Delicious meals for $20 a week: June Xie on changing the way you cook

The New York cook behind Budget Eats is a master of kitchen improvisation. She takes the Guardian food shopping

When June Xie was in the third grade, her teacher announced that they were going to compile a classroom cookbook, with each student bringing in a family recipe. It made Xie's stomach sink.

That's such an American tradition, written down recipes with exact amounts," Xie says, in the living room of her apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens. I grew up with Chinese immigrant parents: home cooking was just chop your vegetables, throw them in a wok with oil, season it with salt and maybe some kind of spice and serve it alongside rice. There was no sauteeing onions for seven minutes exactly. When it's done, it's done."