• use broth instead of water
• cook in a pot instead of with a water boiler
• add baby bok choy
• get better brands of instant noodles (according to your preference). Some brands are quite good already on their own

If it’s instant Ramen please don’t add broth.

why

Because there is already enough umami and salt in there for 2. Your taste buds are not in a trench war.

Get some dried wood-ear or shiitake mushrooms. Soak them in boiling water to rehydrate them, then use that mushroom-infused water to make your noodles. If you’re using shiitake, fry them up in a pan; wood-ears are ready to eat without doing so.

Throw some kimchi in there, too. It’s good for your guts.

Fry an onion and some bits of bacon drop in the ramen with some
frozen peas, add seasoning’s and an egg if wanted.

You can also add hot-sauce and mix up the veg by adding bell peppers, maybe add paprika or even cheese.

Ramen has little flavour of its own and little nutrition but it makes a great base for anything. Imagine ramen tortilla :)

Egg drop is the best I’ve found, at least for the classic chicken flavored ramen packs.

Green onions and broth. Meat if thats your kind of thing

Wilted collards

That doesn’t mean old collards, it means separate the center stem from the leaves, cut them up and in the same pan you fried your bacon and eggs for your ramen, pan fry them until they turn a darker deeper green.

It’s called kilt as well if you’re in a place where people do this.

Save the cut up stems for stock or pickling. Pickled collard stems, bamboo shoots and watermelon rinds are good in ramen too.

You can do this with all kinds of greens but some like turnip don’t need it.

If you’re insanely poor and ill equipped, a half cup of the little frozen mixed vegetable cubes turns packet ramen into cup noodles.

Add stuff and flavor. When it comes to ramen, more is more.

I usually use some combination of these:

Stuff:

• Softboiled egg
• Onion, Carrot, Veg
• Pork/Chicken/White meat
• Sardines/Fish

Flavor:

• Lemon joose
• Honey
• Worchestershire
• Fish sauce

Really anything that’s fresh from the grocery store can be cooked and added.

Chili crisp. Easy, cheap (homemade to make it as cheap as it gets), delicious

I’ve found that if I add boiling water to just the noodles, let sit and stir a little until they’re soft but not too soft, then drain like 60% of the water and then mix in the seasoning, it’s way tastier and doesn’t cost extra.

I also like to add seaweed and kimchi

Cook noodles, but drain most of the water, add some peanut butter with the seasoning, some veg, and some chili crisp. Now you have pad thai ish.

Cheese is a thing some people do as well.

Seconding the peanut butter meets Sriracha jazz. 🥇

My lazy way to make it more delicious is to add chopped garlic and a a little bit of mayo. Stir. Instantly tastes a lot more complex with so few extra ingredients.

Look up real ramen recipes and think about what each ingredient adds. Use other frozen veggies - a bag of stir fry mix can't be that different from a bag of broccoli price wise. Eggs definitely. Sausage (or bacon, or Taylor ham, or Spam) can be a good flavor bomb. Frozen seafood mix adds protein, flavor, and changes the dish.

Also consider seasonings - any of the following help. Paprika, turmeric, garlic, onion, dill, bay leaf. Look at international noodle soups, adapt the flavors.

Oh, and you can also replace the packet seasoning with a low salt bouillion cube. Still a good flavor, but so much healthier. Mushrooms help too!

I used to do an egg and a couple pieces of lunch meat.

Now I don’t eat eggs or meat anymore, so I tear up a sheet of nori (dried seaweed), add about six ounces of cubed tofu, one spoonful of sambal oelek (chili paste), and a little bit of sesame oil (add the sesame oil last, after taking it off the heat).

Per serving, the tofu is the most expensive, then the nori, so if the budget is tight you could cut there (but the tofu is also the only protein). One container of chili paste or sesame oil is enough for many servings, I couldn’t say how much it costs per serving but it it’s probably less than the noodle packet.

I was always a fan of just tossing a bunch of spices in there. The big ones were chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, basil, oregano, and cumin, but I’d switch it up every time just to keep things fresh.

Egg, pan fry Spam or other meat to get a bit of crust on it, hot sauce and I’m good to go. I do like using Buldak noodles vs most others. They are thicker and denser than the usual maruchan.

Every once in a while we need a quick easy meal for the family.
I chuck a few chicken flavoured ramen in a bowl and throw some boiled water on them, once they are done I drop in two cans of tuna.

Yummy, cheap, easy.

We just had ramen for dinner last night! It depends on whats in the fridge but for veg we do grated carrot, broccoil, and shredded cabbage almost always. Last night we pan fried sliced tofu with some sesame oil and soy, excellent for sandwiches the next day too. A nice seared steak thinly sliced is a treat in a heavier flavoured ramen. If I see one marked down heavily I’ll throw it in the freezer for this. My new thing I’ve been doing is dice up some mushrooms, some lightly smashed cashews, sesame seeds, frozen corn, and some chili crisp and fry it in a pan with some sesame oil. Makes a nice topping, kinda like on tantamen ramen.

