Remember that head of purple cabbage from week one of the SNAP Challenge? Well, to my surprise, it still hadn’t gone rotten. Sure, it was a little discolored on the open/cut surface, but I just sliced a thin 1/4 inch off the front, peeled off a couple outer leaves, and it was as good as new! Not wanting to let my precious vegetable to go to waste, I made that purple cabbage into a colorful, delicious, and super easy Vegetable Stir Fry with Noodles.
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I bought a couple extra vegetables to add to the stir fry (carrots, green bell peppers, green onion, and cilantro) and used an onion that I already had on hand. In interest of making this stir fry as simple as possible, I made the most basic of basic sauces (just like the sauce on the famous Dragon Noodles) with just soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, and some corn starch for thickness. Cook everything up in a super hot skillet and you have an amazingly fast veggie-full meal.
If you’re not into ramen noodles (I know someone is about to leave me a comment about how ramen is the devil), you can spoon the sauced up stir fry vegetables over a bowl of warm rice. That would be just as awesome and just as cheap (maybe even more so)!
I wasn’t expecting this stir fry to hold well in the refrigerator all week, but I have to admit, I kind of like the refrigerated leftovers. The colors definitely aren’t as vibrant after a day or so and everything turns kind of violet from the purple cabbage, but the sauce gets all thick, the vegetables soften a bit more, and it almost tastes kind of rich. If you’re really put off by soft noodles, you may not like the leftovers as much, but I’ve totally been digging them!
For the entire month of September, I’ll be participating in the SNAP Challenge and attempting to eat on $4.50 per day. Read more here.
SNAP Challenge: Vegetable Stir Fry with Noodles
Servings 6 about 1.25 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.04)
- 1/2 head purple cabbage ($0.91)
- 2 green bell peppers ($1.00)
- 2 carrots ($0.27)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.42)
- 2 -3 oz bricks ramen noodles ($0.54)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce ($0.40)
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.05)
- 2 Tbsp Sriracha or less ($0.18)
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.04)
- 3 green onions, sliced ($0.33)
- handful cilantro (optional) ($0.28)
Instructions
- Remove the core and any wilted outer leaves from the cabbage, then cut it into very fine strips. Cut the onion and green bell pepper into thin strips as well. Use a large holed cheese grater to shred the carrots.
- In a small bowl prepare the sauce by stirring together the soy sauce, brown sugar, sriracha, and corn starch.
- Begin to cook the noodles according to the package directions (boil for 3 minutes, or until tender). Drain the cooked noodles in a colander.
- Heat the vegetable oil over medium high heat in a large skillet until it is hot and shimmering. Add the vegetables and sauté for only a few minutes, or until the vegetables just begin to soften. Pour the prepared sauce into the skillet and continue to sauté for one to two minutes more, or until the sauce has thickened and coated all of the vegetables. Turn off the heat.
- Add the cooked and drained noodles to the stir fried vegetables and toss to combine. Top with sliced green onions and a handful of fresh cilantro, if desired.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Vegetable Stir Fry Noodles – Step by Step Photos
Begin by preparing your vegetables. The cooking process is fast, so you need to have it all prepped ahead of time and ready to go. I used 1/2 head of purple cabbage, 2 green bell peppers, 2 carrots, and one yellow onion.
Cut the cabbage, onion, and bell pepper all into thin strips and use a large holed cheese grater to shred the carrot.
Prepare the sauce ahead of time, too, so it’s ready to pour in when you need it. In a small bowl stir together 1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, and about 2 Tbsp sriracha (less if you’re not that into hot stuff, but you want at least some because it provides the acidic vinegar element to balance the sauce).
Cook two 3-oz. bricks of ramen noodles according to the package directions (boil for three minutes), then drain in a colander. I broke the bricks in half so that the noodle strings wouldn’t be quite so long. Long noodles are really hard to stir in and combine with chunky ingredients, like the vegetables. Shorter strands combine easier.
