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Chef Maurice Levene, better known online as “Chef Moe,” doesn’t just teach people how to cook. He teaches them how to survive inflation.
The 43-year-old, Brooklyn-born chef has amassed more than 647,000 TikTok followers in just five months by showing viewers how to stretch a few crumpled dollar bills into hearty family dinners — often feeding four or more people on budgets as low as $5 or $10.
And in an era of soaring grocery prices, his no-frills approach is striking a nerve.
Armed with decades of restaurant experience, a thick New York Italian-American accent and a knack for turning Dollar Store staples into comfort food, the Gravesend native has become a viral sensation for his practical cooking hacks, budget breakdowns and unapologetically old-school kitchen wisdom.
The former restaurant head chef, now based in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, films himself roaming Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and other discount grocery aisles, meticulously calculating meals in real time while explaining how to “marry flavors” using pantry staples, shelf-stable foods and basic cooking science.
The secret, he insists, isn’t expensive ingredients — it’s technique.
“If you boil water and make pasta, you can use that pasta water as an emulsifier for so many budget recipes,” he explained. “It can help sauces cling more to the pasta and even bring out other flavors in meats and proteins.”
Many of this chef’s budget meals consist of only a few ingredients, like this hearty veggie pasta dish that requires a bag of frozen broccoli for $1.50, jarred Alfredo sauce for $2.25 and 1 pound of pasta for $1, all from the Dollar General for only $4.75.
Another simple, cheap meal that can easily feed a family of four consists of chicken-flavored rice for $1, a can of Vienna sausage for $1.25, and a $2.40 can of Campbell’s jambalaya, equaling $4.65.
An easy meal for the midway point of your week can easily be whipped together using sloppy Joe sauce (“that has a ton of flavor”), a can of beef stew, $1.50 each, and a $1.50 bag of egg noodles, totaling $4.50.
For those who live near an Aldi’s store, an easy-to-put-together, reasonably priced meal is one that only requires a pack of mashed potatoes for $0.99, a bag of mixed veggies for $0.98, a ham hock for $6.29, and a can of biscuits for $1.69, totaling $9.95.
To close out a week of cooking for your family, another meal option is one that only needs a $1.50 bag of broccoli and cauliflower, a 10-pack of biscuits for $1.00, a pack of $1 hot dogs, and cheddar and broccoli flavored pasta for $1, equaling $5.
In his videos, he encourages people to be generous with basic seasonings like butter, oil, salt and pepper, and to taste “as you go.”
For Chef Moe, food isn’t just about feeding people — it’s about dignity.
“Food is more than just food,” he said. “It creates great memories with your family … Around the table, everyone should be able to eat, talk and share love through food.”
The son of a single mother who raised five children on Avenue X in Brooklyn, Levene says many of the tricks he shares online were born from necessity.
That early fascination with flavors eventually launched him into culinary school programs, fine dining kitchens and a 30-year career in restaurants.
But despite years spent running professional kitchens, it was a homemade video filmed for his teenage son that unexpectedly changed everything.
His son had asked him to record a tutorial for chicken parmesan so he could cook dinner for his girlfriend while away at school.
Chef Moe casually filmed the recipe, explaining what he was doing — Brooklyn accent and all.
His son uploaded it to TikTok without telling him.
“He told me that my instructions and the way I spoke was resonating with people online,” Chef Moe said with a laugh. “He told me I’d better go make more videos.”
Now, the chef says strangers recognize him out in the wild and stop him regularly to thank him for teaching them how to cook.
“I ain’t no Tom Cruise or nothing,” he joked to The Post, “but I am getting recognized when I’m out with my family.”
His audience ranges from beginner home cooks to struggling parents trying to stretch every dollar.
Chef Moe says one message from a widowed single mother a few months ago deeply changed the direction of his content.
The woman told him she couldn’t even afford basic seasonings while trying to feed her three children after her husband’s death.
“I got so sad thinking that she couldn’t even afford to buy seasonings,” he said.
That interaction pushed him to create even more ultra-budget meals focused on flavor-building techniques rather than pricey ingredients.
“I never want to be one of those chefs putting elaborate dishes like Chicken Francese or Canard à l’Orange in her face,” he said. “I want to show people like her how to make full, hearty and tasty meals while only spending $10 or less.”
Fans routinely flood his comment sections, calling the videos “practical,” “empowering,” and “genuinely helpful” amid rising food costs, which have been on a rollercoaster, thanks to inflation.
And sadly, the USDA says groceries aren’t getting cheaper anytime soon, so Chef Moe’s content could’ve have come at a better time.
Jasmine Renae Ray, a financial planner and advisor, believes Chef Moe’s content is resonating with people because so many of us are “tired of financial advice that feels disconnected from real life.”
As she told The Post, seeing someone “show how to stretch ingredients, make meals work, or feed a family on a tight budget feels practical and human.”
So many American households, she stressed, are operating with “far less margin than people realize.”
Millions of families, she added, are “one unexpected expense away from having to completely rethink their budget for the month.”
Though he now creates content full-time, Chef Moe still occasionally helps with pop-up dinners, working as a guest chef at different establishments and restaurant openings.
Much of the money he earns from viral videos, he says, goes right back into helping struggling families through food drives and spice donations.
“Before this, I didn’t have $1500 at a time to buy spices for people in need and mail them out,” he said. “But now thanks to going viral on social media, I do.”
At the heart of it all, the New Yorker says his mission is simple: make cooking less intimidating — and help people feel a little less alone.
“We all know the saying, ‘if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime,’” he said.
“I figured if I could help people in some small way — teach them a few simple tricks or techniques — they’d be able to get by,” he added.
