We know the label clearly says not to do it, but we’ve all done it.
A cup of instant ramen is essentially a broke college student’s lifeblood. Anything that can be microwaved is essentially ideal for those with limited resources and no access to a full kitchen. The problem with instant ramen, though, is that the packaging makes it very clear that you shouldn’t microwave the cup. Share subtitles for MTN DEW Baja Blast Hot Sauce, which is a gorgeous oddity.
The “correct” method (per the directions on the package) for preparing instant ramen in a cup is to bring a separate pot of water to a boil before adding it to the cup of noodles. But I’ll accept responsibility and acknowledge, on behalf of everyone who ever lived in a dorm, that I used to simply put room temperature water in the foam cup and microwave it. Regretfully, there are risks to this method’s health and safety. Advertisement.
Nissin revealed last week that it will be redesigning the classic Cup Noodles in early 2024. Instead of polystyrene, it’ll be made out of paper. Nissin also announces that its Cup Noodles can now be microwaved because of the updated packaging. That is, you weren’t meant to be heating up Cup Noodles in a microwave.
Microwaving polystyrene also compromises the structural integrity of Cup Noodles and can lead to burns if the container cracks. Recently, UChicago Medicine’s Burn and Wound Center published a study that discovered a third of childhood burns were caused by instant noodles. More specifically, the study’s authors said in a press release that the burns often occurred due to “inadvertent spills when removing containers from the microwave, along with spills while eating due to the narrow bases of instant noodle cups.”
To be fair, this particular variety of cup noodle and Nissin, the original instant noodle brand, may be the source of some of the confusion. There’s a veritable cornucopia of instant noodle brands and containers. Some are microwavable and have been for a long time. It all depends on the instructions on the label.
But Nissin notes that the updated packaging is in large part, a “key step in our environmental commitment.” On top of being microwavable, the cup will now be made with 40 percent recycled fiber, no longer include plastic wraps, and have a 100 percent recycled paper sleeve. Polystyrene isn’t easily recycled, and local governments have taken measures to ban the material in recent years.
Our household electronics could also be a source of confusion. For example, compared to Europe or Japan, where instant noodles originated, electric kettles are less common in the US. Yours truly was raised in an Asian American home where we used kettles for overseas family trips and microwaved instant noodles at home. (And yes, before this unpleasant awakening, my family and I had been microwaveing Cup Noodles for years. ).
