Be Prepared: Vegetables

Mise en place is often impractical for the home cook, but that doesn't mean you can't employ a few tricks to increase your cooking efficiency.

Real Simple has some commonsense suggestions on prep work you can do hours before you begin cooking in earnest. My favorite suggestions of theirs have to do with prepping vegetables:

Chop vegetables ahead of time. Many vegetables can be chopped and stored in plastic the refrigerator along with a damp paper towel for several hours without a significant loss of flavor.

Blanch vegetables you plan on cooking. Boil the vegetables until their colors brighten, then shock them in some ice water to stop the cooking. You now have partially-cooked vegetables that you can refrigerate... and which will finish cooking quickly.