Friday, July 25, 2008

Presto Pasta on the Pantry Plan

A few weeks ago I started The Pantry Plan, where I decided I would not buy groceries, with a few exceptions like cat food and dairy products, until September. Instead, I would be living off the items I already had in my pantry and my fridge/freezer.

Presto Pasta Nights plays very nicely with The Pantry Plan because, like so many people, I always have a good quantity of pasta on hand. Pasta can pair with most anything else I have on hand as well; like these new healthy versions of ramen noodles, called Choice Ramen.

Presto Pasta: Choice Ramen

Unlike the standard version of ramen noodles, these are not fried and the seasoning packet has 25% less sodium than the regular version; nice because most ramen noodle seasoning packets have over 1,000mg of sodium per serving or half the daily recommended amount!

I've been pretty incapacitated these past two weeks with a back injury. So, meals that don't take a lot of time or require me to stand for long periods of time are right up my alley. I'm also a big fan of jazzing up my ramen noodles when I make them.

This time, I used some frozen pre-cooked chicken chunks and a handful of frozen mixed veggies from my freezer and tossed it all together during the last three minutes of the noodles cooking. To top off the dish, I added 1/3 cup of shredded cheese on top.

Presto Pasta: Pantry Plan Ramen

Grand total cooking time was 6 minutes. Total amount spent on meal was approximately $2.32. How did it taste? It was delicious. I didn't miss the extra salt and it was a welcome change from the cold cereal I've been eating for most meals the past two weeks.

Everything about this meal fit the bill of healthy, quick, and filling.

Katie at Thyme for Cooking is hosting Presto Pasta Nights this week. Head on over to her blog to see what the other folks who made pasta this week have cooking!