would rather devote an entire Sunday to making two months worth of meals then stress if she hits traffic on the way home from work. Then when you get home it’s rice into the rice cooker or boiling up the pasta, a quick salad and you’re done.
I wish I were that organized. So sure- if we all had the mushrooms and onions sliced and ready to go into the pot the recipe prep times would be accurate. But if you’re first washing the mud off the mushrooms when you start- I find I’m already behind!
If it is a new recipe for me, I’m always slower.
Another (almost) always slower.
I wasn’t thinking about that but, yeah, that’s me, too. Our fridge is stocked with pre-cut/washed/diced/cubed/sliced/bagged, etc. I process all produce as soon as I take it out of the grocery bags, and I pull a week’s worth of recipes in advance so I’m never without a pre-prepped ingredient for that week. Because we split our year between two places and each fridge must be empty before we leave, we manage our food to the week or two, so I’m extremely organized with both food inventory and food prep. I also stock the freezers with pre-made dishes for easy meals when scratch cooking isn’t feasible. Because we’re retired and cooking is our hobby, neither DH nor I care much how little or how much time a recipe takes.
This is also why I find the chop box indispensable.
Recipe prep times always underestimate the time it takes for key steps (slicing/chopping, searing/browning when you can’t overcrowd the pan and need to do it in batches, etc.). For online recipes, if the cooking or prep time is really off, people often say so in the comments.