Take your work lunch to a whole new level by bringing your very own mason jar ramen! A DIY instant noodle cup!
Disclaimer: this post is sponsored by Natural Delights. Thank you for always supporting the brands who support me and make this blog possible!
Meal Prep 101
A few posts ago, I wrote a Q&A on meal prepping where I broke down what it was and how to start. A question that I got was if I could break down how exactly I meal prep for the week. This post is the second in my two part-er where I show you how I use similar ingredients to make two different meals for the week, you know, to keep things exciting for lunch. I pretty much made both consecutively and thought this would be the easiest way to share with you my meal plan/prep so you get a better sense of how to meal prep yourself! If you’ve missed part one, you can read it here: “Meal Prep: Healthy Cauliflower Fried Rice with Baked Snap Peas.” So let’s get started!
Mason Jar Ramen – DIY Instant Noodles
Can we talk about ramen? I love a good bowl of ramen but going out for lunch at the ramen place down the street from my work place costs me around $11. ELEVEN. Not including tax or tip! I mean yes, a bag of instant ramen costs around $0.99 but it just isn’t good as the ones from the restaurant. So that got me thinking… how can I recreate it and be able to bring it to work? Well I figured it out and I’m here to share! Plus it’s easy!
One of my favourite part of ramen is the soy sauce egg. The soy sauce egg takes the most work because it requires a bit of prep beforehand as it needs to marinate in the soy sauce mixture for 2-6 hours. A traditional soy sauce egg marinate is made with a mixture of soy sauce and sugar. I decided to try a different route because to be honest, I feel a little guilty about putting straight up white sugar into my marinate. Instead, I made a paste with some medjool dates and used it to naturally sweeten the marinate.
Related Recipe: Thai Shrimp Noodles in a Jar
Okay, let’s talk about the next steps and how this is part two of my meal prep. In the healthy cauliflower fried rice recipe, I mentioned buying a large bag of frozen corn, peas, and pre cut carrots because it’s cheaper. For this mason jar ramen, I used all three of those as you may have noticed dehydrated versions in instant ramen packs. This way, with the inclusion of the vegs and sugar swap, I feel less guilty about eating ramen. I didn’t have any snap peas left from the last recipe but if I did, I would have thrown those in too!
Minus the marinating of the egg, it really took less than 5 minutes to put this mason jar ramen together. You put in your base (beef stock and miso), then you layer in your frozen corn, peas, carrots, noodles (that were cooked for around a minute), and finally your egg. Then you seal it up and when you’re ready to eat, pour some boiled water in the jar (or pour it into a bowl at work) and give it a good mix!
Homemade Ramen Add-in Ideas
- pork
- chicken
- beef
- seaweed
- mushrooms
- bok choy
- spinach
- tofu
What You’ll Need To Make Homemade Cup Noodles
Soy Sauce Eggs Ingredients
- Natural Delights medjool date
- low sodium soy sauce
- garlic
- water
- boiled egg
Ramen Ingredients
- instant noodles
- beef bouillion
- miso paste
- frozen corn
- frozen peas
- carrot
I used marukome organic miso (in low sodium) and Better Than Bouillon beef base as my soup base for this mason jar ramen. I’ve mentioned before that I love mason jar soups and let’s be honest, I do not drink the soup that comes in instant noodle packs because of the MSG that is in it. With this mason jar ramen, the soup is actually tasty and healthy because we are making our own little mason jar soups with no added sodium! A delicious healthy soup to go with your ramen! Win-win!
How To Make Mason Jar Instant Noodles
Soy Sauce Eggs – The night before
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Soak your dates for 5-10 minutes until soften. When they’re ready to go, put them in a food processor with a bit of liquid and process until it becomes a paste consistency.
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In a pot, pour in your soy sauce, water, garlic, and date paste. Bring it to a boil.
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Once the mixture has come to a boil, let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then let it cool.
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Once cooled, pour the liquid into an airtight container and place your peeled boiled eggs in. Let it sit in the fridge for two hours minimum or overnight.