Heat two tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil and skillet are very hot (the oil should look shimmery or wavy on the surface, but not smoking), add the vegetables and sauté for a few minutes, or JUST until they begin to soften. They’ll continue to cook a little more in the next couple of steps, so you don’t want to over cook at this point.
Pour the sauce over the vegetables and sauté for one to two minutes more, or just until the sauce has thickened and coated all of the vegetables.
Finally, stir in the cooked ramen until it is well combined with the vegetables and coated in the sauce.
Top the stir fry with sliced green onions and a handful of cilantro (if desired). Enjoy!
Colorful, delicious, easy, and INEXPENSIVE. :D
Loved this recipe! My grocery store was out of Sriracha so I used chili paste instead and it tasted great! Adding this one to the rotation for sure.
This dish is SUBLIME!!! I swapped red and orange bell peppers for the green, but otherwise kept the recipe the same. It was delicious like crazy. I’ll definitely be sharing and making this recipe again. So good.
Made it today for the first time and loved it! It barely fit in the pan at first, but then as the veggies started to soften, the size reduced significantly, and it was easy enough to stir. Paired the veggies up with some bean vermicelli instead of ramen because, one, we didn’t have ramen, and two, yay – extra protein! Thanks for the recipe, this one is a keeper!
This recipe was great. My only regret was not using my spiralizer.
Solid recipe. I was worried it would taste lacking in some way for the sake of fitting the SNAP challenge, but it was actually a total hit. I did add some minced garlic because I had some to use up and garlic goes with everything, and I used rice noodles instead of ramen noodles because we had half a box in the pantry. I think it would have been great either way. The sauce is full of great flavor and I actually didn’t miss the meat. The dish was filling and tasty enough without it.
Does this reheat well? Bringing it to some friends one evening and not sure how far in advance I can cook this.
Yes but I’d keep the noodles separate as they’ll get mushy.
Such a great recipe, thank you!! How do you do the price breakdown?
Fantastic recipe! Adds garlic because I add garlic to everything haha, but it’s one of my new go-to budget friendly recipes!
*added garlic*
Can’t have too much garlic!
This is delicious and so easy!! Made with a red and yellow bell and added 2 cloves of diced garlic to the sauce. Delicious, some chopped peanut on top would be good too. I sprinkled some sesame seeds on top. Thanks, will be making this a lot! Looking forward to eating it cold for lunch this week (:
This recipe is amazing! I’ve made it twice now exactly as written (topped with pan-fried tofu) and my husband and I love it. We’ve since modified the recipe slightly by doubling the cabbage and omitting one package of noodles (we are cabbage freaks) and it is still so so so good!
This was absolutely delicious! Made it exactly as written and my husband and I gobbled it up so fast. I’m so happy that I found such a yummy budget-friendly dish. This is a keeper : )
Thank you for this recipe. This is soooo good. I used the stir fry veggies I had prepped in the fridge (carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash and red onion). The sauce is easy and delicious. Good with whatever veggies you have on hand.
I’m excited to try this because it’s inexpensive and filled with vegetables (vs. starch)… BUT I want to know where you’re finding bell peppers at two for $1.00?!? I can’t find them anywhere in Seattle for less than $3.50 each!
I was living in Louisiana when I made this recipe and the local grocery store there often had green bell peppers 2/$1. Prices for ingredients do vary quite a bit from region to region, store to store, and season to season, so you have to take the price info with a grain of salt.
Cheap, easy and so delicious! Subbed out the green pepper for brussel sprouts….perfect for my family of 4 vegan/plant based eaters…thank you!
This is super delicious!! I shared with everyone i know! Thanks :)
This recipe was yummy, fun and easy to make. I used a green and red pepper, broccoli, onion, garlic and a bought a bag of a chopped rainbow salad which contained the red cabbage, carrots, and cauliflower. I used thin rice noodles since I had a box on hand. Looks so pretty in the dish and the sauce was amazing. I used one tablespoon of siracha which gave it just the right kick,. And yes, the leftovers were yummy. I am a Chinese food lover and this definitely satisfied my craving..
