[giraffe_lady]

I was a line cook for over a decade too and cook a lot at home obviously. Mise just looks different at home but it still happens. I still get out my cutting board and hone my knife before I start peeling the carrots you know.

I've always thought of the goal of mise being a sort of process fluidity rather than raw efficiency. Especially with tasks that can't be done simultaneously it's not going to shave much if any time off. But it still leads to less things to keep track of, fewer context switches, smoother transitions, fewer mistakes, more opportunity to notice and account for variations, etc.

You also have to remember that you have the skills and accompany judgement of a once-professional cook. You can cut the celery before the onions burn, but can you cut it before the garlic burns? Could a home cook without a professional background?

It's not that one of those options is "mise en place" and then others aren't. The answers depend on the person doing the cooking, and making that call is part of the mise process for the dish. Having a plan, basically.