Urban Outfitters' $5 Ramen Noodles on special!

Did you know that Urban Outfitters prices Ramen Noodles at $5 a bag? Or they did, at least, before slashing the prices to something more palatable. I guess the idea of using ironic cooking directions to turn a 25c product into a a hip Veblen good isn't quite working out!

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Anonymous

A closer look will tell you these noodles came from Blue Q, purveyors of overpriced hipster ephemera. Their website features a section of gift ideas under the heading of “unemployment.”

Stay classy, Blue Q.
Anonymous

Anything UO doesn’t steal is terrible idea.
Anonymous

It’s a gag gift like someone else said…Blue Q makes novelty products. http://www.blueq.com/ramen-noodle/ I’m pretty sure this product is not intended to be on grocery shelves to stock your pantry with.
adonai

Did Urban Outfitters shortchange some of the BB staff? Did they refuse to accept their returns without a receipt? I can see where Xeni’s recent (if one sided) post fits in with what BB tends to post, but this seems rather desperate.
Anonymous

I find making ramen by microwaving it in a giant ceramic bowl is much better than cooking it on the stove – comes out much less mushy.

Cook ramen and standard seasoning packet and 2 cups water 3-3.5 minutes. flip block of noodles, add any other seasonings, maybe some vegetables or meat in small bits, and cook another 3-3.5 min.
Anonymous

yea UA is pretty much the worst…but every once in a while you an get some cheap threads on the clearance rack. I was able to get two western style pearl snaps for about $20.
blueelm

I’ve never been inside an urban outfitters. They put one in one of those stucco looking ubiquitous malls in my city, but it looked like an expensive Old Navy to me so I never tried it out.

I didn’t know they sold… food?

Better than ramen is just picking up one of those giant bags of rice noodles for a dollar. Then season as desired. Ramen seasoning tends to taste awful IMO.
Mr. Winka

“Dude, the water’s bubbling!”

Yeah, but you just paid 3 bucks for some f**king ramen. Dude. Seriously?
Cowicide

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Wally Ballou

Damn, now that the “good” ramen is $5 a bag, it’ll take me years to save up enough for that point and shoot Leica.
Boba Fett Diop

But..but…the package is all sweary! It’s edgy!
- Lobster
  
  My Cup Noodle does not confirm that the shit therein is amazing, so I’m going to say this is worth the extra $4.40.
Anonymous

Could someone please explain what’s “ironic” about the cooking directions, as opposed to, say, “juvenile,” “pathetic,” or “idiotic?”
- Just Good Sense
  
  That description was probably just used ironically.
Anonymous

The problem you’ve got is that you are eating ramen, it’s all about the Super Noodles. ;)
Alvis

Instant ramen aficionados know that the trick is to use 1 2/3 cups water, instead of 2.
- Cowicide
  
  Instant ramen aficionados know that the trick is to use 1 2/3 cups water, instead of 2.
  
  Who needs water? It’s quite the crunchy treat without it.
  - ackpht
    
    Ditto the uncooked ramen. Why wait?
- Anonymous
  
  LOL for real…it’s like using a half a can of water with Campbell’s soup…
Anonymous

The deeper irony here (which ironically de-ironizes the shallow irony of the post topic) is that Urban Outfitters is owned and managed by a hard-right Republican:

http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/cover-story/clothes_make_the_man-38368134.html
- turn_self_off
  
  All subcultures will eventually be repackaged as something more palatable for the average joe…
  - Felton / Moderator
    
    Danny: They’re selling hippie wigs in Woolworths, man.
    
    -from Withnail and I
Anonymous

I feel like reducing used bong water for use in your partially hydrogenated food is the fast track to rectal prolapse.
nixiebunny

I wanna read their business plan.
- Anonymous
  
  Like most similar business plans it’s this: “find a lowest common denominator among a group of people we hate.” It explains all of the fast food and clothing chains owned by rightwingers.
ray9x

wait… you have to filter the water in step 1?! what?!
- retchdog
  
  it says “bong water”. or maybe “boing water,” but probably not “boiling water”.
- chortick
  
  If you are regularly eating these carb/salt bombs, you probably live somewhere where filtering the water is a good idea.
  
  Memories of student life…
duncan

This shit’s amazing.
Anonymous

Urban Outfitters is so full of shit. Trust them to charge that much for a food product that has saved poor and starving students for decades. I bet they use kitten labor to make their fifty dollar tank tops, too.
- Anonymous
  
  Arrrr… Cheers to that!
Anonymous

It’s a gag gift, for crying out loud… you can probably get it at Spencer gifts too.
TEKNA2007

Telling It Like It Isn’t Ramen Noodle.
ROSSINDETROIT

Okay, toys and novelties category. I get it. But it’s still lame, just for different reasons.
shutz

If I was to offer a pack of ramen noodles as a gag gift, I’d probably buy one of the cheap (25 to 33 cents) brands at the supermarket, and then make my own ironic stickers for it.