Delicious!
hi! just one quick question, did you just buy the extremely cheap ramen noodles that a lot of college kids buy and just omit the flavoring packet? it was so tough to find plain ramen noodles, but maybe the store you shop at has a better selection?
I just used the cheap kind and threw away the flavoring packet. The noodles are all the same flavor, the only thing that changes is what’s in the little silver packet. :)
WOW!!! The SNAP Challenge Vegetable Stir Fry Noodles was out-of-this world DELICIOUS!!!! I used a coleslaw mix that contained carrots, purple and green cabbage and used one large green bell pepper. I also used three bricks of Ramen Noodles, since my sister was kind enough to take me to the supermarket after getting off from work and was hungry, so I fed her. I added some chopped boneless, skinless chicken thighs to stretch out the stir fry. The sauce was so freaking good, which had a kick to it. My sister wants the recipe now, so she can make it for my mom. I’m going to make this recipe again very soon. Thank you, Beth!!! :-)
I recently discovered your blog and I’ve got to say I love it! This recipe is one of our favorites! I do have to make a few substitutions and adjustments particularly to make it less spicy as my 1 year old enjoys eating it as well.
We just moved to Japan (around the same time I found this site) and your recipes have been amazing to use as inspiration to try new things. Of course, sometimes I don’t know what I’m buying from the local stores, so we play mystery foods quite often, but they always turn out well in your recipes! Thank you!
What can we use as a substitute for corn starch? I do not really cook with corn starch so buying it for one recipe does not make sense for me.
Also did you find a replacement for Sriracha that is kid friendly?
Thank you for all your hard work!
Some people use arrow root powder in place of cornstarch, but I’m sure that’s far more expensive and I’m guessing you don’t keep that on hand either. :) You might be able to try hoisin sauce in place of the sriracha, but without trying it I’m not sure how it will affect the sweet and acid flavor balances.
That looks so good.
I’m always trying to eat healthier and save money on groceries, and I decided to try this. It’s delicious! So cheap and healthy. Sometimes I eat ramen plain, but this is just as filling and far healthier with all the tasty and satisfying vegetables mixed with just a small amount of noodles. I did make a few alterations but it’s still super affordable (at least for me). I cut the sugar at least by half and I used chili garlic sauce instead of sriracha, because I think it tastes better and it’s all I had in the fridge. I also added a small amount of ground ginger and minced garlic. When I reheated the leftovers, I added a tiny amount of crushed peanuts and a scrambled egg. I ate the leftovers two days later and I thought they kept fine, but I also kept the ramen noodles separate in the fridge.
SO GOOD! Even though I slightly overcooked the veggies, this was still the most bomb Asian food I’ve ever made. Thanks so much for giving thrifty cooks such great recipes and inspiration.
Note: I happened to have snap peas and rotisserie chicken on hand, so I threw those in- but the original recipe could most definitely stand alone.
Very tasty! I used a little less sriracha than written because I am a wimp. I like how flexible this is in the sense of “if you have veggies in the fridge to get rid of, you can use them here”. Will definitely remember this in the future! (Might try other noodles next time.)
I’ve made this recipe a few times now, and it’s awesome! Definitely a keeper!
I want to try the vegetables stir fry with noodles. are they freezable?
This one isn’t so great for freezing because the vegetables will become very limp and wet upon thawing.
My 2-year-old said this was “dewicious” and shoveled it in with alarming speed. Because it’s impossible not to alter recipes, I did scramble some eggs in the pan before adding the sauce. Thanks much!
Delicious! I changed the sauce measurements as I felt like it was going to be too dry otherwise. I used 1/2 cup soy sauce, 4 tbsp. brown sugar, 4 tbsp. siracha and 2 tbsp. flour (didn’t have cornstarch). It was so so so good. I kept going back to the fridge and eating more. It was also so cheap to make!
Another budget bytes hit for sure.
Forgot to mention that I also added garlic and ginger.. because I love garlic and ginger!
This recipe is easy to make and delicious! I usually add 3-4 tbsp Sriracha to get the right amount spiciness.
