FONT=Arial]I tend to be much more on the side of a mis-en-place cook. I plan my dinner menu's for the week based on the family calendar - will we eat at home or out? how much time will I have to cook? I do all the shopping at one time. Rarely ever don't have something that I need. As to the actual prep and cooking, it is very easy for me to look at the menu and recipes for the night and see how much prep I need to do before I start cooking. I can tell when I will have some pockets of time to do more chopping and measuring once something has started cooking. I do always pull out everything I will need for the meal onto the counter before I begin cooking. Of course, if I will need chopped onions for two dishes, I chop all that I need at one time. Then those little bowls come in handy. I have learned that the ability to prepare a meal in a logical order is a skill that must be learned and practiced, if not a gift that some have and others don't. I am the only cook in the house, although my partner is a fabulous baker. Last night she was pulling dinner together while I was busy with other things. This rarely happens for good reason, as you will see. The menu was simple - reheating taco meat for the kids, reheating tamales for us, chopping some lettuce, heating tortillas and putting out the salsa, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream. First she heated the taco meat & tortillas, chopped the lettuce and put all the other ingredients in bowls. This took about 15 minutes. Then she asked how long the tamales needed to heat. So we waited for the oven to heat and another 20 minutes for the tamales to warm up. I do appreciate the help from time to time, but really what gives???? Robin