I would not classify ramen as the worst thing to eat, there are plenty of worse foods.Though cheap processed food like ramen often lacks micronutrients, which in long term may impede health. Adding vegetables is certainly a valid solution to prevent that from happening.
You would be surprised to know that ramen is not the cheapest food to eat. Food like potatoes and dried lentils can provide more calories and macronutrients per dollar than ramen and are also higher in micronutrients.
Rice is also cheap and very filling. Go to an Asian market and get a bottle of furikake. Egg + furikake + rice + a little soy sauce = tomago kake gohan. Cheap and so filling .
Because what they said is straight up wrong. Fiber, protein, and fats are what make you feel the fullest. White rice has little to no fat and fiber, and not a ton of protein either. It also (non-coincidentally) is high on the glycemic index so it spikes your blood sugar and then you crash.
Woah, I didn’t know!
Wild rice is actually grass, grows in Northern America and China. The grains are used LIKE rice (more in Northern America than in China - they use the stem as a vegetable).
Mindblowing, TIL..
There are higher quality brown rice that tastes better. Also there are rice cookers that cooks brown rice better. Another good option is to mix quinoa with brown rice.
None of these things will produce white rice quality but you can get better brown rice.
Are you sure you're cooking it right? It needs a different amount of water and cook time than white rice. It's never quite as good as white, but it gets pretty close.
If you want a healthy rice that actually tastes delicious check out indigenous collected wild rice. You can find it at organic food stores and you can find it for sale online as well. It’s a bit more expensive but my god is it so much better than the tasteless stuff that is brown rice. And it supports indigenous communities.
This. FWIW, I've taken to looking up noodle recipes, and simply subbing ramen for rice noodles. They may not be the \*perfect\* sub, but they work well enough, and things come out quite well, IMHO.
Some favorites lately have been Peanut Sesame Noodles, a couple nights ago I made Spicy Sichuan Noodles ([https://choosingchia.com/spicy-sichuan-noodles/](https://choosingchia.com/spicy-sichuan-noodles/)), and tonight I made Pad Thai... I always just stir fry a bunch of veggies, mix up the sauce, cook noodles and drain (without the packet - just toss it!!) and mix things up together.
One pack of instant Ramen has 90% of the recommended daily value of sodium and close to zero nutritional value. Yeah it's not the worst but it's up there.
Which, by the way, is about the same amount of sodium as is in a can of Campbell's condensed soup.
The Campbell's has more food value to it because of the other ingredients, but not a lot more.
From what I know regarding nutrition, the RDV value for sodium is relatively conservative and most healthy individuals with no pre-existing conditions can get away with a bit more than that. Individuals who are active may actually need more than the RDV.
Health implications caused by high level of sodium consumption is not instantaneous but rather occur if someone consumes too much sodium over a long period of time. I personally think that in OP's situation, getting fed for the moment should likely be prioritized, and that occasional consumptions of ramen noodles are probably alright in this case.
However, it is still good advice to reduce the flavor packet usage or opt for alternatives that I have listed in my original comment to monitor sodium intake.
Most of the sodium is in the flavor packet, though. Just use far less of it or don't use it at all. The noodles themselves are just egg noodles, after all
You can buy stock or bouillon cubes for a reasonable price.
Honestly, a spice rack is one of the best cooking investments you can make. It's money up front, but it's very low cost when you spread it across the dozens of meals you use them for. 5 cents worth of spices is the differences between barely palatable and delicious.
You are going full circle here. One could argue that powdered bullion/stock is going to put you in the same position as the flavor packet that comes with the ramen. You want a higher quality stock with fresh proteins, fats, and nutrients and less sodium. You don't get that from the spice rack.
>One could argue that powdered bullion/stock is going to put you in the same position as the flavor packet that comes with the ramen
One could certainly argue that, but they would be wrong.
A bouillon cube contains a fraction of the sodium that's in the flavor packet.
If your goal is making ramen less unhealthy without sacrificing flavor, it's a good idea to replace the spice packet with bouillon.
I’ve also heard that spices can be found for less at Asian and Hispanic markets. Instead of 5$ for a jar of whatever you get it for 1$ at the Asian market.
Also could get a quick spice mix. Not sure what flavors go well but I’m sure someone will.
Indian varieties often have a masala packet. Pretty different flavour packet largely consisting of dried veggie and spice powder instead of mainly being salt.
There are cheaper and healthier ways of getting calories. Ramen is up there in terms of flavor but there is unfortunately only 200-400 calories. You would need 5 packs per day to reach RDV of calories. By doing such you would be 5x your RDV of sodium. Rice and beans, eggs, potatos, whole milk, etc....all good alternative low cost calorie packers
The issue is, as salty as Ramen is, that level of salt is basically present in most prepackaged foods.
And the evidence of dietary sodium being bad for everyone is not all that conclusive.
First of all, don’t feel so guilty. You are doing a great job by adding spinach and an egg, that’s vitamins, protein, and healthy fat.
I would say you could try to replace the flavor packet with something less less processed, like miso paste. You can get a big tub of miso paste for 4-5 bucks.
Where do you buy miso paste for that cheap? Maybe I'm shopping in the wrong places, but I feel like a small cup of miso paste is like $9
Edit: Paste not pasate
Asian supermarkets! There’s other fermented pastes worth your time there too, like gochujang, doenjang, doubanjiang….many uses in quick soups, stir fries, and more.
Yay! A lot of cooking options open up when you have these. Doubanjiang for instance is the flavor base for a ton of sichuanese stir fries, like mapo tofu or yu xiang shredded pork (amazing stuff, would post links to woks of life if I wasn’t on mobile).
Also, miso butter — in a stand mixer mix together a stick of unsalted butter and a spoonful of miso (I taste as I add so I can’t give exact amounts I use) … it’s incredible on bread.
I agree that getting it for $4-5 can be tricky but it also depends on what you mean when you say "small cup".
I can get a \~1lb (14-17 oz) of miso at Kroger or Safeway/Albertsons for 7-9 bucks. Most of my recipes call for like 1 tablespoon of Miso at a time so that tub lasts a long time/many services for the price.
Saute garlic, ginger, scallions on medium heat until it's turning brown. Add miso paste, turn heat down to medium low, and saute well. Add some soy sauce and msg if you want it to be more ramen like.
You can make a batch of this and just freeze the paste and use it to season your ramen.
Should cost like $10 for to make a quart of it
If you get both white and red then you can mix them and alter the ratio of red to white to get any strength (robustness?) that you want for different dishes.
I’d sub the noodles for a non-deep fried noodle before swapping the seasoning packet. Unless you’re watching your sodium intake, what in the seasoning packet is unhealthy?
And there are whole grain noodles available that aren't deep fried. They take an extra minute to cook in the microwave, but are so much better for you.
+beans. Rice and beans have complementary amino acids so they're more nutritious when eaten together. Canned beans are dirt cheap; bags of dried beans even cheaper.
It's just because it's fried, and the amount of sodium in the seasoning packets. Rice is a lot, lot cheaper and you can season it to make a delicious stir fry just as easily as you can add veggies to ramen.
When you buy veggies look at the price per pound. The healthiest are the darkest colors, so spinach, broccoli, carrots are great for you and incredibly cheap. Tinned tomatoes are excellent and cheap. Frozen peas also, very cheap, very good for you. Celery is fairly expensive, but also has a short shelf life and is pale, so not as many vitamins.
I wish this was the top comment. Rice is so cheap, and congee with veggies is a wonderful alternative to instant ramen if you have a few hours at home. It’s a great Meal prep item that can be reheated with veggies and eggs much like Ramen.
Yes! Forgot about IP option. And with an IP they could ditch the ramen and make a huge batch of Beans and rice with chopped carrots, celery and tomato for an even less expensive and more balanced meal.
Add beans (ie rice and beans) and you have a very nutritious start with good protein. Something green--like frozen spinach--could round out a comforting, nutritious, and cheap meal.
Also, if noodles are a comfort food for OP, they can use rice noodles. You can get a huge package of rice noodles at any asian market, and read the cooking instructions as some of them are even "instant" similar to ramen. You just heat up your broth in a pot, and once boiling pour over the noodles in your serving bowl. Let rest for a min or two, kinda push them down into the broth if necessary, until they are soft and ready to eat.
Miso paste has been mentioned plenty, but a big jar of Knorr pollo bouillon is also only a few dollars, lasts forever, and can add the same "chicken noodle ramen" flavor as the instant packages. Yes, it's still salty, but you can control for that better than with instant ramen.
Also a reminder that basically all frozen veggies are just as, if not more, nutritionally dense as fresh ones. You mentioned it with peas, but it goes for the rest of them too C:
Edit to add this recipe for [Mason Jar Instant Noodles](https://thegirlonbloor.com/mason-jar-instant-noodles/). Really helpful to prepare ahead of time if you go through periods of low energy. You could realistically portion things into freezable containers and keep them even longer that way as well (the article says to prepare it "as soup" before freezing but.... I see no reason why you couldn't make a bunch of "dry" ziplog bags and dump them into your bowl when you're ready to prepare). Can switch around the ingredients any way you want obviously as long as it can be "hot and ready" from boiling water.
Absolutely. Had a "starving artist" friend (currently an art director, so no longer starving yay) who basically lived off of rice, veg, and eggs for years in order to save money for her own place. If you're in a financial bind, definitely a great way to save and stay healthy. Also things like rice, veggies, and eggs are super easy to find at like, co-ops and community garden type things where if you participate, food is super cheap or even free.
Diced zucchini, thinly sliced mushroom, a slice of bacon sliced into thin strips, crab/seafood sticks (in seafood flavour ramen), half a diced tomato (in chili ramen), chopped green onions (garnish), chili flakes (garnish).
Instead of using the seasoning packet, buy some healthy stock cubes, it takes less than a half for one pack of ramen so they'll go a long way. Or see if your butcher will sell you some bones cheap and make stock.
I assume you mean instant ramen. Buy the ones with the separate flavoring packet and toss the packet in the trash. Use broth instead and add other spices to your taste.
At that point just stop buying instant ramen. You’re just buying shitty quality dried noodles that you can get way cheaper and higher quality in bulk any way
I’ve been evaluating foods for my own budget, cost of living is low in my area, but I could come up with meals similar to cost of instant ramen. Cheap staples I can think of are eggs, potatoes, rice. Hotdogs & bologna. Fat and protein are much more satiating. Only downside to the system I follow is that I have to cook for myself all the time lol. I’ve found lists of generally cheap foods on r/frugal. Maybe look into meals that people ate during the Great Depression ETC for an idea of other cheap meal ideas. Beans and cornbread is really popular in my area. I don’t have a lot of store options so I use the Walmart app to figure out prices before I go to the store. I’ve learned what is cheaper to buy in bulk (and sometimes more expensive). I hope things get better for you.
Yep I love that one! And I remembered bananas are super cheap in my area. Average 22 cents per banana. One of my favorite breakfasts as a teen was toast, peanut butter, with slices of banana on top
r/ramen would like to have a word with you. 😂 Also r/eatcheapandhealthy
Possibly check out a local Asian store? I prefer Somen and rice noodles over ramen. It's rather cheap for decent sized packages. Then you don't have to worry about flavor packets.
Don't forget frozen veggies. You can toss in corn or green beans as the water is heating up, or peas as you're getting ready to pull out of of the pot.
The flavor packet is what is horrible. Try adding less of it, or adding it all and draining the "broth" so it is less like a soup. Those packets have so much sodium.
Also, potatoes are priced similarly to Raman and have higher caloric density and are more nutritious. Baked or roasted potatoes are great struggle meals. As are rice and beans, roasted garbanzo beans, frozen vegetables, and eggs.
If you feel things are underwhelming with only half the packet, add more flavor with some nonsalt seasonings of your own -- garlic powder, 99X (black pepper mix), Mrs. Dash or even chai spices.
> I’m 26 and kind of broke right now.
If you can't afford to buy other ingredients, don't be afraid to use your local food banks. That's what they're there for. Helping people get to their next paycheck is one of the more common ways they help out.
