Noodles have always proven to be a cheap meal. These days, it's just a matter of choice. Most of my friends either enjoy Nongshim Noodles or Cup of Noodles. I like the former because you can get them on sale for under a $1 and they have a lot of flavor. To give them an extra kick, I add soy sauce to my Nongshim Noodles.
I see these many times at dollar stores and discount stores selling for $1 a piece too. But honestly, when you think about it, that's rather expensive for what you are getting. Plus they are loaded with MSG and the "veggies" are all dehydrated. I was thinking, a better option may be to buy a jar of the "Better Than Bouillon" chicken base (which is only $3.99 at Wal-Mart). One jar of that makes 36 cups of broth or the equivalent of 9 boxes of chicken stock. Plus there is no MSG in it, and the first ingredient on the label is real chicken. That comes out to 11 cents per cup of broth. It's actually rather strong when prepared to package directions, so you can likely get even more cups of broth out of a jar if you use a little less. You can get a bag of mixed frozen vegetables for a buck or two, and that would last you for several bowls of soup. So let's say a bag of mixed frozen veggies was $2 and you had enough for 8 servings of home made soup, that's still around 25 cents per serving. So now you're up to 36 cents per serving of soup. For the "noodles" you have a ton of options. Pasta is dirt cheap, so it would still keep you well under a dollar per serving. No MSG, fresher veggies, less fat (since the noodles aren't fried), and roughly half the cost.
