The French have a lovely phrase “mise en place” which means basically prep (wash, cut, measure, etc) all of your ingredients before you begin cooking or baking.

This technique is actually pretty helpful. You can apply it to things like slowcookers meals where on a Sunday while prepping dinner, throw together all of the ingredients for stew or chili later in the week.

It makes the actual cooking more enjoyable, and there’s less room for error. Cleaning up as you go is a snap, and when you are ready to eat, there’s not much cleaning left to do.