Ramen Noodles

Once in a while I will get a craving for them. Honestly though, you can buy just regular pasta for what you are paying for Ramen noodles - and it's healthier. I would rather just open a can of crushed tomatoes seasoned with some inexpensive spices, and use a little pasta to make some homemade spaghetti, than eat Ramen noodles. Even some angel hair pasta with a little fresh garlic, some olive oil, and parmesan cheese is much healthier and just as cheap. If you've got a farmers market nearby, you could grab some fresh veggies to toss in there as well and make it even healthier than using those flavor packets, which are loaded with salt and MSG.

Instead of buying a bunch of processed prepared food just because it is cheap, such as TV dinners, I just pair down my grocery list to a few basic fresh ingredients that I can make a bunch of different dishes with, paired with a few pantry items I will stock up on. I stock up on canned crushed tomatoes, pasta, chicken base (Better Than Bouillon brand) since it is way cheaper than buying boxes of stock, and instant rice, and beans (usually black beans and canellini beans), Romano cheese, large jars of whatever salsas are on sale, soy sauce, canola oil (or olive oil if its on sale), and flour tortillas. For fresh ingredients I will buy large packs of chicken thighs and perhaps a beef roast that I can cut up into a bunch of smaller portions or maybe a pork shoulder. I will also get some other fresh basics, such as eggs, onions, garlic, parsley, green onions, potatoes, and maybe some carrots and celery. I keep my freezer stocked with a variety of frozen vegetables such as bell peppers, spinach, broccoli, peas, and corn.

I will almost always have an omelette stuffed with steamed veggies and a little cheese, or eggs of some sort for breakfast along with some toast and coffee or OJ. If I am up for it, I will make home fries too. For lunch and dinner, I can make all sorts of stuff from homemade pasta sauces to go with my pasta, to teryaki chicken over rice and vegetables, steak fajitas, roast beef & potatoes, soups, chili, grilled chicken salads, burritos and more.

 

Chicken ramen because it reminds me of childhood Then beef, then oriental.

It only has a lot of sodium if you drink the broth, which I don't, that's like drinking your own backwash.

 

I love Ramon Noddles , Im from New Orleans and we eat roman noodles like chips. We crush the bags where the noodles are small and then we pour the seasoning on them which ever one prefers and we shake them and eat them . Make great potato chips. I love to eat them cooked also. I would have to say it just depends on what you want to eat them for . I use them also use it to cook shrimp alfredo it really good . So it can be used for multiple dishes.

 

Oh yeah! I really love Ramen Noodles but I tend to lay off them because they are pretty unhealthy and offer very little nutritional value. When I used to make myself a bag, I'd only use half of the packet because the seasoning was really stuffed with some high sodium levels. Nowadays, I buy the cups of Ramen and use them when I'm on the go.

 

Ramen is actually booming in my country. I'm not talking about those mini, cheap ramen packets. I'm talking about high class and good quality ramen sold at expensive restaurants in my country. I guess you can say it's the 'new haze' after the milk tea phase. I haven't really eaten ramen in these popular restaurants, but people seem to love it, so I'll probably try it out some time.

The only ramen I've eaten were those cheap ones that you simply need to add water to. I found it delicious, but I stopped eating it because they are unhealthy.

 

Contrary to that, ramen here is actually pretty expensive. It's way more expensive than the average instant noodles sold here so it's more like premium food here. "Broke people" food here are those regular instant noodles where they only cost about $1 for a pack of five.

 

I absolutely eat Ramen when on a budget. The thing is, I used to eat it soooooo much growing up because well, quite frankly, we were broke growing up. Nowadays it's like a last resort for me and my family. The value for your dollar is undeniable though. I think that these cheap meals won't go anywhere anytime soon. Deep down I'll always have an appreciation for Ramen and the "nutrition" it supplies while on a budget.

 

I enjoy it from time to time. When I lived in Vancouver, I actually ended up eating it fairly regularly because it was so different than what I'd had in the States. They came with completely different kinds of seasoning packets (like super spicy ones and extra onions, etc). Yum!

I find that ramen can still be good with a few extras like eggs and chicken added. I know that buying regular pasta isn't that much more expensive, but sometimes I get sick of it and consider ramen to be a different kind anyway. Plus, ramen can be done in less than 7 minutes, including the time it takes to boil the water and to heat up any extras, so I like that sort of convenience when I feel like I'm starving.

 

I feel guilty about admitting how much I love ramen noodles. I'm sure they are as unhealthy as they are cheap.

One thing I started doing this year was making my own beef broth and chicken stock from leftover bones after cooking a roast or a whole chicken.

Adding ramen noodles to this (instead of using the packet) is about a billion times better in flavor, and probably lower in MSG and sodium. It has helped alleviate a little of my guilt over the health factor of consuming a food that might not actually contain any natural food ingredients!

 

This is a GREAT alternative, both for flavor and health. That flavor packet is the main unhealthy part of ramen noodles, so to swap it out with something fresh and natural is a good idea. You can further increase the health benefits by adding in scraps of chicken, eggs, veggies, etc.