Best. Stir fry. Ever!!!! I added broccoli to use it up and made extra sauce. Everyone loved it!
I appreciated that the prices of each individual recipe item is listed!
Thank you for the recipes.
Put your ginger in the freezer! Not that there is ginger in this recipe….
Would you consider a section for the proper storage of foods? I keep buying ginger and it gets moldy after a few days, I am not sure if it’s the ginger Inam buying or how I am storing it
Didn’t try the whole recipe but I used the stir fry sauce with an added tsp of sesame oil and one less TBSP of sugar. It was great! Wonderful for when I’m cooking with someone else’s pantry items as the sauce has minimal ingredients.
Another winner from BB! I didn’t have a pan large enough, but a large pot did the job. Make sure you take the pot off your electric burner though when you add the noodles (ugh!). But seriously, nice and spicy and I love all of the veggie action.
We wound up substituting whole wheat spaghetti noodles broken in half for the ramen, and it still turned out great. We wound up alternating between this and the hoisin noodle salad for a week; both super easy, healthy, cheap, and incredibly tasty!
Thanks for this! Didn’t follow the recipe but did use the idea of the sauce, replacing the 3tbsp of brown sugar by 2 tbsp of honey and adding a tsp of five spice. I’ve always been looking for a good base to make stirfry sauce and this seems to be it! Next time I’ll add some garlic instead of five spice, that seems delicious too.
WE LOVED THIS! We used whatever veggies we had and had the best lunch. I am moving out soon and i am so excited to play with this. We also added fried onions, yumm!
This one is going to be a do over for me. I liked the ingredients, simple and easy to make, but I found it to be too spicy for me and the particular kind of soy sauce I have on hand is very dark and I don’t think I like it. I am going to try this one again, maybe find a lighter soy sauce, or just stick to some sesame seed oil and come up with my own sauce.
Hi Beth! This was amazing! BTW I used a bag of cole slaw because I am lazy. I think next time I will add peanuts or cashews and mandarin oranges to mix things up.
Your greatest fan,
L
This was delicious!! I used a bag of mixed stirfry veggies (kale, brussel sprouts, carrots etc.) instead of the cabbage, and added a couple tablespoons of peanut butter. It all turned out great. Flavourful and spicy, exactly what I wanted! :)
Kiddo (5) pronounced this dish “Not bad, mama.”
Husband ate seconds.
Like everybody else did some adjustments, less sriracha because of kiddo, zucchini instead of carrots. Added a clove of chopped garlic for a few second a right before adding sauce. All good!
We absolutely loved this. I tweaked it slightly. I added a couple of cloves of minced garlic and a small knob of minced ginger to the vegetables; I used one red and one green bell pepper. I added some sesame oil (roasted) to the vegetable oil as well as to the sauce. Used the full complement of srichacha sauce. It was definitely zippy for my palate! But just wonderful. My partner was skeptical when he saw all the veggies :-) but he loved it too. Oh! I forgot to buy green onions and felt that the dish would need that textural contrast, so I topped with sliced almonds in addition to the cilantro. We both loved that. Thank you so much for this wonderful site! I love cooking healthfully whilst being mindful of my pennies :-)
I made it with a tablespoon of peanut butter added to the sauce, a little light on the sriracha (could have used the full two measures, and I’m not a spicy devotee), and a little light on the sugar.
I loved this the first night, but I didn’t dig the leftovers so much, sadly. It seemed like the sauce lost its punch – do you think I could make up another half measure of the sauce and add it to bring it back some? Or will the watery nature of ramen and vegetables continue to win out?
I suppose if it’s not a holder for me, I could prep the veggies and maybe the sauce, and keep it in the fridge to cook single portions. It’s simple enough, just prepping the veggies would probably be enough to convince me it’s easier than calling take out.
Thanks, as always, Beth. I cook more often and more happily with your recipes than ever before.
