Instant Soup: A Risky Business
Even though I have more money now than the no money I had before, I'm trying very hard to make sure that I'm not wasting anything. I know how to buy a lunch for $2.25 or less on campus, and know that bringing my own is often far cheaper. And despite the fact that I have been mocked for my continued consumption of the not-very-good Mr. Noodles brand ramen noodle soup in a cup, these things are very convenient. On the days that I have no cash and no time to make a meal, grabbing a cup of soup from the cupboard as I run out the door seems to be a good solution.
So you may imagine my delight upon finding a specialty brand of soup-in-a-cup that doesn't involve ramen. They had many varieties, of which I bought two. The ingredients list seemed to be appealing: full of real (if understandably dehydrated) vegetables. How could I go wrong?
Easily. Very, very easily.
Some vegetables, apparently, never rehydrate to the point of edibility. Ramen noodles do taste better than slightly crunchy, slightly gooey noodles, and one cannot truly call something a "broth" if it is simply a mixture of floating bits and discoloured water--two elements which need constant stirring to remain together. Not, of course, that you particularly want to swallow the resulting sludge.
And don't even get me started on the amazing dissolving beans.
My trip to the pitiful food stand (it does not earn the name of "cafeteria") in this building to find something, anything, to fill the churning pit of hunger that is my stomach leads me to my next discovery: packaged cookies described as "chewy" should really have their packages proclaim them "soggy." And, in the realm of soggy cookies, always aim towards the oatmeal and away from the chocolate varieties. Trust me. (After all, someone should. My stomach gave up on me a long time ago.)
(A timely message from Sarah allows me to add the following: instant udon is not good either. At all. Avoid, avoid, avoid.)
