Thermos Noodle Lunch
Boiled at breakfast, eaten at noon. The jug does the cooking while you walk.
- calories
- 590
- weight
- 3.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 155
- protein
- 13 g
- serves
- 1
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 5 min
- total time
- 8 min
- water
- 350 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Lunch
- Canister stove
- Alcohol / Esbit
- Day hike
- Backpacking
- Winter / snow
- Bikepacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Instant ramen noodles | 1 block | broken into quarters, seasoning packet left at home |
|---|---|---|
| Dried mushrooms | 2 tbsp | sliced shiitake rehydrate fastest |
| Dried vegetable flakes | 2 tbsp | carrot, cabbage, scallion |
| Vegetable bouillon | 1 cube or 1 tsp powder | |
| Miso paste | 1 tbsp | single-serve tube packet |
| Toasted sesame oil | 1 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Chili flakes | 1/2 tsp |
Method
- Preheat the 0.4 L insulated jug: pour in boiling water, cap it, wait a minute, dump it out. Skip this and the food runs cold by lunch.
- Drop the broken noodles, mushrooms, vegetable flakes, bouillon, and chili flakes into the jug.
- Boil 350 ml of water and pour it over. Leave 2 cm of headspace or the lid pushes soup out.
- Cap it, shake once, and put it upright in the pack. Three hours minimum, eight hours is still hot.
- At lunch, stir in the miso and sesame oil off the heat. Miso goes in at the end because boiling water flattens it. Eat straight from the jug.
Wide-mouth vacuum jugs cook by holding heat, not making it. Boiling water at 350 ml carries enough energy to soften a broken ramen block and rehydrate dried vegetables over a couple of hours, so the stove only runs once, in the morning, when it is already out for coffee. By noon you open a lid instead of setting up in the wind.
The preheat step matters more than the recipe. A cold steel jug steals a real share of the heat before the noodles ever soften, and the difference shows up as chewy noodles and lukewarm broth. Miso and sesame oil go in at the end for the same reason a lot of trail food tastes flat: the salt and fat that carry flavor are the first things a long soak dulls.
Packing
Everything dry goes in one snack bag sized to the jug's mouth. Miso and oil ride in the lid pocket, since both leak and neither should meet your quilt.
Variations
- A foil packet of tuna or chicken stirred in at lunch adds 20 g of protein and drops the vegan claim.
- In summer, skip the boil entirely: cold water, an extra hour, and it comes out as a cold noodle salad.
- Instant rice and a heavier broth instead of noodles turns it into a thicker cold-weather lunch.
https://primusequipment.com/products/flinta-insulated-lunch-jug-0-4-l