Ramen.

I swear that almost nothing makes me prouder to be an American than the proliferation of ramen on store shelves. I absolutely love the fact that I can get an entire meal for $.10. An entire meal. Ten cents.

Yes, it’s fatty and carb-rich and salty. No, it’s not exactly delicious. Yes, most any college student can tell you how tired of it you get when it’s all you eat. But despite all this, you can get an entire meal, 400 or so calories with 40% of your daily allotment of fats… for ten cents.

Unfortunately, these things often don’t last.

It seems that they are replacing the ten cent packets with these ready-to-heat cups. Instead of getting 12 for $1.20, it’s 6 for about $1.05. That’s still an entire meal for under $.20 and it does have the added convenience. But come up, the food is complete and utter crap. Why the heck would I pay twenty cents for it? Unfortunately, slowly but surely the stocks are shifting from the absurdly cheap kind to the very cheap kind.

It makes me fear for the future of this fine country of ours.