How to Make Ramen Not Suck
I get it. You’ve got your studios and your multiple-classes-in-a-row and you’re picking up shifts at Starbucks in order to pay for rent, you really don’t have time to be cooking everyday, and you tried meal planning and went to the grocery store and left with several boxes of ramen. I’ve been there, we’ve all been there. The stereotype of college students surviving only on ramen isn’t too far-fetched. And it’s almost self-fulfilling. You see the stereotype portrayed enough, it becomes sort of this “default” that if healthy eating and being a functional adult doesn’t work, ramen will always come in handy, and it’s something you see so often that you just kind of accept it as normal. It’s kind of cultivation theory in a nutshell. But heres the thing: you can make ramen, AND be somewhat healthy and eat your vegetables. All ramen is is noodles and a flavor packet. The flavor packets tend to have a lot of sodium, but you can buy reduced sodium ramen-if you’re opting healthy, this is what I would go for.
That means you have all of the room in the world to throw in whatever else you want to make ramen absolutely delicious. Chop up some green onions, toss the in the broth, set some aside as a garnish. Save the bulb and put it in a cup of water and voila, infinite green onions! Buy some sausages or frozen chicken or whatever meat you want, and toss it in the water while it’s boiling! The flavor will mix into the broth. Wanna go all veggie? Go all veggie! Boil ur veggies with the noodles! Want some more flavor in your broth? Buy some soy sauce, sazon, liquid aminos, your favorite herbs and seasonings, and mix them in with the flavor packets! Or scrap the packet completely and make your broth from scratch. You can get so creative with ramen.
My personal favorite recipe actually involves draining most of the water, and leaving just enough to keep the noodles moist. Scoop about a tablespoon of cream cheese and plop it onto the noodles while they’re still very warm, and start mixing it up so it melts. The cream cheese will add a creamy texture to the ramen, and you can add whatever flavorings you want! Gives it kind of a nice italian texture. Want cheese? Drain a little water and toss a slice on top, let it melt.
MAKE RAMEN YOURS! It doesn’t have to be just Cup Ramen, or extremely salty wet noodles. Ramen has the benefit of being incredible cheap, so theres a reason it’s targeted so heavily towards us college students. Take advantage of that, and make some bomb ass noodles.