Prepping the vegetables and then cooking single portions will definitely give you the best results throughout the week, but adding a little extra sauce will also liven up the cooked portions some. :) It will continue to get softer throughout the week if all cooked at once (I was actually kinda glad for that because my stomach has a hard time with cabbage!)
could this work with plain green cabbage?
Yep!
I’m really digging on these noodle recipes. I actually like noodle stirfrys cold the next day, so I’m going to try that. I just made the Dragon Noodles, I can’t wait to try this stir fry and get some veggies in there!
Made this tonight – success! These noodle dishes are so quick and easy and flexible with changing around ingredients. Just throw in whatever veggies I need to use up. The only essential is cilantro of course! I bought a bunch of ramen tonight to have on hand. I now have another staple to have on hand that I can use to whip up a quick main dish:)
Mmmm, made this tonight but with some leftover rice noodles we had to use up, switched the soy sauce with liquid aminos, and no green onions cause the grocery store was out (whaa??)…it was delicious! Next time I think I’ll add some peanut butter like some posters said, great idea guys.
This looks so gorgeous! I can’t believe it costs less than $5 to make, too. Definitely going to be giving it a go. I’m so impressed with how many vegetables you managed to get in there!
This was great! I made it along with the Honey Sriracha Chicken Thighs from this site and wanted the stir fry to be less sweet, so I cut the sugar to 1 Tbsp. and added about 1.5 Tbsp of peanut butter instead. I also threw some chopped peanuts into the stir fry for crunch. Delicious!
I’m living with four other girls sharing one kitchen, so most everything I’ve been eating is frozen leftovers. These veggies are so hard, though, that I can chop up a big batch, put it in a big baggie, and cook some up whenever I want something fresher. I’ve been working on this bag for two weeks now, and everything’s still crisp. Yum!
My boyfriend made a double batch of this, and while it was delicious, it was too much for us to finish before we got sick of it–and made a mess! We will have to get a wok! He also used a heavier noodle, since neither one of us really likes ramen.
Brilliant recipe, and makes loads! I substituted sriracha with a mix of chilli sauce and ketchup, cut down on the sugar and added fishcake slices.
I also had a brainwave – I made Okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake) out of the second bowl of leftovers I had from this.
This achieves 3 things:
1. It changes the dish up enough that you feel like you’re eating something new.
2. It crisps up the softened veg and noodles (provided you only add enough batter to hold it together)
3. It stretches out your leftovers, especially helpful if you haven’t got a full serving left over.
And you only really need 3 ingredients which are pantry staples for the batter – egg, flour and water. (I added a little chicken bouillon powder to mine, traditionally dashi stock is used instead of water)
Note that as opposed to the usual way of cooking Okonomiyaki, you scoop a circle of leftovers into the pan and pour the batter on top to form the pancakes, instead of the usual manner of mixing it up with the batter first. The leftovers are a little too chunky to mix in the batter directly.
I love it! Thanks for sharing! :)
The stir fry sauce turned out spicier than I really wanted, so I added a tablespoon of peanut butter (loosened a tiny bit with some vegetable oil) to mellow out the spiciness, and it was perfect! Thanks for the recipe!
This was fabulous! I tweaked it a bit to suit our tastes and what I had on hand (used green cabbage instead of purple, added an extra carrot and some leftover pork chops I diced up and left out the green onions and cilantro) and it was amazing! It made a ton of food, so it will be a great recipe to prepare when the kids are all going to be home for dinner!
Beth, I loved this one! I had a serious takeout craving and this hit the spot at a fraction of the price.
Re: some of the comments, I think this is one of those recipes that is a great template to tweak to your own tastes so if you are concerned about the sugar/protein content then adapt it! I made it the first time as written, but for my personal taste knocked back the sugar in the sauce by half and upped the veggie-to-noodle ratio when I made it the second time. To add some protein, I threw in 1/2 cup of shelled edamame and then topped with a handful of roasted peanuts before serving. Scrambling a couple eggs in the pan prior to adding the sauce would also work well. Not thrilled about Ramen? Skip the noodles and serve it over steamed rice.
