Meet our new food columnist Sarah Butler: ‘I know what it’s like to juggle’

Meet Sarah Butler, Weekend’s new food columnist. A butcher’s daughter and surprise social media star, the Mayo mum believes in making mealtime stress-free

Sarah Butler joins the ‘Irish Examiner’ with her family focused midweek recipes. Picture: Julia Dunin

A graphic designer by trade, Sarah Butler’s business designing wedding stationery imploded when the pandemic of 2020 struck the wedding industry hard.

Like many, Butler turned to her kitchen and a lifelong affinity with good food and family meals and began sharing her cooking creations on her Instagram page. Today, she boasts 232k Instagram followers, makes regular appearances on RTÉ’s Today programme, and has four self-designed and published cookbooks under her belt.

Her newest cookbook, Batch Cooking, showcases Butler’s successful motto for living deliciously: save time, save money, and enjoy a stress-free kitchen.

Butler joins the Irish Examiner lifestyle team with a new weekly column focused on tasty, savoury family favourite recipes called The Family Cook.

From her home in County Mayo, she talks to me about her meteoric rise in food writing and content creation, and how this “normal girl from Mayo” is relishing the opportunity to reach an even wider audience.

“I have always cooked. I cooked as much before the pandemic as I do now,” says Butler. 

“This wasn’t a magical discovery of a new talent. I started to do food as content because [people] didn’t have any need for my wedding stationery [during covid]. Suddenly, there was mad interest in what I was posting. People asking to be shown how I made a dish or share a recipe. It just snowballed from there.” 

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Her love of cooking has been a part of her way of life for as long as she can remember. Growing up in a foodie family, the ease and joy Butler cooks with runs deep in her DNA.

“I grew up in a B&B, so there was always food on the go. I’d get up in the morning and help to serve breakfast, and mum and dad were always about getting the best ingredients. I remember they would go to Newport to get Kelly’s sausages. They would travel to get good ingredients because they wanted to give a really good fry.

“My father was a fourth-generation butcher, so quality in meat was always strong in our house. It wasn’t particularly expensive cuts, but it would be good mince or good steak and knowing what to look for.

“On my mother’s side, my grandmother lived next door to us. She was a fantastic cook and baker. There were six of us in the house, we were always in and out to Nana. She was always cooking and baking and quite experimental. I remember her making homemade pizzas in the 80s; she grew gooseberries and made her own jam. My grandfather was a baker, and his mother was a cook in a house. My own mother was always in the kitchen, making breakfasts and sometimes dinner for guests. She also used to bake for a local bakery. It was a very ‘foodie’ household, so that’s where my love of food and cooking came from.”

Sarah Butler: 'I have always cooked'

Butler’s recipes are homely, simple, and prided on using the kind of everyday ingredients anyone might have in their kitchen press.

“I keep things very simple and practical in my cooking. It’s OK to leave out an ingredient if you don’t have it or replace it with something else. People tell me all the time they like that my recipes use ingredients they already have in the house.

“It’s very simple ingredients and methods, but it’s the flavours I add in with fresh herbs and seasonings, little techniques like thickening up sauces with a bit of flour to get gorgeous flavour in a dish that is easy to make. It’s a formula that works well, and there’s no stress to it.”

As well as recipes, Butler enjoys sharing everyday tips and tricks on the many food-related questions she gets in her DMs, such as how to deal with picky eaters, how to use an ingredient, or how to cook a three-course meal for ten people. She describes it as a community, and her content responds to what her followers tell her they are interested in learning or need to know.

“100% of my inspiration for recipes comes from my audience. I ask where do they struggle, what would they like me to teach them to make? 

There’s no point making something that won’t get a reaction, and I watch closely to see which recipes work and why. I’ve learned that it comes down to three words: Keep It Simple.

It was her online community where the idea for creating cookbooks originated. 

“It wasn’t my idea; my followers urged me,” she says. “They asked me to put my recipes together in a cookbook. I said, well, I’m a graphic designer, I can design a cookbook myself and had all the contacts to get it printed and got myself an editor to help with proof reading. That’s where it started, and I’ve just finished my fourth cookbook. It has gone amazingly well.”

Her four published cookery books are titled Home Cooking, Food for Life, Comfort Food and Batch Cooking, all with a focus on fuss free, tasty, nutritious recipes. 

“People don’t want any fuss or faff,” she says.

“We’re so busy; busier than we have ever been, especially women. It’s difficult to keep all those balls juggling with kids, home, career and food. Most of my followers are women, working women with kids. I’m a working mum with two kids, so I know what it’s like to juggle and make do with what you have in the house.

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“Inspiration comes from my followers. It’s definitely a community, and I have a great relationship with them. I answer all my DMs and go out of my way to help people. It’s so rewarding when you see someone who has started with brown bread and within a short time is cooking a three-course meal and beaming with confidence, and knowing the more they do it the easier it gets. That’s the best part of my job, seeing people growing in confidence to cook.”

Her latest book, Batch Cooking, combines all Sarah’s experience and knowledge gleaned over the years into a collection of recipes that marries good old fashioned home economics with savvy shopping and winning dinners for busy families.

“Have a weekly plan of what you want to make, write it down and the ingredients you need before going to the supermarket. Buying whole foods is not expensive in comparison to buying processed junk food. Go to your butcher and buy two pounds of good mince for €12 and I will show you three dinners for four people,” says Butler.

“There’s nothing worse than coming in the door with only half an hour before you’re out the door again with the kids. They’re hungry, grabbing biscuits, so you must have a plan. That’s what my book, Batch Cooking, is all about: meal planning, reducing your kitchen stress, and getting your time back in the evening.

“I’m just like you,” she says, “I don’t have any airs and graces about me. I’m very normal, I don’t have my head in the clouds. I’m happy at home, I love to chat to people and see how they get on,” she says. “I keep things very simple, and I consider the people I chat to on my page like friends.

People ask me how I know the answers to the questions I’m asked? It’s because I’ve made every mistake in the book. 

“It’s not a cocky confidence thing, I know because I’ve made that mistake; I’ve been there and know what it feels like, so if I can help someone with what I’ve learned, I’m only delighted to share that information.

“That’s why I’m so excited about my new column. I’m excited to push myself, and to share my recipes with even more people. I’m a big advocate for Irish producers, growers and butchers, so I’m looking forward to lending my voice of support to Irish food.”

What can readers expect from Sarah’s new column?

“It’s a weekly column featuring two recipes that are ideal as family food favourites. I’ll mostly focus on savoury dishes and continue to share my tips and tricks.

“My goal is to help people save money and time on food and reduce their kitchen stress. I hear people saying all the time that they can’t cook or don’t have time to cook. If that sounds familiar, I am definitely the person for you! I’ll show you how to cook with confidence.”

• Sarah's first food column will be available this Saturday in Weekend and online.