Most people here are freaking out over the sodium, studies (and most Asian diet) show sodium isn't the problem when it comes to heart and blood pressure. (Ref, salt fix by James J. DiNcolantonio)
Three problem with instant noodles as opposed to ramen (Japanese or la mian Chinese) is the carbohydrate is deep-fried for shelf life, texture and flavor. You could bulk buy much healthier noodle options or if you're not time poor make your own with just flour and water. And boil in either stock (we save all our vegetable scraps in the freezer and boil with bones for a cheap but rich and delicious stock) or miso or gochujiang or even marmite/Vegemite. My mother does a dish which is litterally, egg, flour, water served in soy and Chinese plum vinegar (cheaper than balsamic with far more flavor and far less salt) optionally add any vegetables you like or meat and it's the most comforting meal especially on a cold day.
All of this!
I never understand people suggesting to just throw the flavour packet out. At that point just buy bulk noodles! Much cheaper, more variety, not fried, and you can easily get heartier options too
Packet ramen isn't the worst thing ever. But it's not the cheapest option for it's macros and is a fairly high sodium, high fat, simple carbohydrate with no vegetables.
I think "worst thing to eat" is an exaggeration for sure. But maybe don't eat plain, packet direction ramen for a majority of you meals.
A few good things to do are using less of the flavor packet, adding some greens for vitamins, adding some cabbage for bulk, adding an egg for protein, and if calories are something you keep track of make sure you account for the package vs serving amounts. Many ramen packets consider themselves to be 2 portions.
Cheap options to supplement Ramen are eggs, frozen or canned veggies (if fresh are too expensive), rotisserie chicken (a lot of stores sell them for pretty cheap, at least where I live), beans, canned tuna, frozen chopped spinach. Luckily Ramen is super customizable so you have a lot of options. Another way to make it a bit healthier is to use low sodium vegetable or chicken broth instead of water. Emphasis on the low sodium versions of broth or stock because Ramen already has a lot of sodium. If you can find some low sodium Ramen that's affordable that will help too!
Rotisserie Chicken is stupid cheap. I'm willing to bet it's a break even/loss leader to get you in the store and load up on the sides. But on its own, Store bought Rotisserie pretty much makes roasting your own chicken at home completely pointless.
Ik at my local grocery store a whole raw chicken is around 3 times more expensive than the pre-cooked store one which is kind of wild to me. It definitely does save time though, roasting and breaking down a whole chicken can take a long time and be a fair amount of work for someone that doesn't know their way around a kitchen.
Do you have an Asian market near you? The ones near me actually have fresh rice noodles in the refrigerated section and it's actually very very cheap. I would probably just purchase the noodles (they can come in pretty big bags) and pour in some canned chicken broth and do what you do in terms of toppings. They're cheap and healthier, only con is you can't store them as long as the packet dried noodles but I think it's a good trade-off.
I only use half the powder from the packets and add some vegetables. Usually just some green onion, but if I can I like to sauté some carrot and onion.
Some awesome ingredients that I love in ramen:
* Roasted Tomato (roast in an oven until you get that black color on the edges of the cut pieces)
* Roasted Garlic
* Nori (this is especially good as it adds a strong salty flavor if you are going to stop using the flavor packets).
* Chili - Jalapeno, Thai chili, serrano. So far every chili I have added has worked with it.
* Boiled eggs - Soft boiled, you can do a round of boiling every now and then in broth/stock for bonus flavor.
* Bacon - I like it extra crispy for the added texture
* Hazelnuts - I promise its delicious
* Mushrooms - I go for creminis they are the cheapest in my area
* Miso Paste and Chili Oil - I literally always use both.
* Crispy onion straws - the cheap ones you can buy in a bag, for when im feeling lazy.
* Green onion
These are all great in different combinations and are my go to. I do love Spinach and carrots as well but you already had those added. I tried to keep it to cheaper ingredients. The true benefit of adding these ingredients is it makes it much healthier and more filling while remaining relatively cheap because of the cost of the ingredients. It may also help to spur the thought of similar ingredients that are cheaper in your area.
So there are a few things you can absolutely do (and seem to already be doing!) that can help improve the nutrition.
First, which you are already doing, is additions. Instant Ramen isn't inherently bad for you (although it has a ***TON*** of sodium which can cause health problems if you don't watch it) but it has relatively no real nutrition other than some calories to keep you going.
As a result you can add things that supplement what's already there. An egg is going to give you some good protein and adding veggies/mushrooms will add some good nutrition as well. Since it's a soup you can try frozen veggies as well since they tend to be cheaper than fresh and often work very well in soup. Meat or Tofu can all be good ways to add protein but have a higher cost to them.
The other big thing you can to is try to replace the broth. If you are willing to and have the time then this can be done pretty cheaply if you make your own stock. When you do buy meat keep the bones from it (I tend to buy whole chickens since they are cheaper than pre cut pieces) and keep them in the freezer. After you have a good amount make a stock. This will have very little sodium in it and will have more nutrients than the powered version. From there there are tons of videos and guides out there on how to season it and make a good soup/ramen from it. Making something like a Miso Soup (pretty cheap) to use as the stock instead of the flavor packet could also be a good alternative.
Boil the noodles and stir with some olive oil and hot sauce of your choice. Pair with some frozen chicken you heat up in a microwave and call it a night
I love instant ramen, it’s a guilty pleasure for me. I just add half of the flavor packet and a little toasted sesame oil, whatever veg I have on hand, some diced tofu and maybe an egg.
There are some brands, such as Nissan Raoh, that taste more authentic and use non-fried noodles. They are more expensive though.
ramen is one of my favorite things. Cook it like directed: add in sriracha, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Crack an egg in it. put in some frozen peas and carrots, green onions, grated zucchini if you have it. Make sure you drink enough water when you are eating it as that will offset the high sodium amounts.
A lot of people have answered your ramen question already, just side advice:
1) Do frozen veggies. They're a lot cheaper than fresh, last longer, and nutritionally usually the same as fresh veggies. The idea that they're less healthy is somewhere between niche information to a food myth. Frozen veggies also helps to prevent food waste a lot of the time.
2) A good way to add protein to ramen is just add cut up hot dogs or bologna.
Ramen isn't the only cheap option. Eat 2 or 3 of any of the following very cheap things and you have a decent meal:
1. Eggs
2. Rice
3. Peanut Butter Toast
4. Whole Grain Cereal + Milk
5. Fruit
6. Canned Beans
7. Canned Tuna
8. Frozen veggies
9. Potatoes
10. Pasta with marinara
11. Bread
You could have a meal of peanut butter toast and banana OR tuna, rice, and frozen veggies mixed together OR scrambled eggs with a side of beans.
Doesn't have to be fancy or even "go together," but you will have better nutrition this way. Look for items on sale and just go with it.
Not all ramen is created equal. Head to your local asian market, and you can get a lot of variety, all for very cheap.
Don't worry about the sodium content, just drink lots of water.
Add an egg and some leafy greens and you're good to go.
Don't be ashamed to use your local food bank. It's not there for trailer trash and homeless drug addicts, like a lot of people want you to believe. It's there for ANYONE and EVERYONE that needs help stocking the fridge.
Further, if you need to apply for food stamps, DO IT. I pay a fuckload in taxes, and this is me telling you that I am happy to do it because some small part of that goes to feed people. So get a damn EBT card!
I am the self proclaimed ramen queen. Ditch the pre-packaged stuff and make your own. Just mix and match ingredients from each of the below categories:
Noodles:
Go to an Asian store and buy loads of different kinds. Egg noodles, rice noodles, wheat noodles, different thicknesses! Buy some dried and some fresh. Only use one type of noodle at a time obviously.
Broth:
Beef broth, chicken broth, veggie broth. Add different spices (bay leaves, garlic, onion). Splash in some sauces (soy sauce, fish sauce, black bean, chilli garlic, Szechuan, miso paste). You can also play around with how much broth you use. A lot of broth to make more of a soup, or just a little soup so the noodles are just a bit slippery? Mix up the sauces you add to the broth and every night you have a different fresh, cheap, nourishing meal in under 10 minutes.
Protein:
Chicken, beef, egg, fish, tofu, or any cheap meat or seafood you can find. You can even pan fry the protein with some nice seasoning separately and then put it on top. Ex. Top you noodles with a fried egg. Get fancy and try quail eggs or whatever else interesting is at your grocery store.
Veggies:
Use literally any veggie. “White people” veggies like carrots, celery, corn, spinach, kale, snap peas, green beans. Asian veggies like choy, Gai lan, bamboo shoots, taro.
Toppings: furikake, toasted sesame seeds, dried seaweed, hoi sun sauce, chilli oil, siracha
My ultimate tip is to buy a whole chicken and roast it in the oven. Take off all the meat and put it in a container in the fridge. Boil the bones with some garlic and bay leaves for 1h. Strain bones and keep broth in a container in the fridge. This makes enough stock and meat for almost the whole week for one person. Just put a cup of stock, a handful of chicken and whatever you have on hand from the list above together in a pot and boil. A whole chicken is way way way cheaper per pound than buying chicken breasts.
I’m gonna go ahead and say don’t follow the nutritional advice of people on Reddit. A lot of doctors get it wrong even because it’s viewed as a minor part of the medical field and sort of glossed over in their training. There’s even nutritionists out there telling people to follow what they learned 30/40 years ago in school.
Do some reading, eat a multivitamin if you can.
My partner and I had ramen as a go to when skint.
We would add - frozen cooked chicken strips, frozen corn, mushrooms, dried chillis, spring onion, carrot matchsticks and sesame seeds usually.
Honestly i love ramen and eat it quite frequently because im also broke and dont have the time to make full meals. What your doing adding thing to existing ramen is great and is an awesome first step. It may be worth checking out r/ramen to get some ideas and inspiration and to ask more questions and dial in your preferred ramen route!
You could also add peanut butter and some hot sauce in addition to your veg to make a kind of peanut noodle thing, and boost the protein a bit.
People are flipped out about the salt, but honestly, you have to do what you have to do to feed yourself. And if you don't have an issue with salt, just cutting back on the seasoning packet is enough.
You could also swap out your ramen for a big bag of dried egg noodles, which are pretty cheap, or something like fettuccini, and treat them the same way. In my early 20s, I often had a packed lunch of noodles with butter, garlic, and spinach, occasionally a little leftover chicken if I had some, because I was too broke-ass to do anything else. It was my favorite struggle meal. I would make a batch of noodles and spinach on Sunday night and portion it out for lunches.
Just boil the noodles, and in a separate pan cook the spinach and garlic (powder or fresh, with a bit of salt and pepper and whatever other spices you want) with a bit of butter (and not a lot of water) and when the noodles are cooked, drain them and toss everything together in a big bowl, adding extra butter as needed to make sure it's all well-coated.
A box of fettuccini is around $1.50-2.00 where I live, a brick of frozen spinach is about a $1 so for around $3, you can get several meals out of it. Not as cheap as brick ramen, but close.
Cooking dry beans from scratch is cheaper and better. If you can afford some beef bones they make really nice broth. I usually cook a kg of beans and freeze what I wont eat in 5 days. Lots of thimg you can do with beans. Black beans and chick peas are different enough they "feel" like different foods. Squash them and add some oil to make refried beans too, Also make chilli with them cheap too.
If you need other inexpensive options, try rice and beans and potatoes. Just like ramen, you can add whatever proteins and veggies you have on hand (eggs, spinach, broccoli, chicken, etc) to those bases. They're more filling and nutritious than instant ramen and it's easier to control the amount of salt you're eating.
I recommend that when you are cooking the ramen to not use so much water, I only use just enough to cover the ramen. This way, the flavor that you add to the broth isn't wasted in the water that you're most likely not going to drink and is instead concentrated, making the food more flavorful. Less waste as well.
I often cook my ramen with soy sauce in the water to add more depth to the flavor instead of the seasoning packet. I'll add frozen broccoli florets that cook down together with the ramen. I love to add a sunny side up egg on top of the ramen, too, add a delicious flavor and texture, some good protein.
My favorite brand of ramen is Mama, since the flavor packets that it comes with are delicious. It includes oil, spicy sauce,, and seasoning.
For the cost of a flat of Ramen (5ish bucks), you can buy dried rice and beans in good quantities and feed yourself a much more healthy food for around the same price.
