Prep time doesn't include chopping or measuring ingredients. You need to have the ingredients ready before the prep time starts. This is stupid, but people are

Prep time doesn't include chopping or measuring ingredients. You need to have the ingredients ready before the prep time starts. This is stupid, but people are used to it and like faster recipes so more and more of what should be prep gets hidden in the ingredient descriptions. So if a recipe says "1/4tsp salt", the time to measure out that salt isn't part of the prep. If it says "10 carrots, peeled and diced", that's not part of the prep. But if in its ingredients it says "10 carrots" and in the steps says "peel and dice the carrots" then that time is part of the prep.