I do like my 3 minute noodles or as the Americans like to call them ramen. A bowl of noodles with a tin of flavoured mackerel and chopped onions is my go to comfort food.
So it’s no wonder I like them as a backpacking food.
Plus they are light, cheap, and quick to cook.
Sadly though not high on the calories side, and possibly even boring if just using the flavour packet that comes with them and nothing else. Something I see too many outdoors YouTubers doing.
That’s why I like to jazz mine up a bit.
For starters I replace the included flavour packet with a recent find of Angus & Oink Miso Ramen Noodle Broth Seasoning. But in the past I have used stock cubes as the flavouring.
I then like to add in some dry ingredients to help bulk out the noodles.
- freeze dried garden peas
- freeze dried sweet corn
- freeze dried carrots
- dried shitaki mushrooms broken up
But other dried items could be added like dried bell peppers, or sun dried tomatoes.
I then add (and I hate using this word because it sounds so pretentious) a protein of some sort. It could be piccanti fine cut spicy salami or any other salami that doesn’t need to be stored chilled. Maybe a peperami , these have been a backpackers staple to add to noodles. If memory doesn’t fail me there used to be a super noodles with it in already. Although it didn’t have nearly enough peperami, it felt like a token inclusion how little there was. Jerky of some kind is also a great choice. Or even my comfort food favourite of tinned fish. Soy chunks would be a good choice for vegans. Oh and I almost forgot dried shrimp can also be used.
Once ready I add further flavour with a packet of soy sauce and sprinkling a packet of Furikake seasoning over top.
If I want it spicy I can add saracha hot sauce, chilli powder, chilli flakes.
The basic process is bring your water to the boil. Then add the dehydrated ingredients because they need a little longer than the noodles.
I normally add my flavouring, followed by the noodles, and the peperami/salami.
Finally once cooked I add like the soy sauce, and Furikake seasoning.
You can play with the seasoning, use stock cubes or even the flavour packets that come with the noodles. If using the stock cubes I would be tempted to also add other spices such as garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika. You get the idea. If I wanted to try and go for a themed flavouring say to give the noodles a Thai inspired flavouring I’d look at the flavour wheel from SALT, FAT, ACID, HEAT by Samin Nosrat, and pick one or two of the spices associated with the region.
I suppose my point here is you don’t have to be tied to the included flavour packets. It’s possible to basically make your own “flavour” packet that tastes much better.
Whatever route I decide from what I’ve just written about I like to put all of, or as much as possible of the ingredients in a single zip lock bag. Then I just have to grab that one bag and I have everything I need for my meal.
Obviously there are other recipes too. A good source of ideas has been Chef Corso with his Outdoors Eats YouTube channel. I particularly like his pad Thai noodles (link here). However he does have other ramen recipes on his channel too.
Then there is the now infamous ramen bomb. Which my understanding is a combo of ramen noodles and instant mash potatoes.
You can tell this was a backpacker /thruhiker invention. It’s light weight, quick, and packed with calories.
Personally I’ve not tried this yet. It’s something that became a thing during my time away from the outdoors. Do a search on YouTube and unsurprisingly you will find every backpacker and their dog has a take on this dish. Chef Corso has his version or spin on it.
I hope this post has helped and shown a packet of noodles, no matter how budget or fancy that they can as Chef Corso likes to say be “elevated”. And possibly inspired you to try your own creations with them.