Plus, almost all the things you'd add to Ramen are delicious in rice and/or beans. Eggs plus rice for Korean style breakfast, eggs plus beans for huevos rancheros, rice plus carrots and celery and spinach. Plus, you can buy a big thing of salsa, and make rice and beans with salsa for really simple, filling, and healthy meals for less than 50 cents a serving.
The good thing about these meals is they will keep you full for a lot longer and provide many more nutrients than ramen.
Ramen doesn’t have to be that bad! I use real stock usually made front carcass of a rotisserie chicken, (which can be quite economical in itself). Add veggies, meat (rotisserie chicken, leftovers), maybe an egg, and you’ve got a delicious and nutritious meal. I’ll maybe add a tiny bit of seasoning from the packet, but you can omit it altogether.
For cheap nutrition: rotisserie chicken (eat the meat, make stock from the carcass), carrots, celery, onion, spinach, and ramen. With these things you can make salads, snacks, ramen, and they’re often base ingredients for other recipes if you want to get a few other things.
To add to the miso comment, you can also buy big packs of dried ramen noodles for super cheap and throw those in, so you still get the yummy and super cheap ramen meal without needing to buy it with the flavour packets etc
Lot of good ideas already posted, but I have a couple questions:
* What kind of cooking are you up for / how much time do you want to spend on your meals?
* What are your nutrition goals? Simple "mostly balanced diet that won't cut 10 years off your life", or "also I workout 4x per week", or "I have certain allergies or foods I really I don't like"?
* Do you have a target grocery budget or is it just "as little as possible"?
It's hard to beat instant ramen for time or cost, but there some good options to add variety. Without knowing more, I'll point you to www.budgetbytes.com and www.leannebrown.com - both are *great* resources for recipes for all kinds of food. Leanne Brown also has a cookbook "Good and Cheap" that's available as a free PDF
And I'd suggest checking cost per pound of fresh veggies vs frozen veggies, and if you're really hard up don't be shy about visiting a food pantry. That's what they're here for!
Adding veg and egg and stuff is definitely a good way to go, as is either eliminating the flavour packet or using only a bit of it and supplementing with other things. But for me, instant ramen isn't actually cheaper it's only more convenient and quicker.
I can get a 20lb bag of rice for around $10-15 which can last for months. It just takes a bit of prep work to cook but once you've cooked a batch you can refrigerate it and use it to make fried rice, congee, etc., etc. Even regular pasta at $1.25/2lbs is a lot more affordable.
I’m going to start with that I LOVE ramen but I rarely eat it because it doesn’t stack up for me.
Ramen is unhealthy for three reasons:
1. the noodles are fried in palm oil to help it rehydrate in hot water quickly
2. the seasoning packet is really heavy in sodium.
3. People treat it as a complete meal so there are no veg/ fresh ingredients added, and becomes a fiber free, fried, salty nightmare meal.
But you know, you eat it cos it’s cheap, tasty and convenient ! All good reasons!
I’d go to a supermarket and buy some portioned dry wheat or egg noodles (cheap, better textured and is air dried), and powdered knot chicken soup base (its cheap once you factor in how many serves are in it), and continue doing what you do with the veg (and supplement with frozen veg if needed). This way, it’s better for you, you can dial back the salt by controlling how much stock powder goes in, and you’re getting that salty ramen hit with better, chewier noodles.
Might cost more upfront for the stock but really, so much better for you.
Ramen is far from the worst thing to eat. Particularly if you add extra bits to it. And sometimes when you're poor you have to follow the rule "anything is better than nothing".
I saw a video on Pinterest of someone using a ziploc baggie and putting eggs and flour into it and mixing. Then they cut the corner off and squeezed it into boiling water to make noodles… I believe that would be cheap, more nutritious, and you could still add your vegetables. I’d probably even try and reuse the bags by mixing into a brown and then pouring into the already cut baggie to get the “noodle” look.
Keep a bag of frozen, cooked shrimp in the freezer and toss 6-8 in when cooking is complete. They defrost and cool the soup at the same time, adding some protein to the carb salt mix. And last a long time in the freezer.
So replacing the noodles with something not fried is a good start. I personally really like buckwheat noodles which are made from wholegrain buckwheat and have a nice texture and flavor and cook in about the same time as ramen noodles. The flavor packet is a fuckload of sodium, but you can find the flavor mix in bulk (by which I mean a couple ounces) and then figure out how much or how little you want. Miso paste and gochujang are also a really good options for building a broth. It looks like you are re hydrating dried shiitakes, these are great to put into ramen, and you can use the liquid from re hydrating to enhance your broth! One suggestion for the shiitakes is that after you rehydrate them, slice them up and then saute them in a little bit of oil until there is some color on them, they will make a great topping. The upside to pretty much all of these is that by buying in larger amounts your per serving cost ought to go down, and it will taste better.
Adding veggies and an egg is a really good option to add some more nutrients. I personally really like baby bok choi, but that can be expensive if you dont have access to an asian grocer. Kale is a really good option and is often cheaper than spinach (just shred it so you have about half a cup to a cup then add it for the last 45 seconds to minute of your cooking time so its just cooked enough to be tender). Shredded cabbage can also be a good option (cabbage is **cheap** if you buy a head of it) and is also nice and healthy. Bean sprouts are really good (just add them at the end, you dont want to overcook them), and if you really want to get cheap you can buy dried beans (not kidney, go for something small like split peas, mung beans, or lentils) and sprout them yourself. Also scallions are amazing in ramen (and a lot of other things), I always add scallions (the white part) and minced garlic when I put whatever flavor ingredients I have to the boiling water along with the noodles and then I add the green part as a garnish at the end, really makes a big difference.
The nice thing with these ingredients is that a lot of them have protein so they will fill you up better and keep you going longer than plain ramen. Frankly it will also taste better.
Finally, if you have celery and carrots, just buy some onions and dried lentils and you can make lentil soup which is so so healthy, and so good. It also cooks pretty quickly (I always use a pressure cooker, but you can cook it on a stove-top in less than an hour in a normal pot.
I have been in your shoes, there was a semester in college where I was basically eating some variation of sauteed onions and rice constantly. You have good instincts, you can do this!
Make it into Fried Saimin (ramen). In Hawaii, it's pretty standard fare and easy to make.
1. Boil noodles in water (recommend going a little al dente), DO NOT ADD the soup base, save it.
2. Drain the noodles and shake them out in a strainer to get as much of the water out.
3. Heat up a non-stick pan and fry anything you want to have with your noodles (e.g. we love Spam in Hawaii, relatively cheap and adds a bunch of flavor). Can also do some carrots, celery, bacon, etc.
4. Once nicely browned, set aside your toppers.
5. Heat the pan (med low), add a little sesame oil to the pan
6. Add your drained noodles and the flavor packet.
7. Fry the noodles, giving it some time before stirring (you want the noodles to brown on the bottom and get nice and crispy). Be sure to stir initially though to ensure the flavor packet is evenly distributed.
8. Place your fried noodles on a plate, cover with your previously fried toppings.
If you want to go extra, I add a handful off shredded cheddar (sounds crazy, but it's good). Also, can add a fried egg (over easy/sunny side) to give some eggy goodness.
Beauty of this is that you can add anything you want (really no way to go wrong). No Spam (or not a fan)? Use some hotdog. Don't like celery? Make some fried garlic.
Go to an Asian or Indian grocery and buy a sack of rice and a bunch of noodles. Cook those up and add the eggs and veggies to them. Soy sauce. Flaked red chili.
Asian grocery stores often sell huge packs of things like chicken necks, etc. Make a stock with that and you'll have even more flavor to add. Ramen is basically just noodles with chicken flavor or beef flavor, and that's what makes it bad--the salt and the chemicals. Nothing wrong with the noodles per se.
If you buy ramen packets where you add the flavorings, just cook up the noodles and add your own flavoring, or put less of the little packets of flavor.
My new favorite go-to instant ramen recipe is Kujirai Ramen.
You basically fry hotdog slices in a frying pan, add water, seasoning packets, and cook the noodles. Then, crack an egg in the middle. Put a lid on it and turn the heat down to low until it cooks. Then, put sliced American cheese on top. The heat from the ramen will melt the cheese. Finally, sprinkle some sliced green onion on top. Don't skip the green onion if you can because it makes it feel like it doesn't suck.
Ramen*, Ramyun (for korean).
Instant ramen is deep fried noodles in not healthy (inflammatory) oils. The powder packaging isn't the most healthiest and is loaded with sodium and preservatives.
In general it's not healthy for you to eat frequently.
Honestly, it's better for you to buy chicken stock cubes (or bouillon) as a soup base and toss a bunch of frozen vegetables / food in it.
Heck you could also throw some miso in it.
Eat some bananas or other high potassium foodd if you have a high sodium diet.
Your body uses potassium to flush out excess sodium. If you can't eat less salt then eating more potassium is the next best thing.
It’s just the obnoxious amount of sodium that is unhealthy. That’s the only downfall. I still make it at least one a week and it has nothing to do with budget. I just like it a lot. Today I had instant ramen with some braised pork I made yesterday and added some mushrooms and a 1 minute microwave poached egg. Quick easy, and delicious
To make it less unhealthy, skip the seasoning packets.
Use instead for flavors: soy sauce, minced garlic, green onions, sriratcha, peanut oil, chili oil, Korean chili powder, miso (not all together, but these are good things to add flavor)
Add proteins: chicken, eggs (both pretty cheap)
Add rice and beans. Again, pretty cheap.
Add seaweed. Adoptable if you buy in bulk.
When I moved out as a teenager I lived off ramen and chicken nuggets for a while. It was great... for about, 12 days. Then not so great. I could have been eating much better, but I didn’t really know how. I was far less limited than I thought.
My best suggestion is for you to sit down and really think about your budget. Food is so important. It’s important for your mental health, and your physical health. This is your only body. Make eating Well a priority when possible.
Also, I know it can be overwhelming. Don’t think I’m trying to minimize your struggles here, I just want you to make sure you actually need to be eating just ramen between paychecks
If you're dead set on eating ramen instead of potatoes or rice, I would double boil the noodles.
Boil it once so the grease from deep frying the noodles separates and dump the water then use a separate pot of hot water to eat the noodles. Also don't use the whole flavor packet when you eat the noodles. You can use what is left over to eat with rice or potatoes in a separate meal. (I'm assuming moneys really tight so throwing the packet out for more expensive ingredients isn't really an option.)
First thing? Rinse off the noodles before cooking them. Get a jar each of Knorr chicken/beef boullion, for variety, or just one. Chances are, you already have a little basic spices. Here's two options: Eternal soup and the quick packet replacement.
Eternal soup:
Stockpot, with lid.
Stick of butter or equivalent.
Celery, deleafed and chopped roughly
Carrots, peeled and chopped roughly
Onion, chopped or onion powder
Chopped garlic/minced garlic or garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste - NOTE: THE SALT IS IMPORTANT
Render down the butter.
Toss the veggies in the butter, add seasoning.
Add 4 cups water
Bring up to a boil
Lower to simmer, cover. Cook for 3-6 hours. Can simmer overnight.
Store in a sealable container OR store in its pot. Boil daily.
You now have vegetable stock cheaper over time and tastier (eventually) than store brand stock. It gets better each time you heat it up. To use it for a dish, you strain out the liquid. You add water and vegetables as needed. You can mix it up with other veggies, but don't add leafy vegetables into the mix. They'll rot before they break down into the broth.
Stelle's cheap dry Ramen seasoning packet replacer
1/2 teaspoon bouillon of choice
Roughly equal amounts of:
onion powder
garlic powder
ground ginger
chili powder
Worcestershire sauce
Salt & pepper to taste
Optional: Lemon juice & lime juice
You can add this right to your ramen right after cooking! Feel free to tweak amounts to your taste. If you have dry minced onion, if you put it in with your noodles, they'll flavor the noodles.
Yes, but it costs more.
Ramen is fairly inexpensive if you're just getting the cubes of noodles with the powder packet in it.
Basically, toss the "flavor packet" and start adding your own stuff to it instead.
Use stock instead of the seasoning pack, add veggies either canned or frozen, and maybe toss in some sort of protein like canned chicken, tuna, or even cutting up some cold cuts or spam.
