How bad are they for you? With only having enough money to get 50-60 dollars of groceries to last 2 people for two weeks isn't all that great, and a lot of times I end up buying those because they are cheap. lol.

They are really bad! Did you ever try a farmers market for produce? I know around where I am (Philadelphia) a lot of the produce stores are actually a lot cheaper then at the grocery store-and the produce is better!! I have been obsessed with oatmeal recently too and that is really cheap and easy! I make it with water to save calories and then add a splash of milk. You can get creative and add berries, honey, nuts...whatever! I would guess oatmeal would be a lot better then ramen noodles!

We have a few farmers market's here, and they are quite expensive. lol. Somethings are cheap, but not all. The cheapest place to go here is Wal-mart, or look for sales at Kroger & Food Lion. lol.

I will keep the oatmeal in mind. And the creative ingredients. lol. We're going grocery shopping tomorrow, so we may get some frozen mixed berries and some oatmeal, or something of that sort. Thanks for the suggestion.

They have a LOT of sodium and there really isn't any actual nutrition in there. If you must shop cheap, how about canned soup? There are many that are low cal/low fat. You can also make/freeze homemade pasta sauce and do a lot with that. Pasta, while it's not exactly low cal, is very reasonable- and if you control portions and steam veggies, that's a good, filling meal. You can also just mix regular pasta with olive oil/garlic, herbs and blanched veggies, like broccoli for a pasta salad. Farmer's markets are definitely cheap.. and you can make a lot of yummy things for the summer with fresh veggies, just be creative. Frozen fruit is also great for yummy smoothies. Wraps are inexpensive, and if you find a good low carb one, you can really mix it up.. from cold cuts to just veggies. Sweet potatoes are great and make a yummy meal as well.

Ramen noodles is about one of the worst foodds to eat. What about beans? They are healthy and cheap?

Well, I have like 10 dollars worth of ramen noodles in my cabinet. hahaha. Guess, er, I'll give them away or something. Or just cook the noodles and cook things with it and not use the packet of stuff. 0_o

Beans are yummy. I love soup beans, so I could make a huge pot of those and just freeze a lot of 'em for later. I just don't like the the after, um, effects of them. LMAO.

do you know how they make them? they infuse the noodles deeply with oil to fuse them together... really bad stuff


do you have Aldi's near you? produce is cheap... food is cheap....

Canned tuna is cheap and great for you. You can do lots more with it than just making mayo based tuna salad.

Check out your local flyers which you can usually look online and plan your shopping trip. Definitely check out Walmart but also look at the ads for other places.

Here are some things I'd look for if I was trying to eat on the cheap
- fresh veggies and fruit on sale
- frozen veggies
- Meat on sale
- bulk rice and beans
- large containers of yogurt and cottage cheese
- large/bulk containers of oatmeal
- Gallon of milk (probably Walmart)
- Frozen fruit to mix in yogurt or with oatmeal

At one of my favorite grocery stores, I usually leave with 3-4 big bags of groceries for under $20. I generally shop their sales and have a good idea of what they have cheap. I also don't stick to only one store, I shop at a few and have a good idea of what bargains each of them generally has and then I'll check the sale ads as well.

Like everyone has said Ramen noodles have a lot of fat and sodium. I have a friend who rinses them after cooking, but I doubt that gets much of the oil off.

Do you like to cook? Cooking from scratch is actually much cheaper than buying convenience foods. Some of my favorite cheap eats:

~Beans & brown rice
~ww pasta with marinara
~polenta with various toppings (polenta is easy and cheap~it's just cooked coarse cornmeal~we use leftover bits to top it.) It's very filling!
~veggie stir "fry" (very little oil & then water for the rest of cooking) & brown rice (we eat a lot of rice .)

If you are really broke try cutting down on meat. I think meat is way more expensive than veggies.

Oh, also try finding a CSA farm in your area. You pay a weekly (or monthly) fee and they deliver veggies every week. I find this is cheaper than farmer's markets.

Butting in here. After I read the label on these ramen noodles I stopped eating them too! But, my 6 year old loves them! Can anyone suggest a substitute? Something to make her think she is getting her "noodles"?

The foods I like for affordability and nutrition are some of the same ones that others have mentioned, beans, brown rice, lentils, frozen vegetables and fruit (usually cheaper than fresh) pasta, canned tomatoes to make your own sauces.

Ramen noodles may be tasty but they have no nutritional value are usually laden with fat (in the form of hydrogenated oils, no less ) the MSG and sodium content is through the roof and they lack protein and fiber.

All in all, yes, they are "that bad"

I agree with this and what I meant to put in my post is buy meat that is on sale but use it as a complimentary item to a dish rather than a main item. Rather than a piece of chicken, cut up the chicken and make a stir fry. A pound of meat can go a long way if you use it in dishes rather than serve it by itself.

My sister cooks up no-egg noodles for my neice. I think she puts a little tiny bit of butter on them (you could add seasoning if she likes that.) She keeps them in the fridge and my neice (she's almost 4yo) eats them cold. You could microwave them if she likes them hot. I don't know if this would be considered healthy, but it's probably healthier.

Another option might be soba noodles. They are Japanese noodles made from buckwheat flour. They take no time to cook (5 mins.) Then you could toss them with a little bit of asian dressing and you'd have something similar to ramen.