WOW, this is amazing, so easy and the flavor is unbelievable. Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes. Love this site, thank you.
I found this recipe was a great way to use produce from my CSA basket. I added summer squash as I had several to use. Earlier in the summer I had sliced and bagged a huge head of purple cabbage to freeze so I used some of that. My only regret is that I used 2 tablespoons of sriracha suace. I should have used less.
Made this tonight and it was really good! I mean it’s a “keeper” recipe for me. Thanks!
Add a scoop of chunky peanut butter, and your dressing/sauce is nearly identical to one of my favorites!
I absolutely love this! I’ve been following along on your blog now and again. The SNAP challenge is a real way to create some great cheap recipes for your viewers. You do that already. I really enjoy it!
I’ve decided that cabbage is a miracle vegetable! Sometimes I find a partial head of it in the fridge from who knows how long ago, and it’s still firm enough to cook up. And it’s so inexpensive! Half a head is more than enough for a sizable meal.
Does this stir-fry taste at all like coleslaw? It looks really pretty and I want to try it, but I really don’t like coleslaw and I think it might be because of the raw cabbage.
BTW- I am LOVING this challenge! I’ve noticed that I spend a lot of money on food– mostly because of I don’t prepare enough! I decided this week to really crack down on how much I am spending and how much I am eating.
If you don’t like raw cabbage, you might not like this. BUT you can certainly use different vegetables. :) It doesn’t taste a lot like cole slaw to me, though, because it doesn’t have that cole slaw dressing. You can also cook the cabbage down a little further if you don’t mind cooked cabbage.
Something to consider is that some people who have SNAP benefits are also living in shelters, where there is no private, locked fridge for your goods, and you have to carry all your stuff with you so it doesn’t get stolen.
That can seriously hamper what you can buy, as well as its longevity.
And having health problems sometimes means that special food is more expensive. Gluten free, low sodium, sugar free, etc. It is hard, especially if you are just starting out on that new health regime as ordered by the doctor, to find the right foods at a cheap price.
I’ve lived this for real, with no benefits, growing up. It’s hard. Oatmeal for most meals. Ramen was a treat. My dad supplemented our food by hunting.
Beth, you are doing pretty awesome! This is a great thing to bring awareness to.
Everyone complaining about the lack of protein, this snap challenge put a number of restraints and I think that this recipe is a functional and realistic one for someone who has to live under those standards. Yes, she could have thrown in an egg or some beans, but she’s working on a budget. This blog is named BudgetBytes. Also, vegetables has protein as well.
½ head purple cabbage 6 g protein
2 green bell peppers 2 g protein
2 carrots 1.2 g protein
1 yellow onion 0.8 g protein
2 3-oz. bricks of ramen noodles 18 g protein
28 g protein = 4.67 g protein per serving
Adult women need about 46 grams a day
So, with this recipe, she’s getting about 10% of her recommended daily protein intake. However, she is eating other things throughout the day as well. Sometimes, when you have time and financial constraints, getting your complete, 100% recommended nutritional intake is hard. Just keep that in mind before you judge someone.
I wonder about a price comparison between farmer’s market produce and that at your local supermarket. Many farmer’s markets now have programs that allow some sort of exchange for SNAP credits. Anyone have experience using a similar program?
When I was using SNAP, the fact that farmers markets allowed for SNAP tokens was a godsend. Especially in the summer – quite a few programs allow you to ‘double up’ the amount of money you can spend.
For the critics of low protein and high sugar:
I plugged this recipe into My Fitness Pal and found that each serving has 5 grams of protein and 12 grams of sugar. Both are not unreasonable, considering all the great nutrition you’re getting from the fresh vegetables.
All of that within the nearly impossible parameters of the SNAP challenge and I think you’ve hit this one out of the ballpark!
Thanks for your blog and your book. We eat your genius creations at least 3-4 times a week and have yet to find anything we didn’t like.
