Once upon a time I had a day job that forced me to leave my home and be away all day. The only lunch restaurant nearby wanted more than I earned in an hour for a meager salad, and twice that for anything substantial, so I brought my own lunches to work, and tried to keep the cost below what I could earn in 20 minutes. Makes sense, doesn't it? If you work 8 hours a day, why spend the wages of 1 or 2 hours just to get through the afternoon?
Then a friend asked me how I managed to eat so cheap, so I took some pictures to explain. At least about the instant ramen part. Most days I just threw some leftovers into a lunchbox and ate them cold, but that's another story. This is what I told my friend:
Instant ramen comes in zillions of flavours and brands. Some work better than others with just pouring boiling water on top. Try them out at home, find what works for you.
Read the label. If it's chicken ramen, add some chicken for toppings, if it's shrimp tom yum, add seafood. Tofu or boiled eggs work with almost any flavour.
Forget about cup noodles - why pay up to 50% extra for a styrofoam cup you'll throw away? Buy a cheap plastic bowl and a cheap plastic plate to use for a lid, and go with the package noodles instead. Or even porcelain bowl+plate. Make it a large enough bowl that you have room for as much toppings as you need. Cup noodles never have room for extra toppings.
Save time by chopping up your ramen toppings while cooking supper. Then you don't have to get out the chopping board and a knife in the morning, and wash them up again, after slicing one mushroom and half a tomato. Boil an extra egg for next day's lunch while you are at it. Boil 3 extra eggs, peel them, and put them in the fridge! They'll keep.
Think protein + colourful veg + bulk veg when you pick the toppings. Protein because you need it, colourful veg because of antioxidants and stuff and they make the food look nice, bulk veg in case you are extra hungry but don't need much extra calories.
Bring some small bottles/jars of condiments to work, if you have room to keep them. Sri racha, tomato paste, peanuts, peanut butter, sesame oil, roast onions, whatever you like... It's much easier to just add those at the time of eating, than trying to transport just one day's amount of condiment along with the food. And sometimes you don't know which extra is needed until you taste the food, so then it's nice to have choices.
It's lunch, at work! It doesn't have to be 100% balanced and healthy. It just needs to have enough calories to get you through until you get home, and be appealing enough in taste and looks so that you eat it. No matter what you do it'll be healthier than what you get at a restaurant anyway. Less fat, less salt, and you can stop eating anytime without feeling "I paid for this, I have to eat it all."
What do you think? Did I give my friend good advice, or is it all nonsense?
(All pictures taken by me. All food eaten by me.)