My kids LOVE egg noodles and spaghetti with just butter. I fixed the ramen noodles for them once and they wouldn't touch them. I think it was the "spice" packet they didn't like. But as to the original question I know my husband and I lived on spaghetti for like 2 weeks when we first moved out on our own, that's all we could afford. You can have spaghetti and still be within your calorie range, just be sure to watch your portions. I have spaghetti{1.5 oz} and sauce{1/4 cup} for about 167 calories. I don't like a lot of sauce and I use just plain Ragu nothing chunky{blah}. With that I usually sautee some zuchinni in olive oil spray with some garlic and onion powder. If you do have an ALDI around I would suggest that as well. I have one about 30 min. away from me and my Wal-mart will still price match ALDI's prices. And this week they have cantaloupe for only .99 cents!!! Yippeee!!

if you have to go cheap, try rice noodles. theyre a great replacement, and arent bad for you. bean curd noodles are inexpensive as well. not as cheap as ramen, but not much is. if i remember right, ramen is more than 400 calories a pack. pfft.

Well, like everyone said, Ramen Noodles are pretty bad. But I have them anyway. I managed to have one packet everyday (along with other stuff) and still managed to lose 10 lbs so far. Not that I'm suggesting you do the same. But I love Ramen Noodles. I probably would never cut them out.

When I make them, I boil the noodles and then drain it (hopefully draining out some of the fat, too). And add just a little bit of the spice... like maybe half a teaspoon. Trust me, it's so salty, a little goes a long way for me. Sometimes I like to add other stuff in it. Like a cup of mixed frozen veggies. I don't like other stuff in it but here are a fiew things you could add to your noodles.

1. You could add above mentioned frozen/fresh/cooked veggies in them.

2. Omitting the spice packet and boiling the noodles in chicken broth.

3. Cooked chicken, canned tuna, whatever.

4. Instead of the seasoning, use spaghetti sauce.

Then again you might be better off with whole-wheat pasta, instead. Just laid out a couple ideas for Ramen Noodles in case you still wanted to go with that. :p

Those are good tips. Back in the day when I was a teen, I would cook the noodles in water, as it boiled, I would pour off a lot of the water, crack an egg in and stir it until it was "egg drop soup-ish" and then take it off the flame and put in frozen veggies followed by spices.

It was the most "balanced" meal I could afford! The ramen was 12-15 for $1, the eggs were $1 for 18 and the frozen veggies were 2 packages for $1. So, for around $3 I could have about 15 meals!

My old roommate used to buy mac-n-cheese in the box just so she could sprinkle the powdered cheese on her ramen. So gross!!! Sorry I just had to share. :D

An odd question: Suppose you have Ramen Noodles 3 times a day - breakfast, lunch and dinner... that would total a bit less than 1200 calories. Not keeping starvation mode in mind, technically, you could lose weight on that, right? Not that I'm planning on doing such a thing. Eating that much of it would probably put me off forever. But you know. Just out of curiosity.

Theoretically, anyone can lose when taking in limited calories and expending more (1,200 of chocolate anyone? ). You would become so deficient in so many essential nutrients that I shudder at the thought!

How about if you add a multivitamin to that? :p

Not even looking at the nutritional deficit, I see a problem with that - sure, you'd be getting the bare amount of calories, but I know if I went a day or two eating 3 packes of Ramen a day and nothing else, I would be so hungry I would binge on the first thing I saw. Quantity-wise, that is not enough.. and if it was following my calorie plan it would save me 200-300 calories a day for snacks. *shudder*

Personally, I like Ramen and do eat it on occasion. And I do mean on occasion.. once every other month maybe, usually with some carrots, onions, and celery chopped up and added. When I used to live with my mother, I lived off of it. (true confession - I used to mix up a can of soup, a pack of ramen, and a pack of cheese variety of Lipton Pasta sides... you know, make them all together in one big pot as a large thing of soup.. and then proceed to eat the entire thing. No wonder Im overweight!)

Thanks for the replies, and suggestions everyone. I really appreciate it. I gave half of the ramen noodles away, and kept the teriaki chicken ones. lol. I'll eat those in "moderation" since they are full of fat, and sodium. If I do eat them I'll mix it with frozen veggies, and just put a little bit of all purpose seasoning on it instead of from the spice packet.

Try Spaghettios these are also cheap and if you look at the can, they are much better for you, they have vitamins in them because they make them especially for growing kids. When I was living on campus and had a very small food budge I replaced my ramen noodles with spaghettio's (once I realized how bad they ramen noodles were.)

Try buying the big bags of frozen veggies at WalMart (brocolli, mixed veggies, carrots, corn, etc..) and put them in whole wheat noodles with the walmart brand marinara. Bellisima! (AND CHEAP!!) Also, Sam's club is amazing for larger quantities of frozen and fresh meats and veggies. Remember any meats you buy on sale you can portion out and freeze, that way you can buy more when they're on sale. Good luck!

muzikjunky- i love love love the DDR pic...my fave video game....and a workout must IMO... i need things that will not allow me to get bored....

I KNOWWW. DDR is amazing. I don't get bored with it, and I sweat like a pig when I play. hahahaha.

I agree..ramen noodles are not the best choice. and I think someone else mentioned tuna...and that is about 60 cents a can and all you need is a little lite miracle whip...and bread and that's a great lunch food for you.