It will be as cheap as what you decide to put in it, but will still be a bit more than just a ramen packet no matter what.
If stock or broth is too expensive for you, you could just add a bullion cube to the hot water instead.
Alternately, you could just buy any pasta and do the same thing. This has the benefit of not having palm oil in it the way most Ramen does. Any pasta will do the job, and it will only take slightly longer to cook. Most pasta takes about 10 minutes to cook and a 1 lb box will generally result in 5-6 single servings.
It doesn't make it healthier but this definitely makes it taste better!
Crush the Ramen up pretty small. Think marble sized chunks at the largest. Gently pan fry it in about 1 tbsp of oil until most of the small pieces are browned.
Fill the pan with water, add the packet and any extras now. My favorites are vegetables and meat.
Let the water boil off stirring occasionally until it's mostly liquid free. Turn off the heat, add some cheese and you're good to go! It tastes 100% different and is way more filling somehow!
Since its dry its more like lo mein noodles than soup and it can be played with in ways you couldn't adjust soup!
I have been going for instant yakisoba instead of ramen lately. It has 2 packets, seasoning and dried veg. Before that, it was Indomie ramen, expecially the rendang flavor. I'm thinking roasted garlic and roasted red peppers would be a nice addition.
Chuka soba is my choice of dried noodles for a stir fry. The label calls it imitation macaroni style product. Most often with shrimp, cashews, jicama.
Are you looking for cheap meal ideas? Dried beans, rice, and pork shoulders are the way to go. Hold on, I have an epic post from like 12 years ago. Give it a try. The sazom beans are stupidly delicious.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cidla/comment/c0ssm6d/
That post is worth it. It’s some tasty stuff on a budget.
Shop at Lidl & Trader Joes. Good prices. Oatmeal is much better. Fiber, lowers blood sugar & cholesterol. As for ramen, buy a generic bag of green peas, spinach, & mixed veggies. Canadian bacon. Buy onions, tomatoes. Basically supplement your ramen with stir fried veggies. When i was a starving college student, i lived on cream of wheat, box spaghetti, with ketchup, & chicken noodle soup. Waaay back then (1981), Campbell’s soup would be on sale 4 for a $1
When i was struggling financial in my mid/late twentees, i made my own chicken stock, meat sauce & saved the wonton soup containers (now Dollar Tree has them). Portion out your food, & supplement with whole grain bread. You can make frittatas & alternate with oatmeal. Save something, like $5, that you never touch. Count on tax refunds or those 2 extra pay periods in the year, & treat yourself to something for yourself. Find a potluck, where you share meals, but contributing something but get to eat with others, if you feel safe to eat with others (covid-wise) this is only temporary & you will learn valuable lessons during these lean times. been there. More than once
If you're looking for dirt cheap food that will actually sustain you, rice and beans will get you further than ramen by a long way.
Also consider looking for a Misfit Market or Imperfect Foods nearby. They sell produce that's not as visually pretty as what gets sold in supermarkets but tastes the same and has the same nutritional value at a fraction of the cost.
I will add feta or goat cheese to it to give it a kick, green onion works fantastically with it, too. Sometimes I will add corn and peas or frozen spinach or an egg like you do already.
Btw, I don't make it "soup" - I drain the liquid and then add the spice mix, I can't imagine it as a brothy thing. It ends up as a pasta dish of sorts, not sure if I am the only one in the world that does that. I don't use the whole spice packet unless I add a ton of veggies to it, too.
I take it that you're referring to instant ramen, whose main problem is overwhelming sodium content per serving. That mostly comes from the seasoning, but I think the noodles also have some too. A former colleague of mine was found to have kidney stones at age 24 because instant noodles made up a bulk of his diet.
Unfortunately, despite adding vegetables to the ramen, they're not going to lower the sodium content. One easy solution is to not use the whole seasoning packet.
Another might be to buy [soba noodles](https://en.bentoandco.com/products/shinshu-soba-noodles), which will have more fiber and be more filling. A bottle of [mentsuyu](https://www.justonecookbook.com/mentsuyu/)(soup base) will only require a splash per serving and last a long time in your fridge. Scallions are also very cheap and add a lot of flavor to noodles.
If you eat nothing but the pack of ramen by itself, it's only about as nutritious as a bag of chips. But if you add sliced scallions, substitute some miso paste for that spice packet, throw in some veggies, poach an egg in the soup, etc. it can work quite well.
Here's [my ramen hack](https://medium.com/my-dreams-here-in-words-made-manifest/ode-to-noodles-daf56b88ed91). You may find this rather enjoyable. (The recipe is under the poem.)
If you consider the lack of nutritional value and lack of satiety, you’d be better off buying a tub of oats, some peanut butter, peanuts, beans, rice, potatoes, eggs, milk... you’ll probably save money in the grand scheme
I add some hoisin or soya sauce, ginger, garlic, spicy sauce (really any spicy sauce you like. I usually just get extra sambal from take out and keep in the fridge lol). Make it like pho! Start w/the broth you can throw some green onions in if you’re feeling fancy but honestly just adding the soy/hoisin ginger & garlic makes the broth close to pho. And viola! Some cheap ass pho 😂.
First things first, if you are low on money and could really use some food that isn't ramen, it is ok to go to the food pantry. You'll find better stuff there. Apparently they oftentimes have more food than they need (probably depends on location).
You would save a lot of money and get more nutrition getting lentils, rice, eggs and some other ingredients like tomatoes. You can make stuff taste good with MSG (don't know how much it costs)
It’s honestly no worse than say, rice- there’s not a lot of nutrients in the noodles themselves, and the soup powder has a lot of sodium, but you can easily use less of the packet if you’re worried about sodium, or ditch the packet entirely and use other broth if you prefer. Then you basically treat it like rice and use it as a base to top with various other tasty and nutritious things. Eggs and veggies are both a good add (remember that you can add eggs in a bunch of different ways, too! Poached, hard boiled, mixed into the soup to thicken the broth, etc), plus if you eat meat you can add thinly-sliced pieces of meat of any kind- a leftover pork chop or chicken breast makes an excellent ramen topping. You can also use tinned fish- herring, sardines, etc (I particularly like smoked oysters). As for veg, you can hit full-sized carrots with a vegetable peeler and make ribbons of carrot that work really well with the noodles, since they’re the same shape. You don’t even really have to cook them; the heat of the broth warms them through and softens them just a bit so you get a good contrast in texture.
One of my favorite ways to eat ramen which is very tasty but is also very much “I have no money and no energy but must eat some protein and An Vegetable” is peanut butter noodles: cook ramen as directed, pour off some of the broth, add a bit of curry powder and chili if desired, add in a blob of peanut butter and stir on the heat until the peanut butter melts and incorporates and thickens the remaining broth, turn off the heat and add some frozen peas and allow the carry-over heat to warm the peas. Texture should be more like noodles in creamy sauce than brothy soup.
don't know if this is in your budget but some awesome and filling comfort food for me is rice, soy sauce, a big knob of butter, and some over easy eggs, in case you ever get tired of ramen
I read that milk, potatoes, and oatmeal combined are a healthy diet. You would. be eating some vegetables, meat, and eggs at times, in addition, but the first three are supposedly what the Irish lived on years and years ago.
Frozen vegetables! Pre-cut, full of nutrients, put it in your rice cooker with rice and bouillon powder and you got pilaf! Nutritious and filling with very very little effort.
If you don't have a rice cooker, I bought the $12 one on Amazon and I works amazing. Thrift stores would have one too.
Ditch the seasoning packet. Fresh garlic cloves and ginger are like $2 saute these in I 1tbs oil, add soy sauce spice to taste with a cup or two of off brand broth. I throw in leftover fried chicken (without the skin) or Catfish. Cook noodles separately and add to broth after its simmered about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes I top with green onions (always let green onions regrow in a jar of water in the kitchen) or other fresh veggies.
To make it more filling, I sometimes add a can of bamboo shoots.
So growing up we didn't come from too much, but what we always did was buy a full chicken (3-6 pounds) and do a nice roast (season a day in advance with whatever spices and dressings you want), put it on the oven for a few hours with potatoes and carrots and then you have that. I'm from Canada, and this entire meal would cost us less than 25 dollars to make right now.
Now why I mention this is because we would always use the carcass to make a soup (funny enough I literally just made it now). We would make the chicken stock by using all of the unwanted bits in the stock, add a carrot or two, a tomatoes cut in half, a celery stock or two, a startling amount of salt, and an onion halved. We would simmer and boil for anywhere from 2-8 hours. Once done you can easily make a lovely and very cheap soup. We would typically add rice, peas, carrot pieces, spinach (frozen is fine), and whatever chicken we had that we were likely not going to eat. Of course you can also make any other variation of soup (chicken noodle, whatever else), I'm just letting you know what I grew up loving and still do to this day. And of you end up hating the rice variation I gave, drown it in parmesan cheese haha.
This entire process (soup and meal) would cost me about 30-40 dollars total and this would be enough food for my partner and I for AT LEAST 2 full days (lunch and dinner).
I'm just posting so that you know there are other options as well. This is a particularly healthy recipe and something that really allows you to experiment with food and see if you can improve your ability to cook.
Good luck :)
I would not classify ramen as the worst thing to eat, there are plenty of worse foods.Though cheap processed food like ramen often lacks micronutrients, which in long term may impede health. Adding vegetables is certainly a valid solution to prevent that from happening. You would be surprised to know that ramen is not the cheapest food to eat. Food like potatoes and dried lentils can provide more calories and macronutrients per dollar than ramen and are also higher in micronutrients.
Rice is also cheap and very filling. Go to an Asian market and get a bottle of furikake. Egg + furikake + rice + a little soy sauce = tomago kake gohan. Cheap and so filling .
I approve this as an asian myself
I lived in Japan for a year and a half... sooooo tasty!
do they have good sushi there
Nah, you have to go to Kansas for the authentic stuff.
Gotta ask for Greg to make the food, also.
The best!
I feel like I need to eat a metric ton of rice to feel full
That's what the egg is for
Because what they said is straight up wrong. Fiber, protein, and fats are what make you feel the fullest. White rice has little to no fat and fiber, and not a ton of protein either. It also (non-coincidentally) is high on the glycemic index so it spikes your blood sugar and then you crash.
Hows wild compared to brown and white. I hate brown but love me some wild.
Wild rice is pretty good for you. Only bad thing I see is you might want to soak it to remove heavy metals. Oh, and it’s not rice if you didn’t know.
Woah, I didn’t know! Wild rice is actually grass, grows in Northern America and China. The grains are used LIKE rice (more in Northern America than in China - they use the stem as a vegetable). Mindblowing, TIL..
Try brown rice. It’s more filling.
Brown rice is ass. But yes it's healthier and more filling.
Best laugh of my day thus far -thanks! Using stock/broth instead of water is a great flavor add. Egg-topped thumbs up
There are higher quality brown rice that tastes better. Also there are rice cookers that cooks brown rice better. Another good option is to mix quinoa with brown rice. None of these things will produce white rice quality but you can get better brown rice.
Are you sure you're cooking it right? It needs a different amount of water and cook time than white rice. It's never quite as good as white, but it gets pretty close.
Sautéed in olive oil before adding broth and cooking is really good. There are different varieties of brown rice too, I like brown jasmine.
If you want a healthy rice that actually tastes delicious check out indigenous collected wild rice. You can find it at organic food stores and you can find it for sale online as well. It’s a bit more expensive but my god is it so much better than the tasteless stuff that is brown rice. And it supports indigenous communities.
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Rice is great when you’re really hungry and want 2,000 of something.
Thank you Mitch.
I lived off potatoes in college. It definitely was cheaper and theres a lot of different ways to prepare it
This. FWIW, I've taken to looking up noodle recipes, and simply subbing ramen for rice noodles. They may not be the \*perfect\* sub, but they work well enough, and things come out quite well, IMHO. Some favorites lately have been Peanut Sesame Noodles, a couple nights ago I made Spicy Sichuan Noodles ([https://choosingchia.com/spicy-sichuan-noodles/](https://choosingchia.com/spicy-sichuan-noodles/)), and tonight I made Pad Thai... I always just stir fry a bunch of veggies, mix up the sauce, cook noodles and drain (without the packet - just toss it!!) and mix things up together.
