Cost-of-living crisis fuels global appetite for instant ramen
Cost-of-living crisis fuels global appetite for instant ramen
Middle-class consumers around the world – including in countries with no tradition of eating noodles – are turning to instant ramen in droves
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.
https://youtu.be/sR8M4zARBXY making artificial chicken flavour is pretty easy
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.
How is that fact fun?
Look at Bezos over here, eating more than once a day
I usually make two packs and add a little extra salt for flavour. Yum! Also sometimes some hot stuff, if I have it.
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.
I'm pretty sure they deep fry them to dehydrated them too
A boring dystopia
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.
I’m about to move for work, without uprooting my wife and dogs, or sell the house. I’m going to live at the office during the week… sucks, but w/e. Ramen is going to be my life for the next year or two. I love cheap ass food like this. Give me some Kraft Mac and cheese mixed with some boiled broccoli and a can of pork and beans every now and then to mix it up.
If you are over the age of 39 I highly reccomend against this. There is really no possible way yo meet your caloric needs without massively overdosing on salt when depending on ramen and Mac and cheese.
It's honestly probably just as cost effective and slightly better for you to just buy a premade cold sandwich from the nearest bodega for at least one of your meals.
Get some mixed dried vegetables. Turns the regular ramen packets into Cup-o-noodles, but cheaper and better.
I like cheap Hormel chili over drained, unseasoned noodles and vegetables.
Permanently Deleted
Prices have kept increasing on Ramen, while quality has fallen.
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 Law™!"
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.
Have you looked at the list of ingredients there? You not saving anything as you will pay the price later.
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.
love your name/pfp /srs
Thanks :3
... I've been secretly thinking of changing both >:P