Food Literacy Students
Ramen made Healthy
When you are a college student you don’t have a lot of money, so you just turn to the cheapest option for food. Which is typically not the most nutrient filled, or healthiest. One of the most common food items for college students is ramen. Ramen on average is $0.39 a package, which is cheap and easy for a college student. How do you make a nutrient dense meal? According to “My Plate” a nutrient dense meal has food or elements from all categories. There are five categories: fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. When making ramen straight from the package it contains food from the grains and protein section. After using this new recipe of “Ramen made Healthy” it contains food from all sections except fruit. You can get that last section just by having an apple on the side. It’s as simple as that! Now you have a nutrient dense, balanced, healthy meal.
Check out the cost breakdown of this quick, inexpensive meal:
| Ingredients | Amount | Unit Cost of Ingredients | Cost of Ingredients in Recipe |
| Ramen | 1 package | $0.39/package | $0.39 |
| Vegetables | 2/3 cup | $1.23/10 oz | $0.82 |
| Butter | 1 Tablespoon | $4.48/16 oz | $0.14 |
| Egg | 1 each | $1.69/6 eggs | $0.28 |
| Parmesan | 2 Tablespoons | $2.49/6 oz | $0.42 |
| Salt | To Taste | N/A | N/A |
| Total | $2.05 |
The Cooking Process
Now along with being healthy and money cautious, college students are also stressed and limited on time. They don’t want to have to spend one hour cooking a full meal when they can just heat something in the microwave for two minutes. This recipe is very friendly for those who are stressed on time. In total this recipe will take you 15 minutes! That gives you 45 extra minutes of studying for that hour block! The process of cooking this meal was also very simple.
This is what we did. We started off by measuring out the ingredients, so everything was ready to go. Getting everything measured out and in its place is called mise en place, and makes the whole cooking process easier and quicker. Then we started boiling water. Once the water was boiling, we added in the noodles and vegetables. While the noodles were cooking, we pan-fried the egg. Next we drained the noodles and added the seasoning packet. Last, we added the egg on top! Super easy process with simple cooking techniques.
Finding the ingredients for this recipe was also simple. These are simple ingredients that can be found usually at any grocery store. To make this meal more cost effective you can use the same ingredients in a different meal, since you will not be using the full packages or containers. This recipe is simple and healthy, a great one for any college student!
5 Ingredient Ramen With an Egg
Description
This recipe from SweetPhi was an easy, delicious alternative to plain ramen! This recipe is so easy to make your own and fit your preferences! I would definitely eat this recipe again and in the future I would try it with different types of vegetables to see which I like best!
Ingredients
Instructions
- Fill a small sauce pot about half way up with water and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Remove seasoning packet from ramen and set aside. Add dry ramen noodles and frozen vegetables to the boiling water. Allow to boil for 5 minutes or until the noodles break up easily when poked with a fork.
- Drain water from the noodles and vegetables and return to the pot. Sprinkle contents of the seasoning packet over the noodles and vegetables and add in half of the butter and all of the shredded parmesan cheese and stir until well combined and the butter has melted.
- While the noodles and vegetables are boiling melt half of the butter in a small frying pan and crack in the egg and sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper on it. Cook on high for 1 minute and then reduce heat to medium and cook for 4 minutes.
- Add noodles and vegetables to a bowl and place egg on top. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- It would be great with chicken or pork or tofu if you want to add some extra protein.
- The egg could easily be scrambled and mixed in with the noodles if you don’t like a runny yolk and the cheese can be left out if you are dairy free.