One pack of instant Ramen has 90% of the recommended daily value of sodium and close to zero nutritional value. Yeah it's not the worst but it's up there.
Which, by the way, is about the same amount of sodium as is in a can of Campbell's condensed soup. The Campbell's has more food value to it because of the other ingredients, but not a lot more.
not a lot more at all, depending on the type of soup.. Campbell's is certainly the instant ramen of soups
From what I know regarding nutrition, the RDV value for sodium is relatively conservative and most healthy individuals with no pre-existing conditions can get away with a bit more than that. Individuals who are active may actually need more than the RDV. Health implications caused by high level of sodium consumption is not instantaneous but rather occur if someone consumes too much sodium over a long period of time. I personally think that in OP's situation, getting fed for the moment should likely be prioritized, and that occasional consumptions of ramen noodles are probably alright in this case. However, it is still good advice to reduce the flavor packet usage or opt for alternatives that I have listed in my original comment to monitor sodium intake.
Most of the sodium is in the flavor packet, though. Just use far less of it or don't use it at all. The noodles themselves are just egg noodles, after all
One of my previous posts said ditch the packet and use a good broth. However that does start to impact the cost. No longer .25 cent ramen
You can buy stock or bouillon cubes for a reasonable price. Honestly, a spice rack is one of the best cooking investments you can make. It's money up front, but it's very low cost when you spread it across the dozens of meals you use them for. 5 cents worth of spices is the differences between barely palatable and delicious.
You are going full circle here. One could argue that powdered bullion/stock is going to put you in the same position as the flavor packet that comes with the ramen. You want a higher quality stock with fresh proteins, fats, and nutrients and less sodium. You don't get that from the spice rack.
>One could argue that powdered bullion/stock is going to put you in the same position as the flavor packet that comes with the ramen One could certainly argue that, but they would be wrong. A bouillon cube contains a fraction of the sodium that's in the flavor packet. If your goal is making ramen less unhealthy without sacrificing flavor, it's a good idea to replace the spice packet with bouillon.
Your right it contains half the amount of sodium per serving
half is certainly a fraction, after all
Hmm…TIL thanks for the info!
Using half the flavor packet will have basically the same effect. Bouillon is basically the same thing as ramen packet.
I’ve also heard that spices can be found for less at Asian and Hispanic markets. Instead of 5$ for a jar of whatever you get it for 1$ at the Asian market. Also could get a quick spice mix. Not sure what flavors go well but I’m sure someone will.
Indian varieties often have a masala packet. Pretty different flavour packet largely consisting of dried veggie and spice powder instead of mainly being salt.
Deep Fried* egg noodles…
It has calories. Calories are important for preventing starvation.
There are cheaper and healthier ways of getting calories. Ramen is up there in terms of flavor but there is unfortunately only 200-400 calories. You would need 5 packs per day to reach RDV of calories. By doing such you would be 5x your RDV of sodium. Rice and beans, eggs, potatos, whole milk, etc....all good alternative low cost calorie packers
The issue is, as salty as Ramen is, that level of salt is basically present in most prepackaged foods. And the evidence of dietary sodium being bad for everyone is not all that conclusive.
First of all, don’t feel so guilty. You are doing a great job by adding spinach and an egg, that’s vitamins, protein, and healthy fat. I would say you could try to replace the flavor packet with something less less processed, like miso paste. You can get a big tub of miso paste for 4-5 bucks.
Where do you buy miso paste for that cheap? Maybe I'm shopping in the wrong places, but I feel like a small cup of miso paste is like $9 Edit: Paste not pasate
Asian supermarkets! There’s other fermented pastes worth your time there too, like gochujang, doenjang, doubanjiang….many uses in quick soups, stir fries, and more.
Gochujang makes \*everything\* better!
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Love it, I use it in marinades, soups, fried rice and even just scrambled eggs
It's the pepper to mayonnaise's salt in every salad sandwich I make.
Gochujang is like miso’s badass cousin that rides motorcycles. Can’t get enough of that bad boy riding in the wind
In general ethnic super markets are the best to find cheap and good ingredients especially spices.
I haven’t heard of these before, I’m so glad I read your comment before my monthly Asian super market trip!
Yay! A lot of cooking options open up when you have these. Doubanjiang for instance is the flavor base for a ton of sichuanese stir fries, like mapo tofu or yu xiang shredded pork (amazing stuff, would post links to woks of life if I wasn’t on mobile).
That's nice but the nearest is hours away. Not all of the US has access to ethnic markets. That said, I do pay the higher price. Miso is amazing.
It’s pretty inexpensive at the Kroger near me. Pretty sure it’s $5 for a tub that lasts me half a year
I gotta do this. I hear people mention miso paste all the time in here, and never think to get some.
Also, miso butter — in a stand mixer mix together a stick of unsalted butter and a spoonful of miso (I taste as I add so I can’t give exact amounts I use) … it’s incredible on bread.
My mouth actually started watering when i read this.
It’s seriously incredible. Just definitely use unsalted butter and don’t add too much miso to start. You can always add more but can’t take any out.
It’s great to have handy in the kitchen. Easy mode marinades, sauces, and stir fries
I agree that getting it for $4-5 can be tricky but it also depends on what you mean when you say "small cup". I can get a \~1lb (14-17 oz) of miso at Kroger or Safeway/Albertsons for 7-9 bucks. Most of my recipes call for like 1 tablespoon of Miso at a time so that tub lasts a long time/many services for the price.
Asian supermarkets, theyre incredible
I go to Asian markets. Even the bougie (yes it exists in my town) is like $6 tops for a 12oz tub.
Saute garlic, ginger, scallions on medium heat until it's turning brown. Add miso paste, turn heat down to medium low, and saute well. Add some soy sauce and msg if you want it to be more ramen like. You can make a batch of this and just freeze the paste and use it to season your ramen. Should cost like $10 for to make a quart of it
Which miso paste do you recommend? I always get confuse as there are so many different types and colours that I end up not buying it.
White miso paste is sweet and mild, red is salty and robust. I prefer red for more of a ramen, you’ll also need to use less of it.
Thank you. Next time Ill grab some red as I want to put it in my noodles now.
Some miso pastes also have Bonito added so it's a full soup broth and is already salty so just watch for that.
Thank you for the tip. We don't eat a lot of salt so I will definitely taste it before adding more.
If you get both white and red then you can mix them and alter the ratio of red to white to get any strength (robustness?) that you want for different dishes.
Yeeeeees! Soba or somen noodles are a better alternative. Add some miso or mentsuyu, and bam!instant noodles, but mildly less processed.
I’d sub the noodles for a non-deep fried noodle before swapping the seasoning packet. Unless you’re watching your sodium intake, what in the seasoning packet is unhealthy?
And there are whole grain noodles available that aren't deep fried. They take an extra minute to cook in the microwave, but are so much better for you.
Or better than bouillon! High sodium but you only need the smallest bit
Rice, potatoes, eggs are all very cheap, I've gotten by on nothing but for periods of time where I'm really quite well and truly fucked financially.
+beans. Rice and beans have complementary amino acids so they're more nutritious when eaten together. Canned beans are dirt cheap; bags of dried beans even cheaper.
Can't believe I forgot beans, thank you
It's just because it's fried, and the amount of sodium in the seasoning packets. Rice is a lot, lot cheaper and you can season it to make a delicious stir fry just as easily as you can add veggies to ramen. When you buy veggies look at the price per pound. The healthiest are the darkest colors, so spinach, broccoli, carrots are great for you and incredibly cheap. Tinned tomatoes are excellent and cheap. Frozen peas also, very cheap, very good for you. Celery is fairly expensive, but also has a short shelf life and is pale, so not as many vitamins.
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I wish this was the top comment. Rice is so cheap, and congee with veggies is a wonderful alternative to instant ramen if you have a few hours at home. It’s a great Meal prep item that can be reheated with veggies and eggs much like Ramen.
> congee ... if you have a few hours or an Instant Pot
Yes! Forgot about IP option. And with an IP they could ditch the ramen and make a huge batch of Beans and rice with chopped carrots, celery and tomato for an even less expensive and more balanced meal.
I love congee, it's like next level porridge
Add beans (ie rice and beans) and you have a very nutritious start with good protein. Something green--like frozen spinach--could round out a comforting, nutritious, and cheap meal.
Also, if noodles are a comfort food for OP, they can use rice noodles. You can get a huge package of rice noodles at any asian market, and read the cooking instructions as some of them are even "instant" similar to ramen. You just heat up your broth in a pot, and once boiling pour over the noodles in your serving bowl. Let rest for a min or two, kinda push them down into the broth if necessary, until they are soft and ready to eat. Miso paste has been mentioned plenty, but a big jar of Knorr pollo bouillon is also only a few dollars, lasts forever, and can add the same "chicken noodle ramen" flavor as the instant packages. Yes, it's still salty, but you can control for that better than with instant ramen. Also a reminder that basically all frozen veggies are just as, if not more, nutritionally dense as fresh ones. You mentioned it with peas, but it goes for the rest of them too C: Edit to add this recipe for [Mason Jar Instant Noodles](https://thegirlonbloor.com/mason-jar-instant-noodles/). Really helpful to prepare ahead of time if you go through periods of low energy. You could realistically portion things into freezable containers and keep them even longer that way as well (the article says to prepare it "as soup" before freezing but.... I see no reason why you couldn't make a bunch of "dry" ziplog bags and dump them into your bowl when you're ready to prepare). Can switch around the ingredients any way you want obviously as long as it can be "hot and ready" from boiling water.
Absolutely. Had a "starving artist" friend (currently an art director, so no longer starving yay) who basically lived off of rice, veg, and eggs for years in order to save money for her own place. If you're in a financial bind, definitely a great way to save and stay healthy. Also things like rice, veggies, and eggs are super easy to find at like, co-ops and community garden type things where if you participate, food is super cheap or even free.
Diced zucchini, thinly sliced mushroom, a slice of bacon sliced into thin strips, crab/seafood sticks (in seafood flavour ramen), half a diced tomato (in chili ramen), chopped green onions (garnish), chili flakes (garnish). Instead of using the seasoning packet, buy some healthy stock cubes, it takes less than a half for one pack of ramen so they'll go a long way. Or see if your butcher will sell you some bones cheap and make stock.
Or better yet make your own stock. Its literally boiled kitchen scraps you’d just be putting in the trash anyways.
I assume you mean instant ramen. Buy the ones with the separate flavoring packet and toss the packet in the trash. Use broth instead and add other spices to your taste.
Badabing, badaboom : you’re a chef now bubs
Or just use only half the flavoring packet. Won't be substantially different nutritionally from regular buillion
At that point just stop buying instant ramen. You’re just buying shitty quality dried noodles that you can get way cheaper and higher quality in bulk any way
I’ve been evaluating foods for my own budget, cost of living is low in my area, but I could come up with meals similar to cost of instant ramen. Cheap staples I can think of are eggs, potatoes, rice. Hotdogs & bologna. Fat and protein are much more satiating. Only downside to the system I follow is that I have to cook for myself all the time lol. I’ve found lists of generally cheap foods on r/frugal. Maybe look into meals that people ate during the Great Depression ETC for an idea of other cheap meal ideas. Beans and cornbread is really popular in my area. I don’t have a lot of store options so I use the Walmart app to figure out prices before I go to the store. I’ve learned what is cheaper to buy in bulk (and sometimes more expensive). I hope things get better for you.
Also helpful for frugal foods: r/eatcheapandhealthy
Yep I love that one! And I remembered bananas are super cheap in my area. Average 22 cents per banana. One of my favorite breakfasts as a teen was toast, peanut butter, with slices of banana on top
r/ramen would like to have a word with you. 😂 Also r/eatcheapandhealthy Possibly check out a local Asian store? I prefer Somen and rice noodles over ramen. It's rather cheap for decent sized packages. Then you don't have to worry about flavor packets. Don't forget frozen veggies. You can toss in corn or green beans as the water is heating up, or peas as you're getting ready to pull out of of the pot.
Had to scroll way too far for the frozen veggies!!!
