BATCH OF THE DAY

Suzanne Mulholland aka The Batch Lady tells ELLA WALKER a little prep takes the stress out of family meals

- ELLA WALKER

PEOPLE who write cookbooks are usually obsessed with food - but not The Batch Lady.

“No, I don’t really like cooking,” says Suzanne Mulholland with a big laugh. “My publishers always say, ‘Don't tell people that!”

Admittedly Suzanne, author of a slew of hit cookbooks, does enjoy cooking on a Saturday night. “When I've got friends over, I’m doing a theme and we're having supper together, I love that,” she explains. “I don’t like cooking on a mundane Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night. It’s like, take your favourite thing you love to do, say it was yoga, and then I’m going to make you do it every single night at the same time, every single night for the rest of your life - you're probably not going to enjoy yoga!”

“What busy working people really want is speedy dinners - they are the most important thing,” says Suzanne, 49. This is why she’s developed her new book, The Batch Lady: Rapid Dinners, an interactive guide to batch cooking your way out of mundane weeknight meals.

She helps you fill the freezer with nutritious dishes - from chilli honey salmon bites to a cheesy mixed bean bake - that you can just ‘grab and cook, and claw back some time and inner calm in the process.