Aussie dad Nathan Lyons showing TikTok how to save money ‘kookingwithakoori’
More than 60,000 people are now following this 35-year-old Aussie dad’s advice on cooking for the family on the tightest of budgets.
Western Sydney dad Nathan Lyons is showing tens of thousands of Australians how they can feed their family on a budget.
The 35-year-old regularly cooks for his family, including his wife and six kids – “That I know of,” he joked to news.com.au.
Putting food in that many mouths can be a challenge, but Nathan said now he “can do it without thinking”.
He learned from a young age how to be savvy shopper.
“I’m from a housing commission, single mum, four kids, not working. We always ate cheap so I learned from her how to buy cheap at the supermarket. I can feed my family of eight for $8 dollars.
“The biggest struggle for us is I’m a single-income family so money is a bit tight, which is why some of the cheap meals come out.”
He recently started uploading short videos showing others how to cook cheaply on TikTok, and said his account @kookingwithakoori has grown exponentially since, recently passing 61,000 followers on the viral video platform.
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He began uploading the videos after being inspired by the likes of Nat’s What I Reckon and other online cooks.
And Nathan’s fans have also been sending him videos of their own creations.
“It’s really cool to hear and see people getting back in the kitchen and cooking rather than just doing Uber Eats or Menulog,” Nathan said.
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He said people respond and relate to his videos despite (or perhaps due to) their unpolished aesthetic that contrasts with some other food-focused content creators.
“I love Marion’s Kitchen on Instagram, she has all the individual bowls for the individual spices, perfectly measured out, perfect kitchen all this sort of stuff,” Nathan said.
“I’m using plastic plates and a dash of this and a dash of that. They don’t look great but it tastes good and I think people can relate to it and go, ‘That’s what mine looks like when I cook it.’”
Nathan said he keeps a “spontaneous” approach to cooking, and making the videos, and his recipe range includes things he’s grown up eating and been cooking for years, as well as his own creations like “the Koori Snack Pack”.
“It’s just devon and sauce, you can put cheese on it as well if you want.”
Devon is a frequent star ingredient, but it can’t hold a candle to a beloved “staple” that appears in many videos.
“Keen’s Curry has got a massive cult following in the Indigenous community. It’s kind of what we’ve grown up with, so I’ve always had it in the house. Because the Indigenous community identifies with it, it gets used in a lot of my videos.”
Nathan reps the Keen’s Curry in more than his videos too.
“I’ve even got a Keen’s Curry shirt.”
That shirt is made by Gammin Threads and has been rated “ally friendly” by the Indigenous-owned clothing company, so everyone can enjoy it if it ever comes back in stock.
Nathan said he’s still waiting to hear from Keen’s about sponsorships though.
“I’m pretty sure I’m putting their kids through school,” Nathan joked.
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