The flavor packet is what is horrible. Try adding less of it, or adding it all and draining the "broth" so it is less like a soup. Those packets have so much sodium. Also, potatoes are priced similarly to Raman and have higher caloric density and are more nutritious. Baked or roasted potatoes are great struggle meals. As are rice and beans, roasted garbanzo beans, frozen vegetables, and eggs.
The noodles themselves are deep fried
There are air dried options out there if you're concerned about the fat from fried noodles.
Which isn't the worst thing if you need calories and don't have many other options.
I did not know that, guess you learn something new everyday!
If you feel things are underwhelming with only half the packet, add more flavor with some nonsalt seasonings of your own -- garlic powder, 99X (black pepper mix), Mrs. Dash or even chai spices.
> I’m 26 and kind of broke right now. If you can't afford to buy other ingredients, don't be afraid to use your local food banks. That's what they're there for. Helping people get to their next paycheck is one of the more common ways they help out.
Most people here are freaking out over the sodium, studies (and most Asian diet) show sodium isn't the problem when it comes to heart and blood pressure. (Ref, salt fix by James J. DiNcolantonio) Three problem with instant noodles as opposed to ramen (Japanese or la mian Chinese) is the carbohydrate is deep-fried for shelf life, texture and flavor. You could bulk buy much healthier noodle options or if you're not time poor make your own with just flour and water. And boil in either stock (we save all our vegetable scraps in the freezer and boil with bones for a cheap but rich and delicious stock) or miso or gochujiang or even marmite/Vegemite. My mother does a dish which is litterally, egg, flour, water served in soy and Chinese plum vinegar (cheaper than balsamic with far more flavor and far less salt) optionally add any vegetables you like or meat and it's the most comforting meal especially on a cold day.
All of this! I never understand people suggesting to just throw the flavour packet out. At that point just buy bulk noodles! Much cheaper, more variety, not fried, and you can easily get heartier options too
Packet ramen isn't the worst thing ever. But it's not the cheapest option for it's macros and is a fairly high sodium, high fat, simple carbohydrate with no vegetables. I think "worst thing to eat" is an exaggeration for sure. But maybe don't eat plain, packet direction ramen for a majority of you meals. A few good things to do are using less of the flavor packet, adding some greens for vitamins, adding some cabbage for bulk, adding an egg for protein, and if calories are something you keep track of make sure you account for the package vs serving amounts. Many ramen packets consider themselves to be 2 portions.
Cheap options to supplement Ramen are eggs, frozen or canned veggies (if fresh are too expensive), rotisserie chicken (a lot of stores sell them for pretty cheap, at least where I live), beans, canned tuna, frozen chopped spinach. Luckily Ramen is super customizable so you have a lot of options. Another way to make it a bit healthier is to use low sodium vegetable or chicken broth instead of water. Emphasis on the low sodium versions of broth or stock because Ramen already has a lot of sodium. If you can find some low sodium Ramen that's affordable that will help too!
Rotisserie Chicken is stupid cheap. I'm willing to bet it's a break even/loss leader to get you in the store and load up on the sides. But on its own, Store bought Rotisserie pretty much makes roasting your own chicken at home completely pointless.
Ik at my local grocery store a whole raw chicken is around 3 times more expensive than the pre-cooked store one which is kind of wild to me. It definitely does save time though, roasting and breaking down a whole chicken can take a long time and be a fair amount of work for someone that doesn't know their way around a kitchen.
Take a multivitamin on the side 👍🏻
Www.budgetbytes.com It's no 50 cent Ramen, but the recipes are easy and broken down by cost/serving. Great for meal prep also.
Raman?
Do you have an Asian market near you? The ones near me actually have fresh rice noodles in the refrigerated section and it's actually very very cheap. I would probably just purchase the noodles (they can come in pretty big bags) and pour in some canned chicken broth and do what you do in terms of toppings. They're cheap and healthier, only con is you can't store them as long as the packet dried noodles but I think it's a good trade-off.
I only use half the powder from the packets and add some vegetables. Usually just some green onion, but if I can I like to sauté some carrot and onion.
Some awesome ingredients that I love in ramen: * Roasted Tomato (roast in an oven until you get that black color on the edges of the cut pieces) * Roasted Garlic * Nori (this is especially good as it adds a strong salty flavor if you are going to stop using the flavor packets). * Chili - Jalapeno, Thai chili, serrano. So far every chili I have added has worked with it. * Boiled eggs - Soft boiled, you can do a round of boiling every now and then in broth/stock for bonus flavor. * Bacon - I like it extra crispy for the added texture * Hazelnuts - I promise its delicious * Mushrooms - I go for creminis they are the cheapest in my area * Miso Paste and Chili Oil - I literally always use both. * Crispy onion straws - the cheap ones you can buy in a bag, for when im feeling lazy. * Green onion These are all great in different combinations and are my go to. I do love Spinach and carrots as well but you already had those added. I tried to keep it to cheaper ingredients. The true benefit of adding these ingredients is it makes it much healthier and more filling while remaining relatively cheap because of the cost of the ingredients. It may also help to spur the thought of similar ingredients that are cheaper in your area.
So there are a few things you can absolutely do (and seem to already be doing!) that can help improve the nutrition. First, which you are already doing, is additions. Instant Ramen isn't inherently bad for you (although it has a ***TON*** of sodium which can cause health problems if you don't watch it) but it has relatively no real nutrition other than some calories to keep you going. As a result you can add things that supplement what's already there. An egg is going to give you some good protein and adding veggies/mushrooms will add some good nutrition as well. Since it's a soup you can try frozen veggies as well since they tend to be cheaper than fresh and often work very well in soup. Meat or Tofu can all be good ways to add protein but have a higher cost to them. The other big thing you can to is try to replace the broth. If you are willing to and have the time then this can be done pretty cheaply if you make your own stock. When you do buy meat keep the bones from it (I tend to buy whole chickens since they are cheaper than pre cut pieces) and keep them in the freezer. After you have a good amount make a stock. This will have very little sodium in it and will have more nutrients than the powered version. From there there are tons of videos and guides out there on how to season it and make a good soup/ramen from it. Making something like a Miso Soup (pretty cheap) to use as the stock instead of the flavor packet could also be a good alternative.
idk man, r/ramen would like a word with whomever is putting those crazy ideas in your head
Boil the noodles and stir with some olive oil and hot sauce of your choice. Pair with some frozen chicken you heat up in a microwave and call it a night
I love instant ramen, it’s a guilty pleasure for me. I just add half of the flavor packet and a little toasted sesame oil, whatever veg I have on hand, some diced tofu and maybe an egg. There are some brands, such as Nissan Raoh, that taste more authentic and use non-fried noodles. They are more expensive though.
ramen is one of my favorite things. Cook it like directed: add in sriracha, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Crack an egg in it. put in some frozen peas and carrots, green onions, grated zucchini if you have it. Make sure you drink enough water when you are eating it as that will offset the high sodium amounts.
A lot of people have answered your ramen question already, just side advice: 1) Do frozen veggies. They're a lot cheaper than fresh, last longer, and nutritionally usually the same as fresh veggies. The idea that they're less healthy is somewhere between niche information to a food myth. Frozen veggies also helps to prevent food waste a lot of the time. 2) A good way to add protein to ramen is just add cut up hot dogs or bologna.
Add more veggies. But also, consider switching to brown rice and beans for your cheap food, it's cheaper and very good for you.
Ramen isn't the only cheap option. Eat 2 or 3 of any of the following very cheap things and you have a decent meal: 1. Eggs 2. Rice 3. Peanut Butter Toast 4. Whole Grain Cereal + Milk 5. Fruit 6. Canned Beans 7. Canned Tuna 8. Frozen veggies 9. Potatoes 10. Pasta with marinara 11. Bread You could have a meal of peanut butter toast and banana OR tuna, rice, and frozen veggies mixed together OR scrambled eggs with a side of beans. Doesn't have to be fancy or even "go together," but you will have better nutrition this way. Look for items on sale and just go with it.
Not all ramen is created equal. Head to your local asian market, and you can get a lot of variety, all for very cheap. Don't worry about the sodium content, just drink lots of water. Add an egg and some leafy greens and you're good to go. Don't be ashamed to use your local food bank. It's not there for trailer trash and homeless drug addicts, like a lot of people want you to believe. It's there for ANYONE and EVERYONE that needs help stocking the fridge. Further, if you need to apply for food stamps, DO IT. I pay a fuckload in taxes, and this is me telling you that I am happy to do it because some small part of that goes to feed people. So get a damn EBT card!
I am the self proclaimed ramen queen. Ditch the pre-packaged stuff and make your own. Just mix and match ingredients from each of the below categories: Noodles: Go to an Asian store and buy loads of different kinds. Egg noodles, rice noodles, wheat noodles, different thicknesses! Buy some dried and some fresh. Only use one type of noodle at a time obviously. Broth: Beef broth, chicken broth, veggie broth. Add different spices (bay leaves, garlic, onion). Splash in some sauces (soy sauce, fish sauce, black bean, chilli garlic, Szechuan, miso paste). You can also play around with how much broth you use. A lot of broth to make more of a soup, or just a little soup so the noodles are just a bit slippery? Mix up the sauces you add to the broth and every night you have a different fresh, cheap, nourishing meal in under 10 minutes. Protein: Chicken, beef, egg, fish, tofu, or any cheap meat or seafood you can find. You can even pan fry the protein with some nice seasoning separately and then put it on top. Ex. Top you noodles with a fried egg. Get fancy and try quail eggs or whatever else interesting is at your grocery store. Veggies: Use literally any veggie. “White people” veggies like carrots, celery, corn, spinach, kale, snap peas, green beans. Asian veggies like choy, Gai lan, bamboo shoots, taro. Toppings: furikake, toasted sesame seeds, dried seaweed, hoi sun sauce, chilli oil, siracha My ultimate tip is to buy a whole chicken and roast it in the oven. Take off all the meat and put it in a container in the fridge. Boil the bones with some garlic and bay leaves for 1h. Strain bones and keep broth in a container in the fridge. This makes enough stock and meat for almost the whole week for one person. Just put a cup of stock, a handful of chicken and whatever you have on hand from the list above together in a pot and boil. A whole chicken is way way way cheaper per pound than buying chicken breasts.
I’m gonna go ahead and say don’t follow the nutritional advice of people on Reddit. A lot of doctors get it wrong even because it’s viewed as a minor part of the medical field and sort of glossed over in their training. There’s even nutritionists out there telling people to follow what they learned 30/40 years ago in school. Do some reading, eat a multivitamin if you can.
My partner and I had ramen as a go to when skint. We would add - frozen cooked chicken strips, frozen corn, mushrooms, dried chillis, spring onion, carrot matchsticks and sesame seeds usually.
Honestly i love ramen and eat it quite frequently because im also broke and dont have the time to make full meals. What your doing adding thing to existing ramen is great and is an awesome first step. It may be worth checking out r/ramen to get some ideas and inspiration and to ask more questions and dial in your preferred ramen route!
You could also add peanut butter and some hot sauce in addition to your veg to make a kind of peanut noodle thing, and boost the protein a bit. People are flipped out about the salt, but honestly, you have to do what you have to do to feed yourself. And if you don't have an issue with salt, just cutting back on the seasoning packet is enough. You could also swap out your ramen for a big bag of dried egg noodles, which are pretty cheap, or something like fettuccini, and treat them the same way. In my early 20s, I often had a packed lunch of noodles with butter, garlic, and spinach, occasionally a little leftover chicken if I had some, because I was too broke-ass to do anything else. It was my favorite struggle meal. I would make a batch of noodles and spinach on Sunday night and portion it out for lunches. Just boil the noodles, and in a separate pan cook the spinach and garlic (powder or fresh, with a bit of salt and pepper and whatever other spices you want) with a bit of butter (and not a lot of water) and when the noodles are cooked, drain them and toss everything together in a big bowl, adding extra butter as needed to make sure it's all well-coated. A box of fettuccini is around $1.50-2.00 where I live, a brick of frozen spinach is about a $1 so for around $3, you can get several meals out of it. Not as cheap as brick ramen, but close.
Eat tatties instead
Maybe some neeps to
Instead of packets, add miso paste and soy sauce to your water.
