The easy meal tag is all about saving money while still keeping things at least slightly healthy! This is all about low effort ways to quickly throw something together that satisfies your craving, is plantbased, and doesn’t break the budget! With that said, let’s get into it!

One vice I have is salty soups! I crave pho, ramen, and tom yum all the time! I also crave the instant noodle soups all the time. However, as many of them are so chemically produced that they happen to be vegan, I try to stay away from these as much as possible. This list from Vegan Anything lists all the ramen noodles that happen to be vegan, it is pretty shocking!

While staying away from the instant noodle soups feels good, paying $15 for pho plus delivery charges, taxes, and the 15% tip does not bode well for my budget. Nor is it that healthy anyways! So what’s a soup loving person supposed to do? Well, I found a happy compromise! It’s not that healthy but at least there are no chemicals, and it’s not at all expensive! I would recommend giving Aroy-D Instant Tom Yum Soup a try!

I was shocked to see that this instant soup has a tiny ingredient list, is completely vegan, and includes Indian oyster mushrooms (which is a pricier delicious meaty mushroom!).

It is by no means healthy, but if you are craving a savory soup at least this one has fewer chemicals and fewer calories and fat than an instant ramen package. It even has some added nutritional value thanks to the vegetables. One negative thing about this soup is its high salt content! It has its pros and cons but I still think it is a great cheap option compared to instant noodles or $15 tom yum.

Price Break Down

Aroy-D Instant Tom Yum Soup: $2.49 (before tax)
Assi Brand Oriental Style Noodle: $3.39 (before tax)
The package has 907 grams of dried noodles. I used about 80-90 grams of noodles per bowl, which is about 160-180 grams for 2 bowls. This works out to 33 cents per serving!
Total Price Per Serving (before tax): $2.82

How to Cook

When I cooked this soup, I successfully added 1 and 1/2 cups of water to it. By adding the 1 and 1/2 cups of water, I easily made 2 servings out of 1 can!

To satiate my noodle craving, I used Assi Brand Oriental Style Noodles! Again, 80-90 grams seem like a good amount but you can put even more if you are a noodle fiend. Just make sure you have a big enough bowl! I like these noodles because they only take 3 minutes to cook. These noodles have only 3 ingredients, water, wheat, and salt.

Optional Toppings

if you want to go even more all out, you definitely can! This soup would taste delicious with some tofu cubes, green onion or thinly sliced white onions, bean sprouts, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.

By having a can like this available, you avoid the temptation of buying a tonne of instant noodle soups and hating your life later. You also avoid ordering in some expensive ramen or pho from a restaurant. I believe it is the happy middle ground!

@ me, if you create this!