Saving Money Does Not Equal Boredom: Adventures in the Kitchen, Volume 1

By Kathleen Herring on July 9, 2012

Most college students are more than familiar with what they call “the Ramen-noodle diet” – those sodium-packed instant soups that cost about ten cents per pack, come in a variety of salty flavors, take only water and a couple of minutes to make, and have next to zero nutritional value are convenient in price.  Such a diet can only become unhealthy or boring over time – that is, without the know-how to spice up your menu.

Delicious!Let’s start with the quintessential Ramen dinner.  Want to lower the sodium?  Only use half a packet of seasoning, and reduce the amount of leftover water in the bowl so the soup doesn’t taste ‘watered-down’.  If you’re willing to spend a few extra minutes on the preparation, drain out all the water and fry up the noodles in a bit of oil – light vegetable oil is good, as is soy sauce or sesame oil.  For this you don’t need that salty packet of flavor, but you can spice it up by adding an egg (for a true stir-fry) and whatever vegetables (canned or frozen) you have lying around – carrots and broccoli work well and are relatively inexpensive to keep in the freezer.

If you prefer soup to stir-fry, one way to add some healthy substance to your Ramen is by adding an egg while the noodles are cooking.  This dish can be likened to Chinese egg-drop soup, has a delightful flavor and adds much-needed protein to your meal.  In this fashion, a packet of Ramen can usually be stretched into more than one meal.  Again, adding vegetables can only make this dish more healthful and filling.

Another common pennysaver is condensed soup.  I tend to stay away from bland, broth-based soups like chicken noodle in favor of thicker, more versatile creamy soups.  With Cream of Chicken, Mushroom or Tomato soup, the option of mixing with a can of milk instead of water adds calcium and body to your soup, and makes it thicker and creamier.  From there, you can add vegetables or meat and liven up the taste with your own spices – I enjoy the seasoned salt varieties, garlic salt and pepper, and have experimented with cumin, white pepper, and Caribbean mixes.

One last tip for now – buy bulk frozen food when it’s on sale.  Some of the most useful items in our freezers are the big bags of chicken that are re-sealable (so you can defrost and use one or two at a time and save the rest) and vegetables like broccoli, which you can add to just about anything.  I recently made a delicious dinner of fettuccini alfredo just by adding a couple strips of crumbled bacon and broccoli to the sauce.  A little garlic and pepper and you’d be surprised what a cost-effective and delicious meal you can produce!

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