Dashing Deliveroo rider becomes the thrifty home cook's unlikely hero with his budget recipes that feed a family of four for less than a TENNER

  • Benjamin Lebus, 24, from London, started Mob Kitchen six months ago
  • His 'feed four for £10' recipes have already won him 15,000 fans on Facebook
  • Every recipe assumes cook has nothing in cupboard except salt, pepper and oil
  • Pricing is based on buying a whole packet or full jar of an ingredient from a shop 
  • Deliveroo rider says recipes  needed as takeaway is 'such a temptation' 

By Imogen Blake For Mailonline

Published: 10:31 EST, 10 February 2017 | Updated: 11:34 EST, 10 February 2017

His job is to whisk restaurant-made meals to customers' front doors as a part-time Deliveroo rider.

But keen cook Benjamin Lebus, 24, from Oxford, is winning thousands of online fans for his efforts to encourage people to make their own dinner instead of dialling for a takeaway.  

His Mob Kitchen website, which is filled with recipes designed to feed four people for under £10, has racked up more than 15,000 Facebook likes in just six months - and he's been inundated with messages from families and students who say his methods have saved them money.  

Benjamin says there's a need for his healthy, budget friendly recipes because there's now 'such a temptation' to opt for a takeout or ready meal.  

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Graduate and Deliveroo rider Benjamin Lebus, 24, (pictured) has started a website where he shares his recipes which all feed four people healthily for £10 - even if you have a bare pantry

Graduate and Deliveroo rider Benjamin Lebus, 24, (pictured) has started a website where he shares his recipes which all feed four people healthily for £10 - even if you have a bare pantry

BEN'S SEVEN-DAY £10-A-MEAL PLAN

Monday: Mob Kitchen's vegetable curry. There is this movement called #MeatlessMonday or #MeatfreeMonday , which Mob Kitchen is supporting. So keep it meat free with our vegetable curry, with chickpeas, sweet potatoes and aubergines. 

Tuesday: Mob Kitchen's Chicken, Pepper and Almond Traybake. #TraybakeTuesday is not a thing yet, but lets make it one. This traybake is so easy and packed full or spice and flavour. And there is hardly any washing up.

Wednesday: Mob Kitchen's Steamed Sticky Aubergines. The perfect warming midweek treat. They will be the best aubergines you'll ever eat. 

Thursday: Mob Kitchen's Chorizo Shakshuka. So many people ask me 'What is shakshuka?!' It's so simple. Just a delicious, rich tomato sauce with peppers and onions, and we use chorizo in our version. Then, you just crack some eggs on top, whack it in the oven, and your done. Baked eggs. Easy as 1,2,3.

Friday: Mob Kitchen's Healthy Chicken Gyros with Fresh Tzatziki. So much fun to make, especially with the kids, and a nice dish to celebrate the start of the weekend with. 

Saturday: Mob Kitchen's Kale, Goat's Cheese and Spinach Frittata. Ideal for a healthy breakfast or brunch. 

Sunday: Slow Roast pork belly with caramelized apples and mustard mash. The perfect Sunday roast and all for under a tenner! 

Benjamin, a University of Edinburgh graduate whose father used to run an Italian restaurant called Cibo in Oxford, said: 'When I looked online for recipes that I could use with my housemates, lots of the shoestring food pages were difficult to follow. 

'Many made ridiculous store cupboard assumptions, but we did not have the odd dusting of paprika here or the perfect number of bay leaves there. We just had some mouldy apples and a few unpaid electricity bills.'

He added: 'You can't go out and buy a teaspoon of paprika for 10p. You have to buy the whole damn jar! By the time we had bought everything on the ingredients list, it was always so expensive. As a result, we were put off using the recipes.

'So, I devised a list of recipes that would feed four of us for under £10, only assuming we had salt, pepper and olive oil in the kitchen, and pricing every ingredient in the recipe at the cost of the full product in the supermarket. That way, anyone with a tenner could go and cook my recipes.'

BEN'S £9.86 CHORIZO SHAKSHUKA

Serves four, takes 1 hour and 10 minutes

Fry your chorizo so it is nice and crisp before adding the vegetables 

Benjamin prices his dishes based on buying the whole product rather than just the portion you need for one recipe. Pictured: his £9.86 chorizo shakshuka

Benjamin prices his dishes based on buying the whole product rather than just the portion you need for one recipe. Pictured: his £9.86 chorizo shakshuka

INGREDIENTS AND COST BREAKDOWN:

Feta - £1.20

1 bunch of parsley - 70P

1 brown onion - 16P

2 peppers - £1

Red chillies - 60p

Garlic bulb - 30p

chorizo - £2.50

10 Eggs - £1.50

Two tins of best quality tomatoes - £1.90

TOTAL COST: £9.86 buying every ingredient from scratch 

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/356ºF.

2. Finely chop 1 chili, the onion and three garlic cloves. Cut the peppers into strips, and break the chorizo into little nuggets.

