Shelf life of Ramen Noodles?

FSCJedi

FSCJedi

Joined
Oct 19, 2002
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Anybody know what it is? It seems to me that these products would be great for long-term storage.
 
well, I spend a little extra and get the Nong Shim(Korean) brand of ramien noodle soups. More flavorful, and spicy!!!! their Kimchee Flavor is great, even has bit of real veggies!!! ;)
 
well, I spend a little extra and get the Nong Shim(Korean) brand of ramien noodle soups. More flavorful, and spicy!!!! their Kimchee Flavor is great, even has bit of real veggies!!
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I'm with Target. Also I think that the noodles are of higher quality.
 
I ate one of the Maruchan Ramens that I know was at least 3 years old and it tasted just like the one I ate the day before that we had just purchased. I think it was Creamy Chicken. Lots of sodium and dehydrated, so it's probably good for at least that long.
 
The main thing to worry about is the fat. Ramen is high fat and it will go rancid. Most ramen packages aren't particulalarly well packaged and tend to pick up pinholes in handling.

Ramen is just empty calories nutritionwise.

Phil
 
I have some of the super cheap ramen noodle packages that are at least seven years old, probably closer to ten years old. So yes, they can be a viable long-term food item, if you can stomach the taste.

They were like 10 or 12 for a buck on sale and I bought quite a few cases of them at the time. :rolleyes: :barf: I suppose I could use them as a long-term test to establish the deteriorational breakdown half-life of the packaging material (which I suspect is recycled MacDonald's styrofoam exported with small kids' fingerprints in ketchup still on it sent to third world sweatshop plastic rolling mills to be pressed & flattened out and printed with lead-, radium-, and mercury-based inks spread on plates stamped from a fresh load of metal out of the Chernobyl reactor).

Occasionally I'll dig one those ramen soup packages out and eat it. Yeah, it has sort of a skanky rancid taste. That sort of balances out the harsh chemical taste I seem to find in them when new (MSG??). I try to meter out only half the contents of the flavor package (using the term "flavor" loosely ;) ), but it still seems to be pretty strong. But a bowl of ramen does fill the hole for me. As noted by Mr Hatch, you don't eat Ramen as fine cuisine or for high nutritional density.

To me ramen noodle soup is just a medium for conveying other stuff into your mouth like a handful of frozen whole-kernel corn, peas, carrots, etc or smoked sausage chunks or leftover hotdog. Ah yes, ramen noodles with hot dog chunks, washed down with a can of Coca-Cola, and a generous dose of Pepto-Bismal and Tums for dessert. Ain't life grand?!?! :D
 
Just last week my son and I ate about a dozen packages of Ramen that was at least five years old. No ill effects and they tasted okay. When I was young, single, and broke, I used to make stew with Ramen. I'd buy chicken backs, cook them and add them (bones and all) to the Ramen, along with whatever frozen vegetables I might have on hand. A man could get real full for real cheap money. MY favorite is the Top Ramen Cajun Chicken flavor. Stiil eight for a buck at my local grocer.
 
Traditionally, one adds the contents of Ramen in boiling water and throws in a raw egg and maybe some bok choy...
 
Just keep in mind the sodium content in the little flavoring packets is sky high. I always cut my packet in half and it still tastes ok.
 
I had to throw in on this one...

In 1976 I ran a two week centennial crossing of the Sierra. When we were about 2 days out I had a bush pilot fly in a feast... on July 4th. We overdid the planning some and ended up with a couple of dozen packages of Ramen and Ramen Like noodles. We put them in empty coffee cans and then put those into a steel stash can I kept in that area.

22 years later I was up in that area and very hungry so I hiked over to where I'd put the stash can. I found it, opened it and there were those noodles. I cooked a few packages and found them to be fantastic. Of course I was very hungry, in survival mode, and ready to eat anything.

I put the remainer back in storage and reburied the can. It's still there.

If the question is "can they be eaten after a long term storage?" The answer is yes. Provided the packages are kept in an airtight container and away from critters. If the question is "do they taste good?" I'd say that depends on your situation when you eat them.

Normally I keep them in my BOB vittles kit for about 2 years. We keep them in our emergency pantry for about a year then rotate them out.

Ron
 
as long as you seal them air tight (i wish i had one of those plastic air sucker things you see on infomercials...), im pretty sure that even if they turned to dust, they could still be reconstituted and eaten.

i like the trader joes 17 bean soup mix. if your on the verge of hunger, 1/8 cup of those a day goes a long way to keeping you going physically.
 
Except for possibly getting wet, there is very little that can deteriorate in a package of these noodles. There is a small amount of fat that can go rancid over time, but the nutritional value is still there. This rancidity will affect the flavor providing a sort of "cardboard" flavor note. There is nothing one can do to prevent this rancidity -- even vacuum packaging will not stop it as it starts in the factory and continues til consumed. Vacuum packaging would only prolong the process.

All in all, they are pretty good sources of carbohydrates -- energy producers to get you over the hump.

Bruce
 
Oh yeah, forgot to add.. they can be eaten right out of the package... sprinkle some of the soup base on it and eat it like a crunchy cookie.
 
Actually, according to someone I know (who has actually tried it), you can eat some instant noodles without hot water. Just chew slowly.
 
Great stories guys! I really appreciate it. I figure I can throw a bunch of them in an ammo can (which seals up pretty good) and keep 'em somewhere dry and dark and they'll be ok.

On another note, anyone have any good quick/easy/inexpensive recipies for Ramen? I never thought of adding egg to them before. I'm gonna have to try that.
 
Friend of mine puts a tablespoon of peanut butter in the cajun one. Been doing it forever. Says it tastes exactly like Tai cuisine.





..I think he's a nut.
 
I've opened old Instant Ramen and found bugs in it. Won't kill you but try feeding it to a non-survival type and watch them turn green.
 
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