Hey everybody. Will here. Yeah, cheap ramen noodles are the number one sterotype of poor college student budget eating, but they really are pretty versatile. And a good thing too. Here’s a few suggestions for dressing them up.

1- Add a teaspoon of beef or chicken bouillon powder along with the included packet. I mean add beef bouillon to beef noodles and chicken to chicken, but hey, be brave if you like. If you like spicy stuff, add a quarter teaspoon up to a full teaspoon of that chili garlic paste too.

2- A slight variation on Step 1. Use curry paste (or powder) instead of the chili garlic.

3- This is one my favorites. Once your basic mix (Step 1) is cooking, add in a few tablespoons of black beans and kernal corn. This is one of the easiest things to do to really dress up your ramen. Just about any combination of vegetables can go in, carrots, potatoes, celery, whatever you can buy cheap from the grocers and will last a few days without refrigeration (if you don’t have a refrigerator.)

4- Here’s the breakfast version! Start with the basic mix and let it boil away for a bit. When it’s close to done, turn the heat down so it’s not that heavy rolling boil, and crack an egg into the middle. Keep boiling unto egg is hardened up as you like. Careful though, it’s hard to tell how hard it’s getting in there with all the noodles cooking onto it.

5- Ramen makes your leftovers even better! Some of them, anyway. If you find that your friends and roommates left you nothing but a few forkfuls of last night’s Hunan Beef or Cashew Chicken — cook up the ramen and toss in the remains. I don’t think this would be very good for pizza, though.

6- Of course if you have a little extra spending money, you can get very creative. Cook up thinly sliced chicken, beef, pork, or whole shrimp and add it in along with your favorite vegetables.