For most college students, Top Ramen represents searching in vain for a decent meal to eat, only to settle for a brick of noodles.

Business junior Austin Pratt thinks Top Ramen is a staple food that will last a long time.

“I feel like it’s cheap,” said Pratt. “You can buy a massive box from Costco and it’ll last for like a year.”

Even though it’s the easiest thing to make, Top Ramen probably has the same nutritional values as most junk food found.

Business junior Rebecca Bolger said although she eats Top Ramen, she knows there are other beneficial options.

“I eat it sometimes, but it just kind of depends because there are better things to eat,” said Bolger. “It’s kind of a last resort. It’s not as tasty and it doesn’t have any nutritional value. You might as well not eat it.”

Despite the nonexistent nutritional value, Bolger said the appeal of Top Ramen boils down to one thing: convenience.

“I like the Cup [of] Noodles because it comes with the cup already,” said Bolger. “I’m too lazy to do my own dishes.”

Although Top Ramen is easy to prepare, the regular way of serving the soup can get tiring. Fortunately, there are a variety of ways to cook Top Ramen, such as adding an egg to give the dish some needed protein.

 

It may seem that ramen is only reserved for savory dishes, but can surprisingly also be used for sweet snacks, like adding raw ramen with fruit and nuts to create trail mix.

Public relations senior Brooke Bainter said she likes to add hot sauce to her ramen for an extra kick as well as adding extra ingredients to create a completely different dish.

“Lately, I’ve started eating it with Sriracha (hot sauce),” Bainter said. “I also use Top Ramen for stir fry. I boil the noodles, don’t use the seasoning and boil it with the veggies. I use chicken and I use teriyaki sauce.”

Pratt said he tries a multitude of ingredients to liven up his noodle bricks, but with no success.

“I’ll boil water, throw the brick in there and add my own spices to it,” said Pratt. “I’ve tried regular stuff like garlic and it never ends up tasting good. I’ll also put in random stuff in there.”

Public relations senior Michelle Clark, who eats ramen at least once a month, said Top Ramen can also be a pasta dish.

“The thing is, I don’t like it as a soup, but more as a pasta dish because I drain out most of the liquid because I don’t like eating all the broth with all the sodium. So, I usually drain out half the liquid and crack an egg in it and make it like a sauce.”

As long as there will always be a myriad of ways to cook and liven up Top Ramen, it will find room on the shelves of college students.

“I always have it in there in case I’m stumped and I just don’t have anything to eat,” said Clark. “It’s always in my pantry for a back-up meal.”