Budget food hacks from Tik Tok cooking star Nathan Lyons

For families feeling the financial pinch of the pandemic, Tik Tok food sensation and cookbook author Nathan Lyons has two suggestions.

TikTok cook Nathan Lyons reveals his cooking tips.

For families feeling the financial pinch of the pandemic, Tik Tok food sensation and cookbook author Nathan Lyons has two suggestions - devon and roast chook.

The transport worker behind the Kooking with a Koori handle has amassed a cult following for his budget-friendly recipes, and says it isn’t uncommon for him to rustle up a meal to feed his wife and six children for under $10.

Mr Lyons’ Tik Tok fame came unexpectedly late last year, after he posted a video while making corned beef for dinner. Kooking with a Koori has since amassed close to 150,000 followers, leading to the recent release of an eponymous cookbook.

Tik Tok cooking sensation turned cookbook author, Nathan Lyons, of Kooking with a Koori.

Money is no object to plating up a tasty, satisfying meal when times are tough, according to Mr Lyons, and he employs simple hacks, like extending a chicken dinner with two-minute noodles, stirring cheese spread through pasta for an instant sauce, and amping up flavours with Keen’s curry powder.

One of four siblings raised by a single mum in a Glebe housing commission flat, Mr Lyons absorbed his mother’s tricks for creating tasty, simple, budget-friendly meals, and would help her cook to avoid washing-up duty.

“Money was tight, so I learnt from a young age to look for the specials,” he said.

Born in the mid-80s, Mr Lyons grew up at a time when you were more likely to be served devon than Parma prosciutto on a charcuterie board, and an iconic television commercial suggested that a roast was better than a date with Tom Cruise.

While today’s proliferation of cooking shows has, on one hand, inspired many home cooks to lift their game, he believes they can also make cooking seem elitist and complicated. “What I try to do is take it back to basics,” he said. “Food is for eating, not for putting on the mantelpiece.”

There are few things better than a Sunday roast to feed a hungry family on a budget, according to cookbook author Nathan Lyons.

A Wiradjuri man, Mr Lyons describes his cooking style as indigenous Australian soul food, and says there are few meals as affordable and comforting as devon, layered with sliced cheese and grilled on the barbecue, or a Sunday roast.

“I haven’t seen my mum in lockdown for months, and I’m really craving that Sunday roast,” he said. “It could be a 45 degree day, but you’ll still be salivating waiting for it to come out of the oven. It’s the smell that takes you back.”

Don’t miss next week’s Sunday Telegraph to find out how to get $5 off your Family Roast Chicken with Steggles.