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Ask HN: hacker culture and ramen

7 points by billroberts ↗ HN
Could someone describe what is meant by US people when they talk about ramen as the proverbial cheap food for struggling entrepreneurs? I'm from the UK and I'm familiar with ramen as the tasty noodle soup you can get in Japanese restaurants. However I suspect people are usually referring to something else: is it simply dried noodles? Or something akin to the rather disgusting 'Pot Noodle' available in the UK and probably elsewhere, where you add boiling water to a plastic container holding noodles and unidentifiable chemical flavourings?

20 comments

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pg
Yes, the latter.
TrevorJ
Yes, they come dried with these little powder sauce packets. Dump them into a dish with water, microwave and eat. You can have a meal for about 20 cents.
josefresco
Making me hungry ... this thread should really die.
timf
We used to mix peanut butter in to some of the flavors, delicious.
gaius
Top Ramen is roughly equivalent to Pot Noodle.
billroberts
Thanks for the explanations! All is now clear. Yep, having to eat that would certainly make you work hard on your startup :-)
nostrademons
I don't think they're all that bad. Terribly unhealthy though. One packet is like 170% of your RDA for sodium.

I usually get the Chinese brands though (Nissin, Mama), which I think are a lot tastier than Ramen itself.

icey
Throw out the spice packet.

Cook them and when there is 30 seconds left stir in:

    1 beaten egg
    A couple of shakes of tobasco
    A chopped green onion or scallion
It tastes way better than the packets and doesn't pack nearly as much sodium.
helveticaman
Yeah, but the whole point of ramen is that you don't really have to cook.
Xichekolas
If you don't take the egg recommendation of my sibling, I have found that 1/3 of the flavor packet adds just as much flavor... and presumably 1/3 the sodium.
nostrademons
That's actually what I do. I just put in 1/3 - 1/2 of the packet. It actually tastes better this way, I think - the recommended amount is way too salty. But even 1/3 is like 60% of your RDA for sodium.
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keven
it's known as Instant Noodle for most asians
indiejade
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v651/indiejade/?action=vie...
indiejade
This image was taken right after zentu.net was born in Feb. 2006. I was working TWO jobs: as a hostess at Denny's and as a pizza delivery gal for Domino's, building the site in my practically nonexistant free time. Had to pay the bills! I'm not even sure it was worth it; I think I might finally be getting my first ever paycheck from Google AdSense next month.
patio11
You can get ramen at all price ranges and levels of quality, even in the grocery store. The cheapest stuff in America goes for about 25 cents per person per meal, so it is well-known among college students and the like as an inexpensive way to stave off hunger.

My limited experience with it in Japan is that I prefer store-bought udon (which is generally sold fresh) to store-bought ramen (which is generally sold dried), but I'm sure if I looked at my noodle aisle more closely I could find a million permutations. Be that as it may, I can't eat ramen anymore without feeling like I'm cheating on the sweet old guy who runs the ramen shop by my old apartment.

RobGR
I buy ramen at 8 to 10 cents a pack, and not at any special restaurant supply place or anything like that, just the good old HEB.

If you start going the route of adding pinches of veges and peanut butter and etc, and your own flavorings, you will realize that you can switch to wide egg noodles for a few cents savings at the expense of a few extra minutes cook time.

lionhearted
There's actually some quite healthy, cheap foods if you don't mind just a tiny, little bit of cooking. The three easiest ones that are healthy, cheap, and delicious (once acclimated!) are oatmeal, cottage cheese, and eggs. You can get all of them dirt cheap, whip it together for a meal in 5 minutes or less, and they're good. Just eat the oatmeal straightup - nobody likes it when they first start eating it since it's fairly bland, but it has a good texture and you'll learn to like it after a month or so. Dirt cheap, very healthy and filling. Cottage cheese is also not so good before you're used to it, but you acclimate. If you can get chives pre-mixed in, it's even better. And eggs - well, everyone knows eggs. I just always get surprised with how cheap eggs are when I haven't bought them for a while - you can get a dozen cheap eggs for like a dollar. A few dollar for uber-premium nicely packaged dozen eggs.
madcaptenor
Bananas are also delicious and cheap. Probably not as cheap as oatmeal or eggs, though. I have no idea how much cottage cheese costs, because I can't stand the stuff.)