Cup Noodles are now microwave-safe | Hacker News Reader

Cup Noodles are now microwave-safe

washingtonpost.com

33 pointsbookofjoe15 comments

How much should I worry that I've microwaved cup noodles for the past 10 years at approximately five cups per year?

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but you are going to die.

At the rate of 1 second/second.

According to WebMD, they are already dead.

What's interesting is that the instructions imply that you need to use the cup. I don't have one in front of me but I remember reading something like, "add hot water up to the line , cover." I don't remember it ever saying to use a different container. The assumption, for me, was that the cup was microwave safe. Mmm, styrofoam and water was tasty. :)

From my reading, that doesn't imply using a microwave at all. Even after the "cover" step.

I always only heat the water before beginning cooking, they come out hot enough that way after the 3-4 minutes it says to leave them.

It's because the cup is insulated to hold in boiling water long enough to properly cook the noodles. The "cover" instruction is again to retain heat. It's probably? microwave safe if you completely remove the cover. But college dorm rooms don't allow microwaves, they do allow electric kettles.

Typed while enjoying a spicy hot chicken maruchan.

https://archive.ph/X6anN

Microwaving Cup Noodles instead of pouring boiling water was like ordering your eggs over easy instead of scrambled. Both great, just different.

Anybody know what the paper cups would be lined with to keep them waterproof? Or is it just more PFOA/PFAS like in paper straws?

It's usually wax or wax like plastics

Expanded polystyrene has an extremely low loss tangent and dielectric constant, so I fail to see how microwave heating causes more chemical leaching than hot water.

Hot water only reaches 100°C regardless, but any fats in the soup can reach higher temperatures in a microwave.

One might think the water in the soup would moderate the temperature of the other components and keep them from reaching significantly above its own boiling point. Is this intuition not entirely accurate?

The plastic above the water line has no heat sink and can melt if you cook the noodles too long in the microwave. That shouldn't happen when you boil water on the stove and dump it into the cup, even if you cook the water for far too long.

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