Edit: Oh! I forgot my favorite treat. A slice of american cheese. Like the singles. I don’t do it all the time, but man, it melts into the broth and is SO GOOD. It’s a Korean comfort food I read about, though they poach an egg in there too.

Heat the frozen veggies in the broth instead of microwave (keeps any remaining water soluble nutrients in the dish, and makes the veggies less wilted imo).

Try different frozen veggies (green beans, carrots, corn, spinach, avocado?).

Most fresh veggies can be sliced or diced into it as well whenever there’s a good price on them, and the taste and texture provides avriety from frozen veggies, but in my experience frozen are usually cheaper. But half a fresh bell pepper can give plenty of good crunch of you add it raw on top. Or thinly sliced or chopped cabbage.

Add one or a half package of drained ready-to-eat beans (packages in water, not dry) for fiber, protein and minerals.

Experiment with different spices and sauces to put on top. Coconut milk, peanut butter, soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, crushed tomatoes…anything you’ve got available can go in (but not everything goes well on the same occasion). The more you spice it yourself the less you need to put of any included spice mix, which is mostly salt, while the noodles themselves are usually also mostly salt.

My go to additions:

• frozen peas/corn
• TINY AMOUNT of sesame oil
• a big glob of chili oil
• an egg or two
• american cheese

Further emphasis on TINY in TINY AMOUNT of sesame oil
It really takes over

American cheese … Someone help me understand.

Its a Korean thing (I’m not Korean, but that’s where I learned about it). Don’t knock it till you try it

I’m intrigued - not knocking at all.

I’ve come to appreciate the creaminess of American cheese over the last few years especially on burgers. Real cheddar like Tillamook is way greasy with very little flavor when cooked which isnt great on an already greasy burger.

However, I’ve never had cheese in ramen but I’d be willing to try it.

Spices (pepper, paprika, curry, etc), sauces (hot sauce, soy sauce, stir fry sauce, etc), veg add like carrots onion, lentils or beans, peanuts, egg

I would say your best bang for the buck is something concentrated you can add in small amounts, combined with cheap frozen veggies.

Marmite, fish sauce, whatever kind of umami face slapper you prefer, plus a handful of frozen peas will go a long way towards satisfying you rather than just feeding. Gotta go easy on stuff like marmite though, the salt levels combined with the packet can be intense.

But you can grab a bag of peas, plus whatever other veg you like. Split them up into single serving containers of whatever sort you prefer, then just pull them as needed. You gotta make sure that the biggest pieces will be done in the time ramen takes to boil and finish, but that isn’t difficult

Unsalted cashews. Pop them in with the water before you let it sit.

Mix some tuna into that bad boy

Frozen eggrolls aren’t necessarily budget friendly, but I think they go great with Ramen. I get the Ramen boxes that have 12 packets of the square blocks of noodles, not the cup kind. The eggrolls come in boxes of 8 and come in chicken, pork and veggie. If I get 3 boxes of eggrolls and 2 boxes of Ramen, it comes to 24 of each so I have a 1:1 ratio. The cost comes to just under $40 where I live, in the U.S. great lakes area.

To make the meal I start by putting the eggroll in the microwave. Then I put the noodles and packet and water in a bowl. The time it takes me to do that is enough to thaw the frozen eggroll a good amount. Then I move the eggroll from the microwave to my toaster oven and put the ramen in the microwave. The time it takes to cook the ramen in the microwave is about the same time it takes the eggroll in the toaster oven to finish cooking to a nice crispy state. I usually cook the ramen a little longer than the package suggest, about a minute more.

Because the eggroll is hot, I stab it with a fork to pick it up. Then I hold it over the ramen bowl and pour a small amount of soy sauce into the fork holes, letting it runoff into the ramen bowl. I start to eat the eggroll while holding it over the ramen bowl. It falls apart, with the bits falling into the ramen. By the time I’m done with that, the ramen has softened and cooled off enough to eat normally.

Chicken eggrolls go with chicken ramen. Pork eggrolls do too, as well as with pork and been ramen. Veggie eggrolls go with any flavor ramen.

The other thing I do is basically the same thing but instead of eggrolls, it is frozen meatballs. They tend to be better with beef ramen, which I am not a fan of but if the food pantry has it I wont turn it down. I still use them in chicken ramen too, some meatballs aren’t even beef even thought they may look like it.

