Using Your Noodle
I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t actually love ramen.
It has been literally years since I actually needed to live off the stuff, which is a rite of passage most any college student can sympathize with. Still, there is a simplistic beauty to that little package of flavor (and sodium) that I have never been able to escape. Even still there are times when I can find myself bored with the same old thing and I need to shake things up a bit.
I think what helped me to make the most of this uber cheap foodstuff is that I never saw it necessarily as a meal unto itself, but instead viewed it as a canvas on which I could work some amazing act of frugal culinary magic. Truth be told, I’ve come up with so many frugal meal ideas with ramen that even my often fickle partner doesn’t complain when sitting down for a meal anymore.
The two most obvious ideas I’ve had are also the most simple:
Frugal Leftovers
Whenever I cook up a four-minute bowl of ramen heaven, I use the time to raid the refrigerator an find that wayward piece of chicken left over from a recent (at least I hope it is recent) meal, or better yet, the chunks of steak I so carefully brought home the night before after a rare trek for a meal on the town. I keep several flavors of ramen noodles on hand, and match the flavor packet to my meaty leftovers whenever possible. This makes my meal heartier and uses up my leftovers at the same time. SCORE!
Frugal Veggies
At times I forego the flavor packet altogether, instead opting to saute a couple of cups of my favorite (in season, mostly) chopped veggies in some olive oil with a bit of chopped garlic. The flavor that sweats from the veggies (especially when I include onion, garlic and peppers in the mix) is so rich that the salt-intense flavor packet is rendered entirely unnecessary , and can be saved for flavoring an otherwise bland soup mix later.
What’s your favorite frugal way to use ramen?
May 19th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I use ramen as the starch in a stir fry meal using all the leftover veggies and meats in the fridge.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Thanks for stopping by - I love your site!
Glad to see someone else extolling the virtues of ramen!
May 20th, 2008 at 1:08 am
Hey there, Michael. I love Ramen as well! I try to cut back on the sodium by using about half of the flavor packet, which is still plenty for me since I just sprinkle it on the noodles with no broth. I think if everyone could stop thinking of ramen as something you only eat during college and NEVER embrace $5 cups of coffee, it might single-handedly end the current home foreclosure crisis.
July 17th, 2008 at 6:00 am
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