Homeless Mom Saving For Apartment Thanks To 'Five Star' Motel Recipe Videos

A homeless mother-of-two says she has taken significant strides towards rehousing her family thanks to a series of recipe videos posted to social media.

As reported by YourTango, Celine Villegas has found fame under the handle of Motel Meals on TikTok where she serves up food she promises offers "five star" quality at affordable prices.

Her videos offer up an array of impressive and easy-to-follow recipes made from the comfort of her motel kitchen.

Her first video, detailing how to make a classic spaghetti bolognese for just over $8 has been viewed over 100,000 times - and that's only the beginning.

A video on how to make nachos with red rice has racked up more than 300,000 views, as has her homemade chicken parmesan recipe. The parmesan recipe can be viewed here:

Another clip, chronicling how to make authentic Tacos, has been viewed further 400,000 times while her biggest hit came with another spaghetti recipe which has been watched over 5.2 million times. The videos have proven poupular with foodies and families looking for affordable recipe ideas.

"One thing people need to realize is a mom is gonna come through no matter her situation," a user, posting as RawAttack15, wrote under one of her videos. "This looks amazing."

2K20 player agreed: "Although you may not have a home of your own, you make sure your kids have a meal and that matters. Thank you for being a great mom."

For Villegas, the TikTok posts have also provided a valuable source of income with the mother-of-two including a link to a GoFundMe page as part of her profile.

On the fundraising page, Villegas explains how she and her two kids are "currently homeless and temporarily staying in a motel in Los Angeles."

She says she set up the page as she is "unable to continue paying for this motel" and describes her efforts as a "last resort."

"My children and I are truly in need of help and most of all stability," she writes. "Due to the price I am unable to continue staying here. I am unable to save money for bills or to save to move into a rental/apartment."

Villegas has set herself a goal of raising enough money to cover their motel costs along with her first and last month's rent and the various expenses associated with moving into a new rental property.

She says her recipes and fundraising is all part of a concerted effort to help her family find "a place of our own to call home."

Responding to one fan on TikTok, Villegas said that despite the upheaval her "family dynamic is normal on a day to day" other than the fact they do not live in their own home.

She told another that they had previously stayed in a homeless shelter but had a "bad experience" and decided to move into a motel.

At the time of writing, Villegas and her family have received $6,468 in donations having set an initial fundraising target of $5,000.

She has also confirmed in the comments of her highly popular spaghetti recipe video that they are well on their way to having enough saved to move into an apartment.

"Because of my TikTok family," she wrote, "I have been able to not only pay up for our motel, but also save more than half of what is needed for our apartment!"

Newsweek has contacted Villegas for comment.