My favorite is frying mushrooms and an egg in oil while the ramen microwaves then combining them

I cook 2 packs of noodle blocks in 2 cups of water and one seasoning pack in a skillet for that chow mein feel. I sometimes add cabbage or bok choy or similar to the the pan as the noodles cook. Throw a fried egg on top, maybe add a lil seaweed salad, kimchi if you’re feeling spicy. Delicious.

Chili Garlic Sauce. Hoisin. Soy Sauce. Sesame Oil.

Ramen eggs if I remember to make them. Otherwise I like adding some dried mushrooms when it’s boiling away. Even if it already has some, more mushrooms!

I toss copious amount of green onions in

mushrooms are great, even raw

peppers do ok

these are things I often have around so I don’t get fancy I just toss 'em in

Throw the packet away. Reserve a little water you boil in. Drain pasta. Add pepper, parm cheese and some of that water you reserved

#2. Cook a breaded chicken patty. Boil ramen noodles. Toss the packet. Plate the noodles. Top with chicken patty. Top that with red sauce. Finally add a sprinkle of mozzarella

Get some dashi, Kewpie, egg, and the seasoning packet.

Mix vigorously with some hot water to get a nice paste. Then add your cooked noodles and water to taste.

Dash some roasted sesame oil and maybe some chilli oil for a topping.

Always tried and true for me and works with any ramen.

My girlfriend yells at me cuz I’ll drop a can of green beans in it with an egg, apparently frozen is fine, but canned is gross

Canned green beans are gross.

I usually add a bit of soy sauce and Gochujang and anything veggie I have a home cut into small pieces, like julienned carrots, leeks, mushrooms, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, …

Get a squeeze bottle of that Gojujang sauce. It makes a lot of food better.

Gojujang is my favorite, but skip the bottles. Get the good stuff that comes in little tubs. You can get them on Amazon, but my Publix recently started carrying it.

Ooohh…I’ll be looking for that, thanks!

It’s awesome stuff, spicy, but not too, with a really delicious flavor.

I add whatever leftovers I have, especially meat. The pickings from a rotisserie chicken, an extra pork chop (diced), etc. Then add carrots, celery, etc., soy sauce, swirl in an egg, and a spoon of gojuchang paste, and it’s delicious. I make it about once a week.

My favorite “weird” addition is blue cheese crumbles. I also usually do the egg drop thing, green onions, maybe some spinach, chili oil… Oh! Butter (probably unsalted) can also add a nice, old creaminess.

The other way I like to go with ramen noodles is fried. Undercook them a smidge, drain the water, toss the noodles in a skillet with some oil, a scrambled egg, veggies, and other flavorings (soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, red pepper…)

Some cheap frozen gyoza, some pak choy (or bok choy), an egg or 2, top it with sesame seeds.

Two to three drops of sesame oil will help the flavor of any ramen considerably. Also a dash of chili flakes, or a tiny (like 1/2 tsp) scoop of fermented miso. Oh and a pinch of MSG

Ramen already has a ton of MSG in it, do we really need to add more? Is it even noticeable?

idk about plain msg, but the msg that comes in powdered broths/stocks adds a lot to it – it keeps it from being too “one note”.

I forgot there was some in the packet that comes with. I don’t normally use those, since I normally have stock available

This is the way. Also, fry sliced ginger, sliced carrots, and mushrooms in the sesame oil. Mix in some chili oil, too. Mm.

Any green herbs you have on hand or in your garden. Leaks, onion, mints, etc. From the Asian market you can also get seaweed, sesame oil, pepper flakes, soy sauce which also give a lot of milage.

Go to an Asian market and buy better Ramen. The good brands have three packets, soup base, flavored oil, and chili…

Though everyone else’s recommendations are much more healthy.

Dried seaweed is really cheap and adds flavor and texture.

East Meets Southwest: Discard packet. Combine about 3/4 cup salsa (a whole cup if salsa is chunky) and 2 teaspoons soy sauce. May add about 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, if desired. Cook noodles, drain and add to sauce.

I’ve made this since the late 90s. If you like both Southwestern and Asian cuisines, you might like this.

If you can dish a little extra cash, Shin Black ramen is great. It comes with all the spices.

crush some peanuts into small pieces, fry in oil, ideally sesame oil.

avocado is a great ingredient too.

There’s a ramen sauce that makes ramen soup I like. Add that to just the dry noodles they sell- not the packs of ramen- and it’s very economical and better quality.

Anything works in ramen. If you have a freezer I’d suggest ham is a very very cheap protein to add if you can buy in a large size.

Otherwise, sprouts are good and inexpensive. So are mushrooms. Turkey is cheap but in bulk like ham. If you’re aiming for less bulk chicken thighs are inexpensive and good in soups.

If you want something like frozen broccoli try peas. Peas are great.

If you brine your eggs in mirin and soy sauce they will work even better in the dish.

Thank you!