Ramen Noodles
Jennifer IserlohRamen noodles are the college student's best friend -- they're cheap, filling and taste great. But what happens when you graduate from college and want to start making smarter, and even better-tasting choices?

The old college girl in me just can't get over the crush I used to have on the 33-cents-a-pop ramen noodle package. (Beef was my favorite flavor.) So now that my budget has grown and my waistline has shrunk, I still like to make room for ramen noodles in my kitchen.

Making typically pre-packaged foods at home with unprocessed ingredients is the best way to eat well while infusing nutrition. So toss the flavor packets and check out how these nutritional numbers compare for the packaged versions compared to the homemade ones:

A 1 1/2 cup cooked serving of packaged ramen made with one tablespoon of butter:
371 calories, 13 grams fat and 1702 mg of sodium (a whopping 71 percent of your daily recommended intake), 1 percent vitamin C, 0 percent vitamin A, 3 percent calcium and 10 percent iron.

A 1 1/2 cup serving of my ramen recipe:
206 calories, 6 grams fat (2 g saturated), 7 mg cholesterol, 4 g fiber, 13 g protein, 39 g carbohydrates, 362 mg sodium, 35 percent vitamin C, 79 percent vitamin A, 25 percent vitamin K, 8 percent calcium, 18 percent iron and 12 percent niacin.



Get the Skinny Chef's Homemade Ramen Noodles recipe.