Ramen...Survival Food?

Originally posted by Nirgal
reply to post by Wotan

 

I suppose it's similar to calling a vacuum cleaner a Hoover.

Either that or it stems from that North American phobia of the letter "U".

The letter "U" is in fact shuned in more civilized circles over here. Some day the brits will catch up with us.

Its called Ramen due to the brand name. Actually Top Ramen from Nissin Foods

More traditional ramen comes from Japan (obviously) and tastes a whole lot better than the prepackaged stuff, and is also better for you. Ramen

I have always bristled at the idea of Ramen being in a survival pack. My reasoning is this, of all the stuff you'll be carrying & consuming, it's likely that water will be your most valuable and probably rationed item. One package of Ramen essentially has like 2/3rds or more of your daily sodium needs. That much salt and that much MSG combined with being thrifty with you water is just begging for either dehydration or, in the case of many who are sensitive, a killer migrained headache. Also of concern is that consuming too much salt can, and does, cause diar.. screw it, loose stools.

If you're searching for something light and not overly expensive to carry for pack food, consider rice cakes. Yeah, they taste like styrofoam and look like drink coasters, but they'll fill you up. I'd also suggest people get a dehydrator and start drying their own fruits & vegetables (not o mention jerky if you get a decent machine). We're quickly approaching certain produce seasons and I'll tell you from experience, very few things taste as amazingly good when you're starting to get worn out on the trail as a couple of dried pineapple rings, some dried blueberries, and a few dried strawberries. They are very lightweight, very tasty, and pretty economical if you just purchase the produce when its in season and the stores have their Bo-Go deals.

I like BOGO deals. I also go to some of the local farms and get fresh fruits and dry them. Its cheaper then buying at the store. You also can use some of the food dehydrators now to make your own fruit leather. And if you have one you can use one of those new fangled, vacume, heat sealing machines that way you know nothing will get into your dried goods. it will help them to last for years. Of course I just use old mason jars. to me they work wonders. I also do all of my own home canning. home canned goods last longer then canned goods bought in the store.

Oh and the rice cakes now come in flavors. Like caramel corn, and chocolate chip. Ect.



[edit on 27-2-2009 by pmbhuntress]

I love Ramen (cooked.)

There are tons of websites with ramen recipes, like easy dinners to make with ramen and a few other ingredients. I remember a few months ago one of them was talking about how membership and submissions are going up, and site visits, with the bad economy.

It's definitely cheap and yummy, but probably not great to survive off of alone.

Originally posted by pmbhuntress
Oh and the rice cakes now come in flavors. Like caramel corn, and chocolate chip. Ect.

Yes, and amazingly they all still manage to taste like styrofoam. Regardless, I find it personally ironic that the item my wife encourages me to munch on to try and facillitate weight loss could one day help save me from starvation. Proving everything in life is a giant circle.

reply to post by burdman30ott6


MSG deifinitely sucks but when you are sweating and exerting you need the salt. 2 different family docs told me not to worry about salt intake UNLESS hypertensive. Could be related to our awful climate that the transplants love. Freakin' about 75-90% humidity all the time unless it's during our wonderful week of winter.

With that said we probably don't eat as much as salt as alot of people here, I knew a young lady that use so much that you had to choke every meal down with about a gallon of water and just smile like you were enjoying it. I swear she drug an $11 steak across the damn salt flats once before she cooked it .And she sat there and made the "mmmmm" and "yummm" noises while she ate the whole time.

Come to think of it she was a big ramen head as well.

[edit on 27-2-2009 by hotrodturbo7]

Originally posted by GENERAL EYES
The nice thing about ramen is it's cheap.

Another nice thing about it is that there a ZILLIONS of ways to prepare it in order to make it an actual healthy meal.

Plain ramen - there's your salt and carbs.

Add some frozen veggies. Peas, corn, carrots, etc...to taste.

For the gourmets and cooks out there :

The Joy of Ramen Recipies!

WOW!! Thanks for that GREAT link to the recipes!!!!!!

You just opened my eyes instead of just boiling some water, adding the noodles, and blindly mixing the powder! NICE JOB!!!!

It's a terrible idea as far as nutrition goes.

I'm a vegetarian and I won't touch the stuff, it has beef fat and chicken fat in the seasonings
LOL


but it could be a minimal way of surviving, i suppose

Originally posted by salchanra

Originally posted by Nirgal
reply to post by Wotan

 

I suppose it's similar to calling a vacuum cleaner a Hoover.

Either that or it stems from that North American phobia of the letter "U".

The letter "U" is in fact shuned in more civilized circles over here. Some day the brits will catch up with us.

Apparently the letter "N" is also shunned. I wasn't aware of this one. Many thanks.

Now that I've exorcised my pedantry I wish to address the issue of MSG. Isn't this in the little flavouring sachets rather than the noodles?

The solution then is as simple as not using it.

I think the little packet that comes with the ramen is a bullion to flavor the ramen.

My family loves ramen, but I can't stand it. They eat it for a quick meal, if I don't cook dinner. My husband addes corn, veggies, and some kind of meat or fish to his.

I think it would be a good thing to stock up on. It's cheap and edible.

reply to post by Zephyr-Chills


Ramen has essentially no nutritional value. I had a friend in college who thought it would be a great way to save money. Instead of buying a meal plan, he bought a semester's worth of ramen.

Long story short, he actually came down with scurvy due to vitamin deficiency.

dried kidney beans and
farm1.static.flickr.com... , good stuff... lots of carbs (rice and noodles ) and protein (beans). It's very cheep, like less than 3 $cheap .The only issue is clean water to prepare it . I'd say each pack is about 2 perhaps 3 days of food for one adult .



[edit on 28-2-2009 by OpusMarkII]

[edit on 28-2-2009 by OpusMarkII]

reply to post by Zephyr-Chills


I have about 1000 packages of it, will store forever and take care of "hunger pangs", I know it won't be nutrious per se, but it is cheap too. So I have a storage room full. Also, good for "trading and bartering with others that are hungry.