Cost-of-living crisis fuels global appetite for instant ramen

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to News@lemmy.world – 335 points –
Cost-of-living crisis fuels global appetite for instant ramen
theguardian.com
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Fun fact: the little flavor packet in that grocery store ramen has as much sodium as you should get in an entire day in it.

Source: my blood pressure

I'm pretty sure that the Maruchan ramen flavor packs for chicken and beef are just ground up bouillon cubes, the taste is indistinguishable.

That's what chicken/beef flavour are.

Source: ate a scoop of powdered chicken bouillon and tasted like chicken flavoured snacks.

I'm suddenly wondering why powdered bouillon in a shaker jar isn't an actual product yet. It's no weirder than things like popcorn seasoning or bacon salt, after all.

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Fun fact: Literally no one thinks instant noodles are healthy food 😂

They're probably not aware of how unhealthy too much sodium is, though.

Most of us are.

That's if you drink all the broth though.

Who wants to make a bunch of delicious broth and then not drink it though?

I learned the wrong way to do it and like it. Boil the noodles, drain the water and then add the packet. Mix and enjoy. If the sodium isn't killing me yet, add some hot sauce.

"Dreid" mixed noodles are totally a legit thing. There are noodles are meant to be eaten like that.

If you want to try with regular noodles, a basic one is made with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. You can throw in some hot sauce if you're feeling spicy, fish sauce, whatever. Stir fry it with whatever protein, throw some green onion on it if you feel like putting in the effort. It's a tad bit more involved than instant noodles but very easy still.

The ones I eat (Super Noodles brand) you're supposed to boil them in a pan until the water evaporates. No wasted flavours.

Course I also chuck in MSG, an egg, pepper, and then add cheddar, mozzarella and a bit of meat once the water is all gone.

Can confirm. Mixed one pack of Buldak (67% daily recommended sodium) and one pack of Neoguri (80% daily recommended sodium) today. Fortunately we only do this like once or twice a month.

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True story. The instant noodle aisles in my two closest grocery stores are always picked clean as of the last several months.

LPT: Egg noodles are still fairly cheap and just as versatile if not more so.

At my store, a 12-pack of Maruchan is $6 - $3.57/pound. Store brand spaghetti is $0.90/pound and chicken bouillon is $2.50 for a half pound. Ramen is convenient and fast, not cheap.

I did the math, and Maruchan cup noodles scaled perfectly with inflation.

They used to be $0.33 back in ~2005, now they're $0.52.

https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

$0.33 in 2005 is $0.53 in 2023.

Inflation is how the ruling class recoups any gains the working class has made, with interest. The answer is not to make more; it's to spend less.

I’m gonna skip the ramen and go straight to Soylent bachelor chow.

I unironically have vybey alnost every day.

Its super convenient when I go hiking too, if I dont want to carry all that cooking gear and food.

Its also sufficient for a post workout protein shake.

I dont think Id recommend going full-on every meal being powder, but its quite versatile.

Ive tried soylent, aussielent (now QOTA) and homemade soylent, but I prefer vybey. My homemade one is a close second because its insanely cheap.

I eat soylent cacao every day for breakfast and lunch, then have a dinner that isn't soylent. Been doing this since early 2020, including at one point, while bulking, eating an entire bag of it (2000 calories) every day, which was kind of a lot.

Why? It's far cheaper to just buy rice, beans and/or potatoes and combine them however you will. Add some sauce if you're feeling rich.

I feel like all of those have longer preparation times.

So it's not a cost of living issue but a (mental) exhaustion issue that makes people not spend any time on cooking besides their jobs

Compared to instant noodles, yes. Cooking rice takes like 15 minutes at most. Potatoes can take like an hour tops with the peeling but you can boil a bunch or cook them in an over and reheat them in a microwave later.

The price win is definitely worth it IMHO though. Instant noodles are like 1.90 euros per meal while a kg of rice or potatoes is about 1 euro and lasts for days, not just one meal. Also rice and potatoes get cheaper the more you buy at once.

Less salty too. Ramen is a salt bomb and no fiber. People say ramen is for when you are broke but really ramen is for when you are lazy.

Yeah and soon they'll make up a reason to raise ramen prices too. We've seen eggs, one cheap source of food skyrocket. I don't think ramen is off the table.

Well the article says the price has already risen 20% in two years. But I wouldn't be surprised one bit too see it continue to climb

The CEO wants a new yacht so fuck yea it will rise.

$1.00 a package. It's going to happen.

Where I’m at they’ve returned to normal. I’m able to get 36 for around 4 dollars.

They don't need to make up an excuse they'll just whip out the Chicago econ book and say "increased demand, must increase prices! It's The Economic Lawâ„¢!"

What's cheaper, rice or noodles? Google is surprisingly not helpful.

Potatoes are cheaper, more filling, more versatile, and more nutritious than noodles.

Rice is more filling for sure, so I'd say rice. I could eat a bowl of plain rice with hot sauce and Parmesan and be satisfied.

Rice. I can buy an 8kg bag for about $14, which conservatively translates into well over 100 servings. A 12 pack of ramen is around $6.

Where I am, cheap rice and cheap pasta are about the same - something around $1/pound, $2/kg. Ramen is decidedly not cheap at $3-4/pound. Even the 'fancy' pasta brands are only $2-2.50/pound.

Rice. At least there's healthy rice alternatives, there's a lot of dishes that can be done with rice. Far more than what fewer options there are for ramen.

Ramen can come into all sorts of flavors but the flavors are only supported by the packets with them or the sauce packets with them. In general, they're just generally unhealthy and you can do so little with them.

Craziest thing when I moved to the city was how eager people were to spend >$10 at a restaurant on fucking noodles.

I just like them <.< particularly the cheesy ones, and pork (both Maruchan; there are not many options in general for me... though sometimes Yakisoba is available, which is nice). Dunno if there's any actual meat in there. Could just be salt with salt flavouring in salt sauce. I don't add any salt.