I am a ramen fanatic! I bought a case of fancier ramen from Amazon (yeah, yeah, sodium, I know…) and I keep shredded carrots, spinach, pre-cut radish matchsticks, mushrooms and peppers on hand to make bowls like this on busy nights when I feel too lazy to cook real food. If my day hasn’t been high in protein, I will put a couple eggs in it as well, or some leftover chicken if I have it. You could also add a Tbsp or two of peanut butter to your sauce to add a little protein and give it more of a thai flair. I eat a lot of asian/mexican, so I always have scallions and cilantro on hand to garnish as well.
While those on SNAP can’t use their funds for salad bar stuff, it can be a good choice for those cooking stirfry recipes for 1 or 2. The cost per pound is obviously signficantly higher, but it allows me a greater variety of veggies in my stirfrys without worrying about a big pile of veggies going to waste.
Thanks for bringing up cabbage, though… it is a favorite of mine, and something I can easily work into my ramen goodness. :)
Hiya Beth
How do you suppose this dish will reheat and/or freeze?
I can’t wait to try this one too, thanks. (Oh oops, I now see you answered that in your note above, silly me.)
I applaud you (again) for your efforts to see what can be made to fit in the SNAP criteria with your own clever & creative skill.
I admire your dedication to walking the walk through the month and hope that at the end of the process, there will be a variety of menu ideas to make, eat and/or freeze.
Your journey is helping offer real solutions and some good eats for folks who don’t have a choice, but are also walking the walk. (Perhaps you need to be commissioned to write another cookbook that government agencies can distribute to recipients of the program!!)
Yes, I have been reheating it as mentioned, but I don’t think this one would freeze well at all. :)
This SNAP challenge has honestly brought out you at your best in my humble opinion. This recipe in particular is cheap, healthy, vibrant and creative.
I think, however, that the SNAP challenge doesn’t really address the following issues:
1) The grocery gap (inability to buy fresh produce)
2) Lower income people are less likely to know how to cook
3) Lack of your awesome creativity :D (this is actually a major part of making cheap food good… my mother could never do it. Everything was bland, salty and gross)
4) Lack of time to cook food when you work 2-3 jobs
That being said, I love reading this series and fully understand why you’re doing it.
I agree with every one of those points! :) It’s a shame that it’s so difficult for me even with all of those advantages.
To KimL. There is protein in that. Vegetables have protein. Looks good. Love your blog and got your book. Thanks for helping me survive.
Hooray for cabbage! It’s the vegetable the keeps on giving. I have to admit I make lunches that look very much like this (ok, with rice instead of ramen usually) even though I am not doing any sort of budget challenge. Delicious!
What would you suggest as a replacement for the sirracha in the sauce? I don’t think the spiciness of the sirracha would go over with the 15 mo old and the 4 year old. Maybe some crushed red pepper flakes?
Trying this with leftovers in the fridge!
Well, the sriracha also serves as a source of acid to balance the salt and the sugar in the sauce. You might experiment with adding less (maybe 1 Tbsp) to see if that is tolerable for them. That might be better than red pepper flakes. :)
Maybe some sort of vinegar (white, cider, balsamic, wine) could be subbed for the hot sauce? To supply the acid.
Yes, in most Asian sauces rice vinegar is used as the balance. :) You might want to add a little garlic, too, because sriracha has that as well.
Looks like a delicious dish, but there is no protein. Are you taking essential nutrients into account when you plan your meals?
Fun fact, sometimes when you’re poor, and the price of protein in your area spikes, you can’t afford protein. Sometimes, when you’re poor, your brain is so filled with stress about all the precariously balanced financial things that could go horribly, horribly wrong if even one expectation fails, that you do not have the fortitude and intellectual energy you need for “taking essential nutrients into account when you plan your meals”.
Sometimes when you’re poor the objective is “eat something every day or so, even if you feel ill from not eating” — eating nutritious, balanced meals a regular intervals is like three tiers up on the hierarchy of needs at that point.
I find this dish really exciting, because it takes a cheap, tasty, high-fat (which is important when you’re trying to get adequate calories) filler and adds loads of fresh veggies, while still coming out at under $0.75/serving. That’s fantastic.
