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22Dec/110

The 1 Dollar Noodle Bowl

I've decided to post about my lunch time noodle bowl.  I'm kind of in love with it.  So I'm going to share the secret of the roughly 1 dollar noodle bowl.

Ok... so the idea is this...  When I used to live at home I had very little expenses and I would spend money left and right on random stuffs.  But I would also just be lazy about lunch and go eat at Wawa or Chipotle Mexican Grill or Panera Bread.  While those places are yummy they are also expensive.  When I finally order up and go to swipe the card it's always like 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 bucks!  Crazy.  I'm kinda wishing I found this whole noodle bowl thing years ago.  It's just super awesome.  It's just as filling and every bit as tasty as going to those places to eat (ok almost as tasty, Chipotle is awesome, and also Wawa is too... and Panera is good as well...) but it's only 1 dollar!  Which means it allows me to save some dough to put towards other things (like music equipment, or car repairs, or rent and my soon to be mortgage payment and such).

1 dollar noodle bowl has a little bit of a history.  Basically it was inspired by my boss who noodles up most of the time with some sort of noodle product from Costco or one of those wholesale places.  He buys like 50 packs of them and then just brings those in and keeps them in the office... It got me thinking about the idea of cup o noodle or those other more expensive fancy noodle products... well cup of noodle is actually less than a dollar but I don't like cup of noodle.  The problem with cup of noodle is it's kinda not exactly super tasty and I'm told it's not all that great for you.  I always feel hungry again super quick after I eat one.  I do really like that idea of those super cheap noodle bowls that you can buy with plastic containers and all but then I didn't like how they have only noodles in them and don't have anything else like actual chunks of beef or chicken or real vegitables and all around they just didn't taste that good and also the containers were disposable generating trash... etc. etc.  So they are good for a quick meal but I'm not sure if they are the best solution for a quick lunch time meal.

So I set out to create my own 1 dollar noodle bowl from scratch... but make it more filling and also taste better... AND make it maybe even a little bit healthy for me.  I had some goals... those cheap noodle grocery store lunches lack two things: Protein, and veggies.  They are good because you can just store them in a drawer or desk and add water whenever.  I thought it would be A-OK to just keep something in the fridge and then add water.

So first thing I needed was a reusable cheap container.  I found that in the way of these rubber maid things called "Take Alongs".  I use the deep square one.

http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?CatName=FoodStorage&SubcatId=TakeAlongs&Prod_ID=RP091256

I bought like 10 of them... here's why...

My second thing to find was now some sort of protein.  I thought well how is the best way to work this?  The first thing I did was chop up a bunch of cooked chicken but the chunks were too big.  I tried steak, but it was tough... stir-frying my meats wouldn't work.  Tofu and shrimps worked great.  Shrimps come in big pre-cooked bags and I can just toss a few in.  Tofu comes in a block and then I can just chop it in 4's.  So one 2 dollar block of tofu gets 4 noodle bowls.  So after some googling/asking around I tried out slow cooking for hours and let it fall apart.  Then I take that and split it up into several different bowls.  This works great for beef/chicken/pork.

Ok great... so now we're cooking!  Sweetness.  So I can slow cook beef (this kinda tastes freaking awesome), chicken (also good) and pork (good too).  Then Tofu just dices raw and shrimps are already frozen so I just leave those.  Another alternative is chick peas or garbonzo beans (those are the same thing I think... I just like saying the word garbonzo... gaaaaarbonnnnzo!).

Anyways...

If I cook something I take one of my 10 containers I bought and I divide up the final cooked thing into smaller portions and then freeze that in individual bowls.  Now I have a noodle bowl premade and ready to be prepared for the night before work... well... almost.

I needed more than just protein and a bowl.  So my next thing was to add veggies.  So I went to the freezer section of my local grocery store.  There are SOOOOOOOO many choices for frozen veggies!  AND they are super cheap too.  Only a couple bucks or not even for a bag.  Each bag will probably make 5 to 10 bowls.  It depends on which one I get.

Well now I've got a container, protein, and veggies to add nutritional value to my noodle bowl.  What else did I need?  Spices!  Spices aren't super cheap.  But they last a LONG time.  A little dash in a dish.... or a sprinkle or two here or there in my noodle bowl makes things taste different every day.  I've got about 20 different combinations of spices.  I also purchased sauces.  So I can do hot or sweet or spicy or soy or teriyaki.  Or whatever.

Well the last ingredient is... yep... noodles!  What kinda noodle bowl would it be if it didn't have noodles!  It would be noodless or something.  So I can do pretty much any kind of pasta or noodle I want.  Those regular old long thin pasta noodles are the cheapest.  But I can pretty much put any type of noodle.  Rice noodles, or lo mein... or any of the pastas.  Pretty much anything goes.  Even just regular rice!  Or I like Orzo... It's like rice shaped pasta.

So that's kinda how it works.  Basically I freeze up the protein, cook the pasta the night before throw in some frozen veggies and spices... and then throw in the freezer.

Then I throw it in my lunch bag when I go off to work.  To cook I just add water, heat for 3 mins in the microwave... stir... and another 3.  Let it cool a little and then chow down!  I've been eating this now regularly for a little while and I think I'm gonna stick with the lunch time noodle bowl.

The great part is I can pretty much keep thinking of endless combinations of noodle bowls to create!  So I don't seem to be getting bored of eating the same thing over and over again each day.  I can always change up any of the 4 ingredients to keep things fresh and interesting!  Different noodles (types or shapes).  There's always regular and whole wheat pasta.  Or I can do different proteins.  Or I can do different veggies.  Or different spices and sauces!

Every day is new and interesting for lunch!  And it's only about 1 dollar!  About 50 cents for the protein, 10 cents for the pasta/rice noodles, 10 cents for the spice/sauce, and 20 or 30 cents for the veggies.  I guess I have to pay for the actual bowl itself and the water to clean it and the energy to cook it all... ok so maybe 1.50 or 2 dollars.  It's still WAY cheaper than going to get food out somewhere.  And even the caf at work is 6 bucks.  Sometimes we eat there but I used to do that every day!  6 bucks for  year can add up!  Or saving 4 or 5 or 8 bucks for a year can also add up to big savings!

My favorite part of the noodle bowl is that I can be  creative with it and always think of new combinations of things to put in it!  So now you know all about the 1 dollar lunchtime noodle bowl.  Feel free to give it a try and experiment away.  It took me a while to get all the combinations of things right.  But now I'm good to go.  So, as my boss says before he eats his noodle lunch... "it's time to noodle up!"

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