Mum dubbed ‘The Batch Lady’ can cook 20 meals in less than an HOUR using frozen ingredients
A MUM who can batch cook enough food in an hour to feed forty people has found her fame online, as thousands flock to YouTube to learn her money and time-saving tips.
Suzanne Mulholland, 43, from Edinburgh, is known as ‘The Batch Lady‘ to her 60,000 fans, for she has been known to cook up ten different meals using the same ingredients, and just one spoon.
The mum-of-two shares videos of her batch-cooking tips from her Scottish farmhouse, which is 30 minutes away from the nearest shop, meaning she has to always be prepared at meal times.
She claims that stockpiling food in the freezer is the best way to keep the hungry mouths of husband Peter and children Jake, 12, and Zara, 10, satisfied, without spending too much time in the kitchen.
“I do it because I don’t want to spend a lot of time cooking,” she explained. “Working mums and dads want home-cooked meals, but there’s little time to cook during the week.
“It’s about finding an hour on a Sunday and doing it then – just stack all the meals on top of each other, all frozen flat. It’s really good for when people are very busy.”
Suzanne’s nutritious menu includes chilli, fajitas, spaghetti bolognese, meatballs and burgers – often made from frozen supermarket ingredients so that costs stay low.
Once made, the meals are sealed into bags which are flattened and put in the freezer – so the savvy mum is able to make everything she needs for the week after just an evening’s preparation.
“I find an hour on a Sunday and do it then,” she continued. “And I cook meals at the same time which are all quite similar. It is easier to make things that have the same ingredients.
“The recipes are very pared back so they take less time to make. Using frozen food is much cheaper than buying fresh vegetables, and there is less to prepare.”
The 43-year-old originally began batch cooking when she was juggling her children as toddlers, whilst caring for her parents who were suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
And while juggling family life, Suzanne also had to head up the family’s holiday cottage business – leaving little time for cooking up a storm in the kitchen.
But as her fan base at the school gates grew, with more than 20 mums cramming into her kitchen to watch and learn her batching method, the mum decided to launch her website and YouTube channel.
“I didn’t even have an email address until 18 months ago,” she joked. “I knew what I was going in terms of cooking, but not the presenting. But I put a video on YouTube.”
Suzanne now boasts over 60,000 followers across all her social media – with thousands tuning in to watch videos, which includes ‘how to make ten family meals in one hour’.
And despite her new found fame, and role online as a presenter, she is adamant that batching meals has created more time for the family to do things together.
“Years ago, mums would be looking after their kids and would cook in the middle of the day,” she said. “But now people come in, go out again, take their children to clubs.
“I think we do more things with our kids in the evening now because I don’t have to spend time cooking.”
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