Ramen
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Cook your noodles 2 minutes under the cook time according to the instructions on the bag. Do not add in the seasoning. Rinse with cold water once the noodles are done to stop the noodles from continuing to cook.
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In each mason jar, put in 0.5 tbsp of the Better Than Bouillon beef, 1 tbsp of the marukome miso, and as much corn/peas/carrots/other toppings you’d like. Then layer in the noodles.
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Before sealing your mason jar, get your egg from the marinate from the night before (or two hours earlier) and place it in your jar.
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When you’re at work, fill the jar with hot water to finish the cooking process and to make the broth (please be careful, the glass jar + hot water = hot glass jar!)
the amount in the spoon is for display purposes only. these are not the measurements!
Meal Prep: Mason Jar Ramen
Ingredients
Soy Sauce Eggs
- 2 Natural Delights medjool date, pitted
- 3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup water
- 4 eggs, boiled
Ramen
- 4 packs instant noodles
- 2 tbsp Better Than Bouillon beef (0.5 tbsp per mason jar)
- 4 tbsp marukome miso (1 tbsp per mason jar)
- frozen corn
- frozen peas
- carrots
Instructions
Soy Sauce Eggs - The night before
- Soak your dates for 5-10 minutes until soften. When they're ready to go, put them in a food processor with a bit of liquid and process until it becomes a paste consistency.
- In a pot, pour in your soy sauce, water, garlic, and date paste. Bring it to a boil.
- Once the mixture has come to a boil, let it simmer for 5 minutes. Then let it cool.
- Once cooled, pour the liquid into an airtight container and place your peeled boiled eggs in. Let it sit in the fridge for two hours minimum or overnight.
Ramen
- Cook your noodles 2 minutes under the cook time according to the instructions on the bag. Do not add in the seasoning. Rinse with cold water once the noodles are done to stop the noodles from continuing to cook.
- In each mason jar, put in 0.5 tbsp of the Better Than Bouillon beef, 1 tbsp of the marukome miso, and as much corn/peas/carrots/other toppings you'd like. Then layer in the noodles.
- Before sealing your mason jar, get your egg from the marinate from the night before (or two hours earlier) and place it in your jar.
- When you're at work, fill the jar with hot water to finish the cooking process and to make the broth (please be careful, the glass jar + hot water = hot glass jar!)
Nutrition
I hope you’ve enjoyed this two parter on meal prepping! Having similar ingredients but different dishes provides me with a bit of variety and prevents me from getting bored from eating the same lunch every day. You can either do it all at once at the beginning of the week if you want to alternate the dishes. Or you can prep two to three days ahead and have half the week eating one dish and the second half another!
Click here: Meal Prep: Healthy Cauliflower Fried Rice with Baked Snap Peas if you want to read part one of the two parter.
Let’s Chat! Are you a fan of ramen? What is your favourite dish to bring to work?
MORE MEAL PREPS TO TRY
- Spicy Korean Chicken Meal Prep
- Honey Lime Garlic Chicken with Pistachios
- Pomegranate Glazed Chicken Thighs
- Cold Chicken Spinach Pasta Meal Prep
- Mason Jar Shepherd’s Pie Meal Prep
RESOURCES AND TIPS FOR MEAL PREPPING
- How To Cook Chicken Breasts Perfectly
- What Is An Instant Pot
- Tips To Help You Meal Prep For The Week Successfully
- Meal Prep Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mealprepsupport/
Other places to connect with me
Instagram: @carmyshungry
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/carmyycom
Email: carmy@carmyy.com
Christina
I have been looking for a good miso – I’ll check out the marukome brand!!
Abbey Sharp
This is genius and definitely beats waiting in line at a ramen shop!
Mikki
Oh my goodness.. how fun is this! Love the idea of the egg addition too! Brilliant! And the pictures are great!
Ilka
I loved this idea of tast healthy food for when you’re on the go….Pinning it!!
Rebecca
great idea! love layered salads & noodle dishes