The Ramen thread: How do you like yours?

[>> Bender <<]

1) Crunched up and dry with a small amount of seasoning. It's a lot better tasting than it sounds.

2) In soup form with leftover chicken & possibly shredded cheese.

3) Add some crunch to that salad. At a friends I had an Asian style salad with Ramen bits. The Ramen + ginger dressing made my day.

Many ideas can be adapted for the trail but its nice to hear them all. How do you like your Ramen?

[Jeff Antig]

I buy those miso soup packets and use them instead of the MSG-filled soup base that is provided.

[Jack H.]

cold rehydrated with some oil based salad dressing.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Cooked and drained, then pan fried into Lo Mein :-)

[Andy Waters]

almond butter and hot sauce!!

[Paul Lippi]

With freeze-dried onion, garlic powder, dried chili, soy sauce, Justin's peanut butter, and a generous squirt of black sesame oil. Discard the enclosed MSG and shmaltz packette, which isn't fit to eat.

[Dean F.]

>> I buy those miso soup packets…

Rats. I thought I was being original. I do this, too.

[Kattt]

with some Knorr soup powder. I like either the cream of Spinach or French Onion. Makes it richer and you can change flavors. Also,I always bring a bit of extra virgin olive oil with me and dab it on everything…
Last time I brought along some Taco Bell hot sauce packets I picked up for free; pretty good

[Chris Collins]

Miso soup still has quite a bit of naturally occuring MSG in it. Probably about as much as the ramen packets. Pretty much anything with "hydrolyzed —- protein" listed in the ingredients, or any kind of fermented soy product like soy sauce or Miso will have lots of MSG. The only reason it's not added to the Miso in purified form and listed in the ingredients is because there's already so much in there naturally. It's used to give a savory, meaty flavor (called "umami") to foods.

MSG is just a version of the amino acid Glutamic acid, which is present in most protein. Eating any kind of meat or vegetable protein will result in the release of glutamic acid when the protein is digested. The problem is that eating food with pure MSG added to it results in a flood of glutamate in the bloodstream, which may not be very healthy. But there is considerable debate on whether typical food doses cause high enough concentrations to be harmful. there is evidence both ways.

The truly gross thing in the ramen packets is the amount of sodium. that's probably much worse for you than the MSG.

[Melody Nomura]

In my opinion, the soup base is much worse than miso soup because of the dehydration it causes. I'm pretty sure that the amount of MSG as well as sodium is much higher in the provided soup base packets.

[Michael Cockrell]

Agreed on the Miso soup packets. I too was camping with them, then looked at the Nutri list:

WOW! "BAM!" "SWOOSH!"

Afraid my internal system would dry up and blow away before I got home!

I went to my local health food store, they had some wonderful vegi instant broth that was very low in sodium, fats, etc.

Great source for high quality-low Kcal chocolate powder to sprinkle on my meals for a nice cocoa flavor.

[>> Bender <<]

You don't have to use all the seasoning packet. I use about half of it but you may not need any of it depending on the recipe.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I use a low sodium all natural vegetable bouillon instead of the packets. Way tastier and way healthier ;-)

[frank martin]

I just take Miso paste in a small snack bag. I always have bags of it in the fridge because we eat it a lot at home. Comes in red or white. It keeps pretty well. On Winter trips it will keep forever.

[Monty Montana]

Actually, I prefer the Chow Mein noodle line put out by Nissin; they cook up really well as a FBC meal (better than Ramen), have less sodium than Ramen(600 vs 800 mg), and they come with two packets: one is the soup and the other contains dehydrated veggies and meat (beef, chicken, shrimp, etc.). Maruchan's Yakisoba is a similar product with even less sodium at 480 mg. One of either of these makes a meal for me!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

When Nissin discontinued their baked ramen line this year (jerks!) I bought up the entire stock that the local Fred Meyers had. I had er…um…200?

I'll be eating till 2011..lol!

[Monty Montana]

Sarah, next you go through Monroe, stop at the Grocery Outlet…they had some baked ramen that was not the Nissen brand. That is, if you think you might need more!

[Jeff Antig]

Oh yeah! The teriyaki yakisoba is really good!

[Unknown abc]

I like mine as provided with some carrots, small strips of ham, and some green onion :)

[Denis Hazlewood]

At home I crush it into small pieces and put it in a baggie with chicken bullion and some dehydrated, cooked, turkey. Sometimes I add some "Just Veggies", mixed freeze dried vegetables.

[Roddie Larsen]

Simple backpacking meal: Broken-up ramen rehydrated, then dump in a 2 oz. tin of anchovies including oil. Great supper with carbs for energy and fat to keep you warm at night, and sodium. You can throw in some freeze-dried peas or peanuts if desired for more protien. I am an anchovy lover, but if you aren't, this isn't for you! Be sure to pack out the tin.

[WA Martinez]

MSG is fine unless you have a predisposition to it.

I like to crack an egg into my ramen, this works really well because i also like to eat ramen for breakfast over oatmeal and trying to make a scramble or fry with an alcahol or even a gas stove is a pain on the trail.

Also, i am sure most of us just use machurian or Nippon rammen companies, but I insist that you check out your local Asian market. the ones they contain are far superior to anything you will find at a supermarket.

[Jeff Antig]

how do you bring the eggs?

[WA Martinez]

I just use a plastic egg container i got from walmart, the weight isnt too bad but i am also not a gram counter.

Eggs dont need refridgeration to stay safe, assuming that you didnt buy them a month ago and let them sit in your fridge, an egg can last between 5-8 days out. roughly eggs last 5-8 weeks in the fridge and one day non refridgerated equates to a week in the fridge.

[WA Martinez]

I just use a plastic egg container i got from walmart, the weight isnt too bad but i am also not a gram counter.

Eggs dont need refridgeration to stay safe, assuming that you didnt buy them a month ago and let them sit in your fridge, an egg can last between 5-8 days out. roughly eggs last 5-8 weeks in the fridge and one day non refridgerated equates to a week in the fridge.

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