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Food writer John McKenna buys organic beef burgers online.

Food writer John McKennabuys organic beef burgers online.

"My speedy cooking is more about strategy, and using the people who are out there who will make your life easier. My response to being under pressure, like we are at the moment with a deadline for our latest book, is to get something out of the fridge that somebody else has carefully made. That's my idea of fast food.

"Twenty years ago artisans thought that if you made a prepared product you were selling out, but now they're raising the benchmark. There are some wonderful pie makers out there.

"If you have a box scheme for vegetables and can have freezer-ready organic meat delivered, it means that during the week you have all the ingredients there, and that is half the battle. It's about quality time and labour-saving, and not using your weekends to drag the family around the supermarket. I must instinctively be French, where the culture is not to spend a lot of time cooking Monday to Thursday, but to assemble meals from good ingredients.

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"If you've got three kids as we do, the box with the burgers from Joe Condon's farm is a box from heaven. Take them out of the freezer in the morning, and later cook them and serve with some salad or just steam a bit of broccoli and a nice bit of bread, rather than one of those processed baps. For the time-pressed, it's all about realising that there are choices, and collaborating with your freezer."

• Joe Condon's beef can be ordered online at www.omegabeefdirect.ie, and can be purchased at farmers' markets in Dungarvan every Thursday, and in Waterford (Ardkeen) on the second Sunday of every month.