Before I went to culinary school, I took “cooking up a storm” quite literally. That’s to say, my kitchen almost always looked like a hurricane blew through it by the time dinner was served.
Then my late professor Chef Pergl taught me the importance of mise en place—a French culinary term for putting everything in its place or gathering items together—and it’s since spared me many messes, whether on the job in professional kitchens or when cooking at home.
Mise en place is a simple concept to master—all you have to do is prep before you start cooking. I like to think of it as running through a checklist, where each ingredient is accounted for, properly portioned, and adequately prepped to reduce the risk of errors and to streamline making a recipe.
For example, I’ll mince a teaspoon of garlic, chiffonade 2 tablespoons of basil, and finely chop a shallot and set each aside in individual containers before combining them as per the steps in a recipe.
Although being an organized cook isn’t an innate skill of mine, I’ve honed it thanks in part to these cute, tiny meal-prepping bowls.
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This set of eight mini glass prep bowls helps streamline cooking and makes organizing the prepped ingredients for a recipe much easier.
One of the keys to mastering the mise en place technique is ensuring you have the adequate tools—most importantly, the proper containers to house all the ready-to-go ingredients.
The restaurant industry standard is deli containers of varying sizes (measured in ounces but typically referred to by the imperial system, such as a quart or pint container) or stainless steel hotel pans. However, when cooking at home for my family (and not an entire dining room of hungry guests), I prefer using my beloved Libbey Small Glass Bowls with Lids.
These small, durable, 6.25-ounce prep bowls come in a pack of eight and are dishwasher-safe. They’re big enough to hold about a ¾ cup of prepped ingredients ideal for four to six servings. They also have removable lids (that are also dishwasher-safe), which make storing surplus food in the cupboard or refrigerator convenient.
These stackable bowls don’t take up much room in my cupboards and are small enough to fit in my kitchen drawers when stacked in groups of three or four. I also like that I can conveniently see what’s inside of each one when stacked in the fridge since they’re made of clear glass, which wouldn’t be possible with opaque stainless steel bowls or hotel pans.
The lids were the primary selling point for me. I searched long and hard for the perfect set of prep bowls, and these ones from Libbey were the definitive choice. The lids make storing foods directly in the container easy, unlike other ramekins I’ve had that would require plastic wrap or aluminum to cover them.
I also use these bowls for more than just mise en place. They’re the perfect size for portioning a small snack, laying out a selection of toppings for an ice cream sundae bar, and even feeding my cat a bonus treat when she isn’t terrorizing us. I always keep one filled with kosher salt that I can easily dip into while cooking. Not to mention, they’re much more handsome than plastic deli containers and double as cute, little serving bowls for when company is over.
Although deli containers are affordable, I much prefer the mini glass prep bowls because they help me cut back on plastic use and are much more durable. Deli containers also tend to warp over time (especially when exposed to heat) and can become discolored or take on odors from potent ingredients. My sturdy glass bowls look good as new after two years of daily use and hundreds of rounds through the dishwasher.
The only limitation I’ve found when using them is that they’re rather small and not ideal for undertaking mass culinary events, like Thanksgiving dinner for a party of 20. In which case, it’s all hands on deck, and I’ll enlist the help of just about every size food storage container in my kitchen to mise en place on a larger scale.
I still love these tiny bowls. I’ve found them especially useful when I’m juggling several cooking tasks or preparing a more complicated recipe with tons of steps and ingredients. Not to mention, they make cleaning up as I go—a cardinal rule in a professional kitchen—a breeze since ingredients aren’t sprawled out all over the place.
I think my culinary professor would approve of my organized workstation and more-efficient meal-prepping abilities thanks to his teachings—and these mini bowls.
This article was edited by Megan Beauchamp and Maxine Builder.