3. Add the chorizo to a big pan. Fry until crisp. Then add the vegetables. Fry until slightly softened, for 5 or 6 minutes, and then add your tinned tomatoes. Fill up both tins with water, and pour that in to. Give it a stir and let it to bubble away. You want the sauce to be a thick consistency, so allow it reduce by around half.

4. Take the sauce off the heat and smooth out the surface. Then, make little holes in the sauce and gently drop in the eggs, so the yolks stay in tact.

5. Place the whole pan into the oven for 12 minutes.

6. Remove the pan, and add crumbled feta and parsley. Enjoy!

Benjamin (pictured) thought up the idea for Mob Kitchen after living with housemates while he was a student as they did not know how to cook and used to just eat bacon sandwiches 

Benjamin (pictured) thought up the idea for Mob Kitchen after living with housemates while he was a student as they did not know how to cook and used to just eat bacon sandwiches 

You can make enough chicken gyros with homemade tzatziki (pictured) for just £9.85 for four people, based on buying every ingredient as a whole packet from a supermarket

You can make enough chicken gyros with homemade tzatziki (pictured) for just £9.85 for four people, based on buying every ingredient as a whole packet from a supermarket

Sticky miso aubergines costs £9.62 to feed a family of four if buying every ingredient from scratch
Ben's kale, goat's cheese and spinach frittata costs £8.35 and feeds four people

Sticky miso aubergines (left) costs £9.62 to feed a family of four if buying every ingredient from scratch, while Ben's kale, goat's cheese and spinach frittata (right) costs £8.35

After leaving the University of Edinburgh in the summer, Benjamin has devoted all his time and energy into creating Mob Kitchen and it is now a large online resource of wholesome family recipes. 

Benjamin said what he cooks is 'real food' - healthy but not restrictive or part of the clean-eating fad, nor unhealthy food porn as seen in so many viral videos on Facebook.

He originally started the page to educate students and young professionals about eating well on a low budget - but he says his website and social media pages have been just as popular with families. 

BEN'S £9.80 VEGETABLE CURRY

Serves four, takes 1 hour, 20 minutes

Vegetarian. Rich. Healthy. Delicious. The yoghurt gives this dish a sublime creamy consistency. All for under a tenner, it is the perfect midweek supper. Fry off the spices with the onions first to intensify their flavour.

This vegetable curry costs £9.80 to make even if you have to buy every spice jar and other item from the supermarket

This vegetable curry costs £9.80 to make even if you have to buy every spice jar and other item from the supermarket

INGREDIENTS AND COST-BREAKDOWN:  

2 aubergines - £1.30

2 brown onions - 32p

Ginger - 27p

2 sweet potatoes - 66p

Garlic bulb - 30p

Spinach - £1

Coriander - 70p

Yeo Valley yoghurt - £1.50

Cumin - 85p

Turmeric - 85p

Cayenne pepper - 85p

1 tin of chickpeas - 50p

Two tins of chopped tomatoes - 70p

 

TOTAL COST: £9.80 buying every ingredient from scratch 

METHOD:

1. Finely chop knob of ginger, three cloves of garlic and your onions. Fry off the ginger and the garlic, adding 3 teaspoons of turmeric, 3 teaspoons of cumin and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

2. Add chopped onions. Allow them to soften.

3. Cube your sweet potatoes and aubergines. Add them to the pan. Coat them in the spices and oil.

4. Add tins of chopped tomatoes. Then, fill both tins with water and add the water. Bring to the boil, then stir and cover with a lid. Leave at a gentle simmer for 45 minutes.

5. After 45 minutes add chickpeas. Put lid back on. Leave for 15 more minutes.

6. Then, add spinach and coriander stalks. Put lid back on for 3 more minutes.

7. Remove curry from the heat.

8. Allow to cool slightly, and then add your yoghurt. This will prevent curdling. Marble the yoghurt through the curry, and then scatter remaining coriander leaves on top. 

Benjamin's chicken, pepper and almond traybake (pictured) costs £9.19 to feed four people if buying every ingredient as a whole packet

Benjamin's chicken, pepper and almond traybake (pictured) costs £9.19 to feed four people if buying every ingredient as a whole packet

This tempting slow roast pork belly with caramelised apples and mustard mash would make a perfect Sunday lunch and costs just £9.87 to feed four people

This tempting slow roast pork belly with caramelised apples and mustard mash would make a perfect Sunday lunch and costs just £9.87 to feed four people

'There is a need for it because at the moment there is such a temptation to get a takeaway or a ready meal,' he said.

'But these videos show how easy and simple it is to cook healthy, delicious food for your friends and family.

'There isn't enough education. When I was at school, the only class that taught anything to do with food was biology, and we only really had a few lessons on it. 

'What's more, there weren't any kind of cookery lessons available, and I really think this needs to change. 

'When I was younger I was lucky. My dad is a great cook, and he taught me the ropes. But most people don't get that. 

'That is why, when they leave home for the first time, most people don't have a clue how to cook. Mob Kitchen provides an answer to this.'

Benjamin recommends inexperienced cooks start off with his chorizo and goat's cheese stuffed sweet potatoes, with a fresh rocket salad, as it's an easy but very impressive dish that would wow any dinner guests. 

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