Sarah Spencer
While ramen began as a luxury food, instant ramen noodles are now the poster child for a cheap meal in America. There are countless jokes and memes about broke college students living on ramen, as well as articles acknowledging the sad reality that many people living under the poverty line may see instant ramen as one of their few affordable choices. One of the biggest mysteries is this: why, exactly, is it so cheap?
When we say cheap, we mean CHEAP: the average packet is only 13 cents, meaning you would spend only $142.65 for an entire year’s worth of meals. That is only about 3% of what the typical American spends on food each year. While we don’t recommend eating ramen 3 meals a day, 365 days a year, that low cost makes it really appealing for people working with a small budget.
Here are some of the top reasons that instant ramen is so cheap:
- All of the ingredients are cheap: flour, water, salt, eggs, and MSG or sodium.
- Packets are extremely light, which drastically reduces the per-unit shipping cost.
- It is created by frying fresh noodles to ensure longer shelf life, making it perfect for mass production and easy to produce in large quantities.
- The packaging is extremely cheap.
So there you have it: more information than you ever probably wanted to know. Now you have some new facts for trivia night and can rest easy knowing the mystery behind cheap instant ramen.
