When I was super-poor, I survived on ramen too. I'd just get a massive box of it and eat it for months for almost every meal. Throw in some bread, milk, butter and Vegemite for brekky, tap water for drinking, and you can go for quite a long time spending barely anything on food. Not doable if you have kids, but for a single student it was okay. Seriously though, whoever invented instant ramen deserves some kinda award and to be taught about in schools because they've been saving so many poor people from starvation.