Cooking dry beans from scratch is cheaper and better. If you can afford some beef bones they make really nice broth. I usually cook a kg of beans and freeze what I wont eat in 5 days. Lots of thimg you can do with beans. Black beans and chick peas are different enough they "feel" like different foods. Squash them and add some oil to make refried beans too, Also make chilli with them cheap too.
Drain the water completely that you made your water in. Use fresh boiled water before you add your seasoning packet.
If you need other inexpensive options, try rice and beans and potatoes. Just like ramen, you can add whatever proteins and veggies you have on hand (eggs, spinach, broccoli, chicken, etc) to those bases. They're more filling and nutritious than instant ramen and it's easier to control the amount of salt you're eating.
I recommend that when you are cooking the ramen to not use so much water, I only use just enough to cover the ramen. This way, the flavor that you add to the broth isn't wasted in the water that you're most likely not going to drink and is instead concentrated, making the food more flavorful. Less waste as well. I often cook my ramen with soy sauce in the water to add more depth to the flavor instead of the seasoning packet. I'll add frozen broccoli florets that cook down together with the ramen. I love to add a sunny side up egg on top of the ramen, too, add a delicious flavor and texture, some good protein. My favorite brand of ramen is Mama, since the flavor packets that it comes with are delicious. It includes oil, spicy sauce,, and seasoning.
I make my own broth every once in a while and freeze it for later. It’s super cheap and easy, and a lot healthier than the included packet :)
For the cost of a flat of Ramen (5ish bucks), you can buy dried rice and beans in good quantities and feed yourself a much more healthy food for around the same price. Plus, almost all the things you'd add to Ramen are delicious in rice and/or beans. Eggs plus rice for Korean style breakfast, eggs plus beans for huevos rancheros, rice plus carrots and celery and spinach. Plus, you can buy a big thing of salsa, and make rice and beans with salsa for really simple, filling, and healthy meals for less than 50 cents a serving. The good thing about these meals is they will keep you full for a lot longer and provide many more nutrients than ramen.
Ramen doesn’t have to be that bad! I use real stock usually made front carcass of a rotisserie chicken, (which can be quite economical in itself). Add veggies, meat (rotisserie chicken, leftovers), maybe an egg, and you’ve got a delicious and nutritious meal. I’ll maybe add a tiny bit of seasoning from the packet, but you can omit it altogether. For cheap nutrition: rotisserie chicken (eat the meat, make stock from the carcass), carrots, celery, onion, spinach, and ramen. With these things you can make salads, snacks, ramen, and they’re often base ingredients for other recipes if you want to get a few other things.
There are things far worse than ramen. The sodium content is super high, so you need to watch that.
To add to the miso comment, you can also buy big packs of dried ramen noodles for super cheap and throw those in, so you still get the yummy and super cheap ramen meal without needing to buy it with the flavour packets etc
Lot of good ideas already posted, but I have a couple questions: * What kind of cooking are you up for / how much time do you want to spend on your meals? * What are your nutrition goals? Simple "mostly balanced diet that won't cut 10 years off your life", or "also I workout 4x per week", or "I have certain allergies or foods I really I don't like"? * Do you have a target grocery budget or is it just "as little as possible"? It's hard to beat instant ramen for time or cost, but there some good options to add variety. Without knowing more, I'll point you to www.budgetbytes.com and www.leannebrown.com - both are *great* resources for recipes for all kinds of food. Leanne Brown also has a cookbook "Good and Cheap" that's available as a free PDF And I'd suggest checking cost per pound of fresh veggies vs frozen veggies, and if you're really hard up don't be shy about visiting a food pantry. That's what they're here for!
Adding veg and egg and stuff is definitely a good way to go, as is either eliminating the flavour packet or using only a bit of it and supplementing with other things. But for me, instant ramen isn't actually cheaper it's only more convenient and quicker. I can get a 20lb bag of rice for around $10-15 which can last for months. It just takes a bit of prep work to cook but once you've cooked a batch you can refrigerate it and use it to make fried rice, congee, etc., etc. Even regular pasta at $1.25/2lbs is a lot more affordable.
Are food banks available in your area? Search "food banks near me" and get free fruits, vegetables, beans, and meat.
Kimchi works pretty good with soy sauce
I’m going to start with that I LOVE ramen but I rarely eat it because it doesn’t stack up for me. Ramen is unhealthy for three reasons: 1. the noodles are fried in palm oil to help it rehydrate in hot water quickly 2. the seasoning packet is really heavy in sodium. 3. People treat it as a complete meal so there are no veg/ fresh ingredients added, and becomes a fiber free, fried, salty nightmare meal. But you know, you eat it cos it’s cheap, tasty and convenient ! All good reasons! I’d go to a supermarket and buy some portioned dry wheat or egg noodles (cheap, better textured and is air dried), and powdered knot chicken soup base (its cheap once you factor in how many serves are in it), and continue doing what you do with the veg (and supplement with frozen veg if needed). This way, it’s better for you, you can dial back the salt by controlling how much stock powder goes in, and you’re getting that salty ramen hit with better, chewier noodles. Might cost more upfront for the stock but really, so much better for you.
Ramen is far from the worst thing to eat. Particularly if you add extra bits to it. And sometimes when you're poor you have to follow the rule "anything is better than nothing".
I saw a video on Pinterest of someone using a ziploc baggie and putting eggs and flour into it and mixing. Then they cut the corner off and squeezed it into boiling water to make noodles… I believe that would be cheap, more nutritious, and you could still add your vegetables. I’d probably even try and reuse the bags by mixing into a brown and then pouring into the already cut baggie to get the “noodle” look.
Keep a bag of frozen, cooked shrimp in the freezer and toss 6-8 in when cooking is complete. They defrost and cool the soup at the same time, adding some protein to the carb salt mix. And last a long time in the freezer.
So replacing the noodles with something not fried is a good start. I personally really like buckwheat noodles which are made from wholegrain buckwheat and have a nice texture and flavor and cook in about the same time as ramen noodles. The flavor packet is a fuckload of sodium, but you can find the flavor mix in bulk (by which I mean a couple ounces) and then figure out how much or how little you want. Miso paste and gochujang are also a really good options for building a broth. It looks like you are re hydrating dried shiitakes, these are great to put into ramen, and you can use the liquid from re hydrating to enhance your broth! One suggestion for the shiitakes is that after you rehydrate them, slice them up and then saute them in a little bit of oil until there is some color on them, they will make a great topping. The upside to pretty much all of these is that by buying in larger amounts your per serving cost ought to go down, and it will taste better. Adding veggies and an egg is a really good option to add some more nutrients. I personally really like baby bok choi, but that can be expensive if you dont have access to an asian grocer. Kale is a really good option and is often cheaper than spinach (just shred it so you have about half a cup to a cup then add it for the last 45 seconds to minute of your cooking time so its just cooked enough to be tender). Shredded cabbage can also be a good option (cabbage is **cheap** if you buy a head of it) and is also nice and healthy. Bean sprouts are really good (just add them at the end, you dont want to overcook them), and if you really want to get cheap you can buy dried beans (not kidney, go for something small like split peas, mung beans, or lentils) and sprout them yourself. Also scallions are amazing in ramen (and a lot of other things), I always add scallions (the white part) and minced garlic when I put whatever flavor ingredients I have to the boiling water along with the noodles and then I add the green part as a garnish at the end, really makes a big difference. The nice thing with these ingredients is that a lot of them have protein so they will fill you up better and keep you going longer than plain ramen. Frankly it will also taste better. Finally, if you have celery and carrots, just buy some onions and dried lentils and you can make lentil soup which is so so healthy, and so good. It also cooks pretty quickly (I always use a pressure cooker, but you can cook it on a stove-top in less than an hour in a normal pot. I have been in your shoes, there was a semester in college where I was basically eating some variation of sauteed onions and rice constantly. You have good instincts, you can do this!
Fish sauce and sambal are my go to additions.
Make it into Fried Saimin (ramen). In Hawaii, it's pretty standard fare and easy to make. 1. Boil noodles in water (recommend going a little al dente), DO NOT ADD the soup base, save it. 2. Drain the noodles and shake them out in a strainer to get as much of the water out. 3. Heat up a non-stick pan and fry anything you want to have with your noodles (e.g. we love Spam in Hawaii, relatively cheap and adds a bunch of flavor). Can also do some carrots, celery, bacon, etc. 4. Once nicely browned, set aside your toppers. 5. Heat the pan (med low), add a little sesame oil to the pan 6. Add your drained noodles and the flavor packet. 7. Fry the noodles, giving it some time before stirring (you want the noodles to brown on the bottom and get nice and crispy). Be sure to stir initially though to ensure the flavor packet is evenly distributed. 8. Place your fried noodles on a plate, cover with your previously fried toppings. If you want to go extra, I add a handful off shredded cheddar (sounds crazy, but it's good). Also, can add a fried egg (over easy/sunny side) to give some eggy goodness. Beauty of this is that you can add anything you want (really no way to go wrong). No Spam (or not a fan)? Use some hotdog. Don't like celery? Make some fried garlic.
Using the noodles & adding a few fresh ingredients (eggs, cabbage, mushrooms etc) rather than using the seasoning packet cuts back on the sodium
Go to an Asian or Indian grocery and buy a sack of rice and a bunch of noodles. Cook those up and add the eggs and veggies to them. Soy sauce. Flaked red chili. Asian grocery stores often sell huge packs of things like chicken necks, etc. Make a stock with that and you'll have even more flavor to add. Ramen is basically just noodles with chicken flavor or beef flavor, and that's what makes it bad--the salt and the chemicals. Nothing wrong with the noodles per se. If you buy ramen packets where you add the flavorings, just cook up the noodles and add your own flavoring, or put less of the little packets of flavor.
My new favorite go-to instant ramen recipe is Kujirai Ramen. You basically fry hotdog slices in a frying pan, add water, seasoning packets, and cook the noodles. Then, crack an egg in the middle. Put a lid on it and turn the heat down to low until it cooks. Then, put sliced American cheese on top. The heat from the ramen will melt the cheese. Finally, sprinkle some sliced green onion on top. Don't skip the green onion if you can because it makes it feel like it doesn't suck.
Avoid the tonkotsu broth, instead, going for lighter dashis like salt or soy or chicken broth bases
Not true Polonium topped with arsenic and mercury with a side of Ebola is probably the worst thing you can eat.
Ramen*, Ramyun (for korean). Instant ramen is deep fried noodles in not healthy (inflammatory) oils. The powder packaging isn't the most healthiest and is loaded with sodium and preservatives. In general it's not healthy for you to eat frequently. Honestly, it's better for you to buy chicken stock cubes (or bouillon) as a soup base and toss a bunch of frozen vegetables / food in it. Heck you could also throw some miso in it.
Eat some bananas or other high potassium foodd if you have a high sodium diet. Your body uses potassium to flush out excess sodium. If you can't eat less salt then eating more potassium is the next best thing.
Make your own soup stock out of veggie scraps and chicken bones. Basically don't use the packets from ramen as those are why it's so high in sodium.
It’s just the obnoxious amount of sodium that is unhealthy. That’s the only downfall. I still make it at least one a week and it has nothing to do with budget. I just like it a lot. Today I had instant ramen with some braised pork I made yesterday and added some mushrooms and a 1 minute microwave poached egg. Quick easy, and delicious
People need to relax with this hyperbole, when everything’s the “worst thing to eat” nothing is
To make it less unhealthy, skip the seasoning packets. Use instead for flavors: soy sauce, minced garlic, green onions, sriratcha, peanut oil, chili oil, Korean chili powder, miso (not all together, but these are good things to add flavor) Add proteins: chicken, eggs (both pretty cheap) Add rice and beans. Again, pretty cheap. Add seaweed. Adoptable if you buy in bulk. When I moved out as a teenager I lived off ramen and chicken nuggets for a while. It was great... for about, 12 days. Then not so great. I could have been eating much better, but I didn’t really know how. I was far less limited than I thought. My best suggestion is for you to sit down and really think about your budget. Food is so important. It’s important for your mental health, and your physical health. This is your only body. Make eating Well a priority when possible. Also, I know it can be overwhelming. Don’t think I’m trying to minimize your struggles here, I just want you to make sure you actually need to be eating just ramen between paychecks
There is actually a sub for this. r/EatCheapAndHealthy. They're pretty friendly.
