Ramen Noodle Soup

Maruchan Ramen Noodle Soup This is the stuff true college students are made of.

Ramen noodle soup has been around for years, and is known throughout college campuses because of their availability, amazingly cheep price, ease of making, and the variety of flavors. I have seen Ramen noodle soup in most grocery stores, and even discount food outlets, and usually they are priced somewhere around 9/$1.00. I have also seen them in many different flavors, adding to their usability in recipes. And to make ramen noodle soup, all you need is water, a heat source, and a container to hold the water and noodles. Heck, I have made them in a Styrofoam cup at school, using only the microwave in the cafeteria.

Ramen noodle soup can also be added to recipes, or have things added to them to spice up the monotony of eating the same thing over and over. A real simple way to do so, is while cooking it, add an egg last minute, and stir really hard with a fork, this will make an egg drop soup version of an already great soup. This tastes good with most verities, but then again, I haven't tried them all, so think about it before you try it. Another great dinner I found in my "Clueless in the Kitchen" cookbook (highly recommended for teens, pre-teens, and those who are hopelessly clueless when it comes to cooking), its called Curly Noodle Dinner.

You will need:

1 lb. Of ground beef (turkey can also be used for those non-beef eaters)

one package of Ramen Noodle soup, any flavor

one 12-oz can of corn nibbles, drained

one 19-oz. Can of stewed tomatoes-any kind

In a large skillet brown the beef (or whatever), drain off the fat (if there is any). Not into the Sink . Add the flavor packet to the meat (or whatever), the corn, and the tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Crumble in the noodles, and cook covered for 10 minutes. That’s it. Feed 3 to 4 (or 2 Really hungry students).

Playing with your food is fun, so why stop there? Sure I have given you two ideas, but the fun can go on. Just think how carrots would taste, don't like carrots, well try adding your favorite vegetable (trust me, if your in college, and living in a dorm, you probably need them).

Another good thing about Ramen Noodle Soup, is that it can be adapted to fit any dietary needs, are you a vegan? Cool just don’t buy the meat flavored ones. Do you have high sodium levels? That's cool too, just use less of the flavor packet, I think they even make low salt ones too.

Ready in minutes. ahh man. My soup's up!

Recipe from "Clueless in the Kitchen: A cookbook for Teens". By Evelyn Raab.

In my first year of University I was desperately poor. Due to some quirks in the UK Student Loans system, I was still classed as the well-off middle class boy I was two years earlier. Despite the fact I had been paying my parent's mortgage on our 6 bedroom house for several months, and the two of them had cut their losses and filed for divorce. As such, I received the very least amount of financial support for my time at University. Even with a part-time job in a hospital, I was scraping pennies. Apt for a Music Student, perhaps, but uncomfortable all the same.

Four months into the first year, after dabbling with the stereotypical ramen noodle and being thoroughly disappointed in the selection of vegetarian flavours (read: one flavour), I hit on a brainwave. One rainy night alone I pulled some ramen from the cupboard and instant soup falls out! Quick to notice the potential bond (both cook quickly and require only a cup of boiling water) I crumpled some noodles into a cup and added a sachet of Sainsbury's Own Instant Tomato Soup. Sipping at my concoction, I felt like a pioneer.

Due to the average cost per meal averaging out around £0.14, I lived for a total of four months on Instant Ramen Soup, Cheerios, Tea and Prescription Drugs. At the time I didn't notice any particularly ill effects, but that was also the year I caught a chest infection, Swine Flu, a 2-month cough and started to find grey hairs. Make your judgements.

At the pits of financial despair, I did find myself venturing towards the even cheaper instant soups. The 14p, Plain-White-Box styles that come in "Vegetable" and "Meat" flavours. Ramen and "Vegetable" Soup created a mixture the taste and viscosity of wallpaper paste. Eager not to waste money, I found that with enough tabasco sauce anything is edible...