Scrambling an egg or two before adding the sauce would be an inexpensive protein source.
I’m really just trying to make do with what I have. :) I’m not of the opinion that every meal needs a dedicated protein source. Vegetables and pasta do contain some protein, so it’s not completely void. My other meals throughout the day contain meat, peanut butter, and eggs, so I think my daily content is okay even if this one dish is on the low side.
Can you buy sriracha in the store? I think I might try this over quinoa for some protein. It probably wouldn’t be under $4.50, but still yummy!
Yep, it’s so popular now that you can get it in most grocery stores (stores that are big enough to have at least a small Asian or ethnic food section).
I used to be a ramen snob because of the ingredients in the seasoning packet. Lately I’ve heard about chefs using the noodles in clever ways. Today I’m having a tropical party and I’m going to make Hawaiian coleslaw with crushed raw ramen.
I love reading about your SNAP challenge creativity!
Ramen noodles….great memories! And delicious too. When I was in college we did not know you could add veggies…..just spice! We didn’t “do” healthy back then….the good old days.
Any ideas on what to use instead of noodles or rice if you’re going low-carb?
I guess you could just eat the sauced vegetables? You could even try browning some ground turkey and mixing that into the sauced vegetables. Ooh, that actually sounds really good all coated in that sauce!
I haven’t personally tried it, but I’ve heard really good things about cauliflower “rice”. Just made from cauliflower and probably chopped supper finely in a food processor is my guess but people swear it’s an awesome sub for rice.
I can vouch for the cauliflower fried rice recipes. The key is to blot the cauliflower with paper towels once its gone through the food processor to make it less watered down. The recipe I use has sesame oil, which is awesome in these type of recipes (granted, probably a little too expensive for the SNAP challenge unless you already had it).
How about a couple of eggs beaten together and thrown in at the end?
I’m late to the party here, but shirataki noodles are low carb and work very well in this dish!
This looks and sounds wonderful – and what a great way to have a veg centered dish with lots of flavor and not too spendy!
I like rita’s idea of zucchini noodles also.
That looks delicious!
Cabbage will keep for at least a month or more. Just as you did, slice off the discolored part and proceed with preparation.
That looks SO good, and I would LOVE to make this recipe!! :-)
I just started at university again after a 10 year break…without my full time job, it’s back to the wonderful world of ramen and trying to figure out how to adjust a palette that’s had years of fresh veggies, nice cheeses, meats, etc without regard to cost…to this. I think finding this site as you were doing this challenge was fortuitous and I’ve been looking forward to and enjoying your posts, thank you!
I have basically all of this in my fridge/pantry right now. Thanks for giving me one of tomorrow’s batch-cook recipes!
I can’t believe how pretty this is!
Ramen noodles…PERFECT. I love a good homemade stir fry, and I always want rice with it, but for some reason cooking rice kind of intimidates me. This looks delicious :)
If it’s in your budget now or in the future, consider a rice cooker. I thought my boyfriend was insane for spending the money on one (this was when we were living off my student loans), but the rice that comes out of it is approximately 7000% more delicious than stuff I used to cook on the stovetop or in the microwave. If rice makes a regular appearance in your meals, it’s worth it!
Sounds good… maybe something to put on my Christmas list! (I’m a broke college student living off a hand-me-down crockpot, haha.)
Mmm yum. I may try this with zucchini noodles!
I’ve noticed you use a lot of sugar in your recipes. I mean I love it, but I can’t have sugar and health guidelines say you should keep it much much lower than I see in some is your breakfast recipes.
And in this one, where is your protein? It isn’t very balanced.
There is protein in vegetables – I’ve been a vegetarian for 24 years & you would be surprised at how much protien is in veggies. As far as the sugar, I am in a similar boat with salt, I can’t have it. So I just leave it out of the recipes I try. You can do the same with sugar. Leaving out the extra salt or sugar in a dish like this with so many amazing flavors isn’t going to ruin it :)
There are also sugar substitues, although I find them to be sweeter than sugar. But you can try those as well??