Elderly Care Recipes: Homemade Instant Noodle Cups

Elder Care in Needham, MA

Giving your loved ones the nutrition that their bodies need to stay healthy and strong, keep up their energy, and support their bodies’ normal function is an important part of your care efforts for them, but sometimes your elderly care schedule is too busy to make a meal from scratch. Having fast and delicious meals on hand makes it easy to give your parents satisfying nutrition even if you only have a few minutes to prepare it. This also helps their non-medical caregiver give them quick and tasty meals no matter what other activities they have planned for the day.

This recipe is reminiscent of the instant noodle packages that many people remember enjoying in their college days or even as easy meals in their adult years, but with elevated ingredients and a bolder flavor. You can easily customize these noodle cups to your parents’ tastes by eliminating the hot sauce and kimchi.

What You Will Need

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of fresh herbs
• 1/4 cup of sliced green onions
• 1/2 cup of bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup of sliced lime or lemon
• 3/4 to 1 full cup of precooked noodles
• 1/2 cup of frozen corn
• 1/2 cup of frozen carrots
• 1/2 cup of frozen peas
• 1/4 cup of diced tofu
• 1/4 cup of thin sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 cup of sliced spinach
• 1/2 cup of kimchi
• 1/4 cup of soft-boiled egg
• 1 to 3 teaspoons of chili garlic sauce
• 3 teaspoons of soy sauce or tamari
• 2 teaspoons of coconut milk
• 2 teaspoons of sesame oil
• 3 teaspoons of Sriracha or another hot sauce, if your family likes spicy food
• Small wide mouth glass jars with lids like Mason jars
• Measuring cups

What to Do

Making ready-to-cook Jars

• Place the flavor base of the oils and sauces at the bottom of the jar
• Add the frozen ingredients on top of the base
• Add the noodles and pack down
• Place the fresh ingredients in a plastic airtight bag and place inside the jar
• Seal the jars and refrigerate for up to a week

Cooking The Instant Noodles

• Place a pot on the stove and fill with one cup water for each jar
• Boil the water on high
• Remove the plastic bag with the fresh ingredients from the jar
• Spoon enough boiling water into each jar to cover the noodles, about one cup
• Place the lid back on the jars
• Allow the soup to steep for 3 minutes
• Stir thoroughly with chopsticks or a fork, making sure that the flavor base has mixed into the hot water, or pour the entire mixture into a bowl and mix them there for a more formal presentation
• Remove the fresh ingredients from the bag and pour them into the soup
• Serve immediately while still hot

Special tip: Add even more nutrition to your soup by including a protein. Cut thin slices of chicken or tofu and cook them through with salt and pepper before allowing them to cool and including them in the plastic bag with the other fresh ingredients. Make sure you eat these within 3 to 5 days for maximum flavor and nutrition.