More to Freezers! with Kate Hall- how to organise your freezer to put the pause button on your food

Kate and I with a similar expression, while introducing her to read on the kids' zone

At the kids' zone at the Home, Life and You show, I introduced Kate Hall for a lovely book reading for our children.

With a huge link with my MORE TO Mealtimes book which supports families to learn almost everything through food, it made so much sense to collaborate on a blog together.

Kate Hall is a regular on television sharing her message, and her book for adults is an Amazon no1 bestseller.

Read on to find out about her second book, which was published yesterday!

Kathryn Lord and Kate Hall talking about all things food and children

It was such an honour to interview Kate on why she wrote her children's book and what the children learn from it, as I truly believe that there is 'There's More to Books than Reading'

How did your story come about?

Book cover for The Magic Pause Button

I wrote The Magic Pause Button with my daughter during the Covid pandemic.

We were home schooling at the time and there were lots of discussions about jobs and what everyone’s parents did for a living. When it came to sharing my job, my daughter

would just shout ‘Can I Freeze It?!’ – leaving everyone VERY confused.

So, I decided that we should write a story together to help people better understand.

The main character is based on my daughter (and my son makes a cameo), and it follows her through learning about the importance of reducing food waste, and how we can all do this at home by using our freezers more effectively.

My plan to use the book to help my daughter better explain my job didn’t quite work out as it took me three years to get it illustrated and published.

BUT it is so wonderful to be able to use this now to get young kids thinking about how they can help stop food from going to waste – and support their parents to do the same!

Kate Hall reading her book to the children on the Kids' Zone at the Home, Life and You show.

What do children learn from your story?

The Magic Pause Button explains to children why it is important that we all reduce our food waste, both for the planet and for our family finances.

It shares three simple techniques that I use in The Full Freezer Method to ‘press pause’ on foods, 30+ foods that their grown-up probably doesn’t know that they can freeze, and one super healthy pudding that kids and grown-ups both love!

Book cover for Mum's Magic Freezer Stash

What is next for you?

I am very excited to have just released my second children’s book, Mum’s Magic Freezer Stash. This story also features my kids, but with my son as the main character. The focus of this book is all about fussy eating and how helpful the freezer can be when we are trying new foods – helping us keep waste to a minimum, whilst also discovering new textures and flavours created when we freeze.

As always, I will also be continuing to create content on Instagram to help more grown-ups reduce their food waste and save money too!

Photographs on this blog by Anna Lachlan Photography