Ramen noodles were just an example to be honest, personally, I've been through a student style life in the last year or so - at one point I had nearly no money for food, but now I have a moderate income, I mostly eat home cooked meals with the occasional pack of noodles.
They aren't a terrible meal if you add some real meat and vegetables in the mix.
Yours was obviously an example, and I liked it! I'm teasing the parent post for totally missing your point and/or creating a false dichotomy that students have either ramen noodles or nightclub cocktails all day.
Also, if you are using real meat and vegetables why not splurge on real egg noodles and spices also :)
Well, one thing I always found the the difference between "bad" Ramen and "good" Ramen tends to be the content of the package and how well it holds up with water being added, poor Ramen tends to have loads of air pockets between the Noodles, whereas good Ramen will be packed in tight, and when you add water to good Ramn, it tends to keep it's consistency, poor Ramen tends to become overly liquid.
That aside, if you have, say, The Nations Noodle (UK), it's cheaper than "Super Noodles" but still a quality Ramen - the price difference is 300%, but when we are talking about $0.60, it's not much to be honest.
As for spices, I tend to add a bit of Mixed Spice, otherwise it would spend the next 20 years sitting on my top shelf, and Hot Chilli powder gives a nice kick, especially if you add it to the meat during preparation.
You misunderstood me, I meant that I used to live nearly solely off Noodles, cheap Beans and Spaghetti in a tin, etc, but now I have enough money to afford nice food, when I have Noodles I tend to add in meat and vegetables.
They aren't a terrible meal if you add some real meat and vegetables in the mix.