When I do Cold Prep Ramen, it seems to take at least two to four ounces of veggies and I sometimes just pile extra on a plate and KEEP adding veggies as the cup starts to empty out.
If you are an individual on the street, you can buy "Diced vegetables for Mirepoix" in a container in some grocery stores. It's typically 10 ounces and it takes me about four or five cold prep ramen meals to use it up, so I seem to use about 2 to 2.5 ounces per ramen cup.
Snow peas are a decent source of protein, higher than vegetables like potatoes and carrots, lower than most legumes. They are lightweight and bulky and a bag seems to last me longer than the mirepoix mix. I am likely using something like one to two ounces of snow peas most of the time.
If you were running a program, you could make a brown paper bag lunch with a cup or bowl of ramen, bottle of water, plastic fork, spork or spoon, and one or two small ziploc bags of veggies, possibly keeping the mirepoix separate from the snow peas for freshness. If possible, add salt and pepper packets.
I imagine both snow peas and mirepoix veggies would keep well enough that if you are a homeless individual buying supplies at a grocery store, you could potentially use up half at lunch and try to keep the rest in your bag and keep it out of the sun to keep it cool so it's still edible a few hours later for dinner.
Possible substitutions: You can use snap peas in place of snow peas; you could potentially use just onions and either carrot or celery, depending on what you have available. If you can get to a farmer's market and buy individual veggies in small amounts, you could potentially have just an onion and a carrot to go with your noodles.
Jack Links brand is softer than some other brands of jerky and comes in at least three flavors: Original, Pepper, Teriyaki. If you tear it into pieces and put it in soup, it's even easier to manage.
I buy a bag of shredded carrots, a bag of broccoli and I go heavy on the carrots. Total weight of veggies plus beef jerky is probably under five ounces most days.
I have also just added whatever veggies I had on hand after other stuff ran out. It's fine to add JUST mirepoix veggies or JUST shredded carrots and jerky.
I happen to like my two staple cold prep recipes and I don't feel like I am in some way "compromising," as if this somehow isn't REALLY lunch. I feel satisfied with cold diced veggies added to cold prep ramen noodles and I usually add a little salt to it.
But I'm also happy that when life gets in the way and I can only add carrots or only add beef jerky, etc., that's still perfectly edible even if it falls short of making me feel like I am spoiled and "This is fine dining!"
I've also tried adding fresh corn cut off the cob to my ramen and orange slices from a seedless orange. Both were edible, though the orange works better as a side dish than as an ingredient to add to cold prep ramen.
I have seen other diced vegetables in grocery stores, such as diced peppers or just diced onions. There is lots of room for experimenting with which veggies you prefer to add to ramen.
Mirepoix and Snow Peas
Mirepoix is a basic item for starting a variety of French dishes and it starts with a mix of diced onions, carrots and celery. Typically, half onions, one quarter carrots and one quarter celery.If you are an individual on the street, you can buy "Diced vegetables for Mirepoix" in a container in some grocery stores. It's typically 10 ounces and it takes me about four or five cold prep ramen meals to use it up, so I seem to use about 2 to 2.5 ounces per ramen cup.
Snow peas are a decent source of protein, higher than vegetables like potatoes and carrots, lower than most legumes. They are lightweight and bulky and a bag seems to last me longer than the mirepoix mix. I am likely using something like one to two ounces of snow peas most of the time.
If you were running a program, you could make a brown paper bag lunch with a cup or bowl of ramen, bottle of water, plastic fork, spork or spoon, and one or two small ziploc bags of veggies, possibly keeping the mirepoix separate from the snow peas for freshness. If possible, add salt and pepper packets.
I imagine both snow peas and mirepoix veggies would keep well enough that if you are a homeless individual buying supplies at a grocery store, you could potentially use up half at lunch and try to keep the rest in your bag and keep it out of the sun to keep it cool so it's still edible a few hours later for dinner.
Possible substitutions: You can use snap peas in place of snow peas; you could potentially use just onions and either carrot or celery, depending on what you have available. If you can get to a farmer's market and buy individual veggies in small amounts, you could potentially have just an onion and a carrot to go with your noodles.
Beef Broccoli
Beef jerky is on a short list of shelf-stable, not vegetarian sources of protein that are homeless friendly. However, a LOT of homeless people have serious dental issues and have trouble chewing.Jack Links brand is softer than some other brands of jerky and comes in at least three flavors: Original, Pepper, Teriyaki. If you tear it into pieces and put it in soup, it's even easier to manage.
I buy a bag of shredded carrots, a bag of broccoli and I go heavy on the carrots. Total weight of veggies plus beef jerky is probably under five ounces most days.
I have also just added whatever veggies I had on hand after other stuff ran out. It's fine to add JUST mirepoix veggies or JUST shredded carrots and jerky.
I happen to like my two staple cold prep recipes and I don't feel like I am in some way "compromising," as if this somehow isn't REALLY lunch. I feel satisfied with cold diced veggies added to cold prep ramen noodles and I usually add a little salt to it.
But I'm also happy that when life gets in the way and I can only add carrots or only add beef jerky, etc., that's still perfectly edible even if it falls short of making me feel like I am spoiled and "This is fine dining!"
I've also tried adding fresh corn cut off the cob to my ramen and orange slices from a seedless orange. Both were edible, though the orange works better as a side dish than as an ingredient to add to cold prep ramen.
I have seen other diced vegetables in grocery stores, such as diced peppers or just diced onions. There is lots of room for experimenting with which veggies you prefer to add to ramen.