To put your life temporarily on hold to chase the ultimate food dream is a challenging task at the best of times. But when you are a mum of two young children, the emotional strain of trying to become Australia’s next MasterChef can reach boiling point.

Sarah, however, is adamant she can handle the pressure. While she desperately misses her sons, three-year-old Harrison and seven-month-old Samuel, she knows appearing on the show could be life-changing.

“If I win, it could potentially be the most awesome thing for my family, setting ourselves up with the café I’ve been dreaming of,” explains Sarah. “If, down the track, I do open a café then hopefully the kids can eventually get involved and it’ll be a lovely family business.

“I’m lucky to have such a supportive family. My husband has taken six months off work to look after the kids, and my parents have moved into our house as well for support.”

As her husband of two years – who is a Victorian taskforce detective – fills in as the family cook at dinner time, Sarah is toiling away at a dream career change.

“I’ve been with the police for 10 years and, while I enjoy what I do, I want to be doing something in the morning where I get really excited about the day ahead,” says Sarah, who regularly keeps in touch by Skype and phone calls with her family from the MasterChef house. “I love preparing and love serving food. I’ve just turned 30 and I have recently had another baby, so now is the perfect time for having a change. I’m ready to jump into the unknown – it’s a massive step to go from the police force into the food industry.”

Sarah’s relentless curiosity of exotic foods as a youngster showed all the hallmarks of a detective in the making.

“My mum wasn’t too keen on cooking,” she says. “We had a lot of packaged food and traditional Australian meals like sausages, but my next door neighbour was Malaysian and they’d always have beautiful Asian food. My love of food started then really, where I got to taste all this exotic stuff that we just didn’t have in my mum’s pantry.”

What started as a curiosity has now blossomed into a love affair with food, reading as many cookbooks as she can get her hands on and trying foods from across the world. She loves dinner parties, where her signature dishes include gnocchi in mushroom sauce and a pannacotta dessert.

“I was an avid fan of last series and as a family we sat down and watched every episode,” she says. “I love food, I love cooking and I’m competitive – that’s what it’s all about. I was going to put an application for the last series but I was pregnant so I had to wait.”