Ramen. We’ve all eaten it before, we’ll all eat it again. It’s the quintessential food of the broke college student. But what do you do when your taste buds start to get bored of the classic chicken packet?

MIX IT UP.

Here are five spruced up instant ramen add-ons for the starving student, guaranteed to satiate your hunger and give you mad cooking skills you can use to impress your friends.

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Pad Thai Ramen: Not in your weekly allowance to go to Thai Taste once a week? Try this not quite as good recipe that you can make for cheap. First, prepare the ramen as usual. Then drain the broth and stir in some peanut butter. You can also add soy sauce and sriracha if you’re fancy and you have that kind of stuff. The amount of each ingredient depends solely on your particular tastes and whether or not you have enough.

Egg: The rules of Food Network say that if you put a fried egg on something, it’s fancy. If you want to get a little wild, try a poached egg. If you feel crazy – scrambled.

Frozen Veggies: This one is pretty easy. You can either microwave the veggies ahead of time or stir them directly into the boiling hot broth, if you’re impatient. This one also helps in comforting your mother, since you can honestly assure her you are eating your veggies.

Everybody Loves Bacon: Is this still a trend? Well, I like it. Put bacon in your ramen. Always eat bacon ramen immediately before someone smells the bacon and tries to steal it from you.

Lemon Garlic Ramen; Put some lemon garlic seasoning into the cooking water. Add fresh garlic and chopped green onions if you are trying to impress your date.

You now have an arsenal of delicious ramen recipes at your disposal, which you can use any way you like. You can even combine some of the recipes to make your own signature ramen dish.

Photography and Multimedia Editor Isabel Miller can be reached at imiller@dailyegyptian.com and on Twitter at @IsabelMMiller.

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