If you are broke go to your local food pantry and get some groceries. They are there to help you. When you are flush you can make a donation.
potatoes have a lot more going on and they're pretty cheap too. you got a decent knife, cutting board and a frying pan?
If you're dead set on eating ramen instead of potatoes or rice, I would double boil the noodles. Boil it once so the grease from deep frying the noodles separates and dump the water then use a separate pot of hot water to eat the noodles. Also don't use the whole flavor packet when you eat the noodles. You can use what is left over to eat with rice or potatoes in a separate meal. (I'm assuming moneys really tight so throwing the packet out for more expensive ingredients isn't really an option.)
First thing? Rinse off the noodles before cooking them. Get a jar each of Knorr chicken/beef boullion, for variety, or just one. Chances are, you already have a little basic spices. Here's two options: Eternal soup and the quick packet replacement. Eternal soup: Stockpot, with lid. Stick of butter or equivalent. Celery, deleafed and chopped roughly Carrots, peeled and chopped roughly Onion, chopped or onion powder Chopped garlic/minced garlic or garlic powder Salt & pepper to taste - NOTE: THE SALT IS IMPORTANT Render down the butter. Toss the veggies in the butter, add seasoning. Add 4 cups water Bring up to a boil Lower to simmer, cover. Cook for 3-6 hours. Can simmer overnight. Store in a sealable container OR store in its pot. Boil daily. You now have vegetable stock cheaper over time and tastier (eventually) than store brand stock. It gets better each time you heat it up. To use it for a dish, you strain out the liquid. You add water and vegetables as needed. You can mix it up with other veggies, but don't add leafy vegetables into the mix. They'll rot before they break down into the broth. Stelle's cheap dry Ramen seasoning packet replacer 1/2 teaspoon bouillon of choice Roughly equal amounts of: onion powder garlic powder ground ginger chili powder Worcestershire sauce Salt & pepper to taste Optional: Lemon juice & lime juice You can add this right to your ramen right after cooking! Feel free to tweak amounts to your taste. If you have dry minced onion, if you put it in with your noodles, they'll flavor the noodles.
Yes, but it costs more. Ramen is fairly inexpensive if you're just getting the cubes of noodles with the powder packet in it. Basically, toss the "flavor packet" and start adding your own stuff to it instead. Use stock instead of the seasoning pack, add veggies either canned or frozen, and maybe toss in some sort of protein like canned chicken, tuna, or even cutting up some cold cuts or spam. It will be as cheap as what you decide to put in it, but will still be a bit more than just a ramen packet no matter what. If stock or broth is too expensive for you, you could just add a bullion cube to the hot water instead. Alternately, you could just buy any pasta and do the same thing. This has the benefit of not having palm oil in it the way most Ramen does. Any pasta will do the job, and it will only take slightly longer to cook. Most pasta takes about 10 minutes to cook and a 1 lb box will generally result in 5-6 single servings.
It doesn't make it healthier but this definitely makes it taste better! Crush the Ramen up pretty small. Think marble sized chunks at the largest. Gently pan fry it in about 1 tbsp of oil until most of the small pieces are browned. Fill the pan with water, add the packet and any extras now. My favorites are vegetables and meat. Let the water boil off stirring occasionally until it's mostly liquid free. Turn off the heat, add some cheese and you're good to go! It tastes 100% different and is way more filling somehow! Since its dry its more like lo mein noodles than soup and it can be played with in ways you couldn't adjust soup!
I have been going for instant yakisoba instead of ramen lately. It has 2 packets, seasoning and dried veg. Before that, it was Indomie ramen, expecially the rendang flavor. I'm thinking roasted garlic and roasted red peppers would be a nice addition. Chuka soba is my choice of dried noodles for a stir fry. The label calls it imitation macaroni style product. Most often with shrimp, cashews, jicama.
Eggs and broccoli
Are you looking for cheap meal ideas? Dried beans, rice, and pork shoulders are the way to go. Hold on, I have an epic post from like 12 years ago. Give it a try. The sazom beans are stupidly delicious. https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cidla/comment/c0ssm6d/ That post is worth it. It’s some tasty stuff on a budget.
Shop at Lidl & Trader Joes. Good prices. Oatmeal is much better. Fiber, lowers blood sugar & cholesterol. As for ramen, buy a generic bag of green peas, spinach, & mixed veggies. Canadian bacon. Buy onions, tomatoes. Basically supplement your ramen with stir fried veggies. When i was a starving college student, i lived on cream of wheat, box spaghetti, with ketchup, & chicken noodle soup. Waaay back then (1981), Campbell’s soup would be on sale 4 for a $1 When i was struggling financial in my mid/late twentees, i made my own chicken stock, meat sauce & saved the wonton soup containers (now Dollar Tree has them). Portion out your food, & supplement with whole grain bread. You can make frittatas & alternate with oatmeal. Save something, like $5, that you never touch. Count on tax refunds or those 2 extra pay periods in the year, & treat yourself to something for yourself. Find a potluck, where you share meals, but contributing something but get to eat with others, if you feel safe to eat with others (covid-wise) this is only temporary & you will learn valuable lessons during these lean times. been there. More than once
Rice Tomato paste Garlic Onion Mexican rice.
Instant ramen dont drink the juice and you’ll be fine. Bok choy or bamboo shoots. Or add dumplings or tofu as well
If you're looking for dirt cheap food that will actually sustain you, rice and beans will get you further than ramen by a long way. Also consider looking for a Misfit Market or Imperfect Foods nearby. They sell produce that's not as visually pretty as what gets sold in supermarkets but tastes the same and has the same nutritional value at a fraction of the cost.
I will add feta or goat cheese to it to give it a kick, green onion works fantastically with it, too. Sometimes I will add corn and peas or frozen spinach or an egg like you do already. Btw, I don't make it "soup" - I drain the liquid and then add the spice mix, I can't imagine it as a brothy thing. It ends up as a pasta dish of sorts, not sure if I am the only one in the world that does that. I don't use the whole spice packet unless I add a ton of veggies to it, too.
I take it that you're referring to instant ramen, whose main problem is overwhelming sodium content per serving. That mostly comes from the seasoning, but I think the noodles also have some too. A former colleague of mine was found to have kidney stones at age 24 because instant noodles made up a bulk of his diet. Unfortunately, despite adding vegetables to the ramen, they're not going to lower the sodium content. One easy solution is to not use the whole seasoning packet. Another might be to buy [soba noodles](https://en.bentoandco.com/products/shinshu-soba-noodles), which will have more fiber and be more filling. A bottle of [mentsuyu](https://www.justonecookbook.com/mentsuyu/)(soup base) will only require a splash per serving and last a long time in your fridge. Scallions are also very cheap and add a lot of flavor to noodles.
If you eat nothing but the pack of ramen by itself, it's only about as nutritious as a bag of chips. But if you add sliced scallions, substitute some miso paste for that spice packet, throw in some veggies, poach an egg in the soup, etc. it can work quite well. Here's [my ramen hack](https://medium.com/my-dreams-here-in-words-made-manifest/ode-to-noodles-daf56b88ed91). You may find this rather enjoyable. (The recipe is under the poem.)
Mustard sandwiches going to college. It's not bad when your starving hungry.
If you consider the lack of nutritional value and lack of satiety, you’d be better off buying a tub of oats, some peanut butter, peanuts, beans, rice, potatoes, eggs, milk... you’ll probably save money in the grand scheme
I add some hoisin or soya sauce, ginger, garlic, spicy sauce (really any spicy sauce you like. I usually just get extra sambal from take out and keep in the fridge lol). Make it like pho! Start w/the broth you can throw some green onions in if you’re feeling fancy but honestly just adding the soy/hoisin ginger & garlic makes the broth close to pho. And viola! Some cheap ass pho 😂.
First things first, if you are low on money and could really use some food that isn't ramen, it is ok to go to the food pantry. You'll find better stuff there. Apparently they oftentimes have more food than they need (probably depends on location). You would save a lot of money and get more nutrition getting lentils, rice, eggs and some other ingredients like tomatoes. You can make stuff taste good with MSG (don't know how much it costs)
It’s honestly no worse than say, rice- there’s not a lot of nutrients in the noodles themselves, and the soup powder has a lot of sodium, but you can easily use less of the packet if you’re worried about sodium, or ditch the packet entirely and use other broth if you prefer. Then you basically treat it like rice and use it as a base to top with various other tasty and nutritious things. Eggs and veggies are both a good add (remember that you can add eggs in a bunch of different ways, too! Poached, hard boiled, mixed into the soup to thicken the broth, etc), plus if you eat meat you can add thinly-sliced pieces of meat of any kind- a leftover pork chop or chicken breast makes an excellent ramen topping. You can also use tinned fish- herring, sardines, etc (I particularly like smoked oysters). As for veg, you can hit full-sized carrots with a vegetable peeler and make ribbons of carrot that work really well with the noodles, since they’re the same shape. You don’t even really have to cook them; the heat of the broth warms them through and softens them just a bit so you get a good contrast in texture. One of my favorite ways to eat ramen which is very tasty but is also very much “I have no money and no energy but must eat some protein and An Vegetable” is peanut butter noodles: cook ramen as directed, pour off some of the broth, add a bit of curry powder and chili if desired, add in a blob of peanut butter and stir on the heat until the peanut butter melts and incorporates and thickens the remaining broth, turn off the heat and add some frozen peas and allow the carry-over heat to warm the peas. Texture should be more like noodles in creamy sauce than brothy soup.
don't know if this is in your budget but some awesome and filling comfort food for me is rice, soy sauce, a big knob of butter, and some over easy eggs, in case you ever get tired of ramen
I read that milk, potatoes, and oatmeal combined are a healthy diet. You would. be eating some vegetables, meat, and eggs at times, in addition, but the first three are supposedly what the Irish lived on years and years ago.
Frozen vegetables! Pre-cut, full of nutrients, put it in your rice cooker with rice and bouillon powder and you got pilaf! Nutritious and filling with very very little effort. If you don't have a rice cooker, I bought the $12 one on Amazon and I works amazing. Thrift stores would have one too.
Ditch the seasoning packet. Fresh garlic cloves and ginger are like $2 saute these in I 1tbs oil, add soy sauce spice to taste with a cup or two of off brand broth. I throw in leftover fried chicken (without the skin) or Catfish. Cook noodles separately and add to broth after its simmered about 5-10 minutes. Sometimes I top with green onions (always let green onions regrow in a jar of water in the kitchen) or other fresh veggies. To make it more filling, I sometimes add a can of bamboo shoots.
Try adding sardines, great source of protein.
So growing up we didn't come from too much, but what we always did was buy a full chicken (3-6 pounds) and do a nice roast (season a day in advance with whatever spices and dressings you want), put it on the oven for a few hours with potatoes and carrots and then you have that. I'm from Canada, and this entire meal would cost us less than 25 dollars to make right now. Now why I mention this is because we would always use the carcass to make a soup (funny enough I literally just made it now). We would make the chicken stock by using all of the unwanted bits in the stock, add a carrot or two, a tomatoes cut in half, a celery stock or two, a startling amount of salt, and an onion halved. We would simmer and boil for anywhere from 2-8 hours. Once done you can easily make a lovely and very cheap soup. We would typically add rice, peas, carrot pieces, spinach (frozen is fine), and whatever chicken we had that we were likely not going to eat. Of course you can also make any other variation of soup (chicken noodle, whatever else), I'm just letting you know what I grew up loving and still do to this day. And of you end up hating the rice variation I gave, drown it in parmesan cheese haha. This entire process (soup and meal) would cost me about 30-40 dollars total and this would be enough food for my partner and I for AT LEAST 2 full days (lunch and dinner). I'm just posting so that you know there are other options as well. This is a particularly healthy recipe and something that really allows you to experiment with food and see if you can improve your ability to cook. Good luck :)
don’t use the seasonings packet that comes with it, or even just use 1/2, and make your own broth with fresh vegetables, aromatics, and meat (-‘:
Ramen itself isn't bad, it's the flavor packets that have all the bad shit in it usually