Or I’d do the same, but with one of the better-tasting ramen flavors I found at a few supermarkets.
Anonymous

Its even more ironic that Urban Outfitters CEO is the only openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 Company.
kuangmk11

as much as I don’t like UO these are made by blueq http://www.blueq.com/ramen-noodle/ and their junk is available lots of other places besides UO. 25c? Anything more than 10/$1 any you are being taken.
Anonymous

If you buy the 32 packs, you can get them at 15 cents each.
Tristan Eldtritch

What nutritional value, if any, does ironic food have? A question for the scientifically minded.
Anonymous

This product was manufactured by Blue Q here in Pittsfield, MA, which employs many developmentally disabled individuals to manufacture their products. Kudos to this company.
- surreality
  
  Someone else from Pittsfield! Hi! (an hour east now, but went to high school there)
  
  Also, you can’t get ramen at Spencer’s, but you can get Weenie Linguini. For about the same price as the ramen was originally priced. Much better gag gift, imho.
- sam1148
  
  This product was manufactured by Blue Q here in Pittsfield, MA, which employs many developmentally disabled individuals to manufacture their products.
  
  Which apparently is also their target market.
Anonymous

Urban whatever is the antithesis of the Boing Boing mindset. On BB, what is actully IS. at UO, Malraux’s concept of the desire to feel like the proletariat is inescapable- how can I look vintage WITHOUT ACTUALLY HAVING TO WEAR CLOTHES THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE TOUCHED BEFORE ME????
In the ’80s I had a Brooks Brothers overcoat with two bullet holes in the back. I assume the fella was wearing it when they were made. Beautiful garment. If Judy D hadn’t stolen it to wear home, I’d probably still be wearing it. Would I brag about it? No. I wore old clothes because THAT’S WHAT I COULD AFFORD AT THAT TIME.
When I see someone shopping at UO, I instantly shake my head and ask why? Why pay extra to wear new clothes that are designed to fall apart?
penguinchris

I saw these in a UO store a few days ago and had a similar WTF reaction. But I think we can probably give them a break; it must be rather hard to figure out what to stock in there in the novelties section, and if you look in their clearance section (which generally is quite large) you can see that they make bad decisions constantly.

You never know, though, what will take off and be a hit. I’m sure their profit margin is so high that they can more than afford to stock their store with random novelty gifts that may or may not sell – and this strategy probably makes them more money than they end up throwing away on this stuff, because like it or not, this kind of stuff is what keeps people coming back and then hopefully buying the expensive clothing they sell.

I actually like some – not all – of the clothing they sell, and you can’t really get the same kind of stuff anywhere else, at least not as conveniently for most suburbanites. I don’t think I’ve ever bought any clothing in there that wasn’t from the clearance rack, though, because I’m cheap. And for girls especially I think the UO look is much, much better (really, a lot of their stuff is quite cute on girls) than the similarly priced stereotypical mall-shopper look from places like Hollister or Abercrombie.

Finally, I would like to say that as sad as it may seem, I guarantee that there were at least a few people who bought the ramen at $5 and gave it to someone as a gag gift. The way certain segments of college-aged people place value on things is… interesting, to put it mildly.
spriggan

For 5 bucks you could get a case worth o’ ramen. I think I’m the only art school grad I know who can still stomach it. Chicken Ramen is still my go to hangover food.
gellfex

I’m decades out of school, but ramen is still a late night staple. Here’s the way to make it cuisine.

Thai Tom Yum Ramen
thinly sliced onion
“dropped” egg (slowly pour scrambled egg into fast swirling hot water before anything else)
Thinly sliced fish off a frozen chunk of tuna or mahi
Fresh cilantro or mint

Heaven!
franko

i’m old enough to think that paying anything over ten cents a package is robbery. i’m still bemoaning the Great Ramen Drought of 2010 due to the (doubled!) prices i see now, and now it’s stretched into 2011. when will the people at Big Ramen bring the prices back to earth?
- Anonymous
  
  “Big Ramen”
  
  LMAO!!!
BunnyFooFoo

I once made a gag gift with ramen noodles. It wa a large box that contained:

2 dozen packs of ramen noodles
1 1.75 L bottle of cheap vodka
12 cans of cheap beer
1 dozen condoms

It was for my parents when I was in college. I called it “the care package that no college student ever got from their parents.” It even topped the velvet Elvis I got for my brother when he graduated with his masters in Mass Comm. I told him “Hey, *now* you own something of value.”
skeletoncityrepeater

Urban Outfitters is awful. Don’t go in there.
Daemon

Exactly how stupid is their target market?
semiotix

I prefer the $25 ramen noodles you can get at Urbane Outfitters. They come on a square jet-black lacquered wood plate and they’re perfectly straight. Very minimalist and elegant.