Do you like any of the prepackaged asian "snack bowls"?

the only time I tried Annie Chung’s was at school using a microwave.. it didn’t taste very good to me, but I think that’s because I didn’t cook it long enough
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Good to get on the fly but the biggest drawback for me was the load of sodium they have. These packages could be in the World’s Guinness Record for having the most sodium content. I saw one once with more than 1000.

@mazingerz88 OUCH! I didn’t even think to look at that… Well, too late now, haha.

I like some, like the ubiquitous instant “ramen noodle” soup packages, or the soup bowls that you mention. My two little ones love them as snacks, but they do have a high sodium content and surprisingly, some have a high trans-fat content too. But they’re convenient and tasty.

It’s amazing the number of different pre-packaged snacks you find in Asian supermarkets. Literally hundreds. I’m cautious when I try a new one, that’s why I like to stick to our favorites “Sapporo Ichiban” and“Nissan” brands. There’s a couple of Korean brands out there with spicy hot noodles that I like too. You can find them in almost any convenience store. Open the lid, pour boiling water, wait 2 minutes and voila! Snack’s served.

When I was in Japan with my family, I remember having lunch on the streets of Tokyo where they served ramen noodles in huge bowls. It was very similar to the instant noodles you buy here, except they were freshly made (that is, not pre-packaged). Businessmen and people on the go find these “noodle stands” very convenient.

@MRSHINYSHOES My daughters love the chicken flavored Ramen noodles. I think the beef ones taste pretty good. I don’t think we have an Asian supermarket anywhere nearby, but I may have to google that. I love Asian food; I prefer Chinese and Japanese. Thai food is pretty good, but I don’t care for Vietnamese at all.

As a junk loving, bastard American, LOL, I’m a total sucker for the Americanized Chinese foods, in fact, I could damn near live on Chinese food! I have gotten to try some “authentic” Chinese food, as my cousin married an amazing Chinese woman. I have no idea what I’m eating when she cooks, lol, but whatever it is, it tastes good.

I’ve eaten at a lot of different Japanese hibachi restaurants, but I’m assuming their food has been “Americanized” as well. And I can’t eat sushi, unless it’s the California Roll, or some kind of spicy salmon roll, which is a shame because I’ve heard that sushi is pretty healthy. After all my junk food addictions, I could use a little healthy in my life, lol.

I don’t know about those prepackaged Asian deals you’re talking about, but I’m finding out that I’m enjoying the heck out of Indian food prepared in India – and so far no ill effects, either.

They’re good, but the sodium content is pretty much cruel and unusual punishment lol.

@Blackberry I’m getting that… I can feel my ankles swelling already, LOL.

@WillWorkForChocolate My little girls love the chicken flavored ramen noodles too! It’s actually their fav. Wonder why little kids like that kind? And yeah, the beef ones aren’t bad either.

I like Japanese food the most. Chinese food is tasty too, and the Americanization of Chinese food has made it even tastier! lol.

I was raised eating both Japanese and Chinese food (me being half Japanese and half Chinese——who can tell the difference, huh? lol-lol), and these “pre-packaged instant snacks” really became popular just within the past decade. When I was small, there were only maybe 2 or 3 brands. Now there’s like hundreds!

Yeah, I don’t like Vietnamese food either. Thai food is good, but fast food Thai is terrible. It’s like a poor imitation of Chinese food, I always joke.

You’re right, real Japanese and Chinese food tastes quite different from the Americanized versions, sometimes not that favorable to the American palette. But some of my white friends like the authentic fare.

I tried two of the different Thai Kitchen noodle bowls and didn’t care for them. They just seemed too greasy.

@Pied_Pfeffer The Spring Onion one that I just ate came with an orange oil packet, but I left it out. I only used the veggies and the seasoning packets. WTF do I want orange oil in a noodle bowl? Eewww.

Love them. Thai Kitchen, Simply Asia, etc. Especially Annie Chun’s, because the udon ones are pretty light without being flavorless. And they’re reasonably cheap at Trader Joe’s, under $3, unlike Safeway which tries to sell them for almost $5…

My husband used to get a few of them for work here & there if he could find the healthy ones at the store. Now that I’ve got him hooked on Miracle Noodles he’s not buying any pre-made bowls once & a while he splurges on a freezer meals from Whole foods

@WillWorkForChocolate Where where you last year when I bought them? :) Thanks for the tip!

For any prepackaged food, you should check the sodium content. This includes canned soups, frozen mac and cheese, etc.

I only prefer one asian snack bowl, but it’s typically on an asian woman.

I have tasted and enjoyed the ones that you listed, but those and some of the others such as Cup-O Noodles, Top Ramen and the instant ramen noodles that you can find at most Asian markets are so full of sodium and other chemicals and preservatives, that I now avoid them.

I just found a site that discusses what is bad about most instant ramen noodle dishes here and the poster talks about how to make your instant noodles healthier, and also gives a list of some of the better brands to choose to avoid all of the fat, MSG, sodium and preservatives.

There is a brand called McDougal’s Ramen Noodles that sounds like a yummy alternative to some of the others.

I know Whole Foods used to make their own brand of baked ramen noodles, rather than the fried kind, and their seasoning packets didn’t have a lot of preservatives, but they were still extremely high in sodium. I used to boil the noodles, ditch the seasoning packets and add my own seasonings and condiments. I would add a bit of blanched broccoli florets and carrots and top it with green onions and chopped peanuts.

Lately, I’ve been buying dried soba and somen noodles and making all sorts of things with them. You may have seen this recipe before (if you ever look at my postings on any of the food related questions) but I’ll re-post it here for anyone who’s interested, because this is one of my most favorite dishes of all time. It’s Cold Soba Noodle Salad With Peanut Butter Dressing

Here’s a delicious sounding recipe for making your own ramen noodle dish, by getting Japanese curly noodles or Chuka Soba noodles at an Asian market (they come dried in a package) Recipe

Here’s something similar using soba noodles that sounds pretty tasty. It takes a little longer than preparing the instant Top Ramen type of stuff, but not a lot longer, and this is much better for you and sounds really yummy.

You might also like this Cold Soba Noodle recipe. You can also use Somen noodles, which taste more like spaghetti noodles or white ramen noodles.

And here is an easy quick recipe for Somen Noodle Soup to which you can add just about any kind of vegetable, meat or even shrimp to it, to your taste.

And here is a mouth watering recipe for Somen Noodles with Sweet Soy Ginger Sauce plus some info about a couple of marvelous sounding noodle cookbooks that I may have to get!

Hope you have some fun noodling around in your kitchen. Sorry I could’t resist that : )

I like the Simply Asia Spicy Mongolian Noodle Bowls.

I just ate a VH steamer teriyaki chicken.