Publication Date: May 2, 2023
The Sunday Times best-selling author The Batch Lady is back with a budget-busting book to create fresh and satisfying meals without breaking the purse strings.
Shop once.
Get organised, plan ahead and create fresh and satisfying meals without breaking the bank.
Cook once.
Over 100 delicious, simple and energy-efficient batch-cooking recipes that will satisfy the whole family and fill your freezer.
Save money all week.
Learn to hack your monthly bill, save your hard-earned money and eat well on a budget.
With more than 100 recipes, Suzanne Mulholland draws readers in with the enticing offer to shop once, cook once, and save money all week.
Cooking on a Budget is a 256-page cookbook from The Batch Lady, a nickname bestowed upon the author who specializes in planning and meal preparation. With this book, the author leverages her skills to demonstrate how money can be shaved off a grocery budget without sacrificing quality.
The sturdy hardback book features full-color photos of appealing dishes. It’s divided into categories such as light bites and lunches, weeknights, and desserts. The introduction to batch cooking is sensible and easy to follow.
Since this is a British author, the recipes feature measurements in grams, which means conversion time needs to be factored into the prep. If I’m looking for a cookbook that features ingredients found in a typical American kitchen, this book probably isn’t a match. When I think of batch cooking, I envision large quantities of rice, beans, and pasta.
Take the “Squash, Beetroot & Goats Cheese Puff Roll,” for example. While the picture looks nice, and the instructions appear easy to follow, it is unlikely that I would serve this. The same can be said about the “Sweet Potato & Chickpea One Pot” or “Salmon Enchiladas.”
Common ground can be found, though, in the dessert section. I appreciate the layout and quick tip sections. If I ever become a more adventurous cook, then Cooking on a Budget features plenty of resources to guide me along the way.
Suzanne Mulholland currently lives on a remote farm in the Scottish Borders. Prior to her life as The Batch Lady, Suzanne was the first person in her family to go to college and worked as a time management trainer. As she got married, had children, and began taking care of elderly relatives, she applied the lessons she learned in her years of time management to meal prep for upward of 10 mouths a day. She took to social media in 2017 to share her methods with other busy cooks and now boasts over 60,000 followers across all her social media channels.