Who knew? Just add water to your ramen, and you end up with…ramen.
But leave it alone and you get…a hot ramen dance party!
This just in: According to our Seattle submitter, two of his office mates have started fires trying to microwave dry ramen. (NO PARTY FOR YOU!)
related: Four horsemen…and a microwave
107 responses so far ↓
#1
joshua
Microwave fires; not just for Freshmen Hall any more.
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:21 pm rating: 23
#2
Eliavy
Hmm… I’d never considered ramen as a kindling alternative to Doritos or newspaper. I might have to try that the next time I go camping.
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:22 pm rating: 23
#3
liz
My kitchen still smells like fire 5 days after my daughter microwaved her ramen and forgot to put the water in.
It’s horrible. Soot everywhere. Turns out the microwave fan/vent is really great for blowing smoke around.
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:30 pm rating: 14
#4
H for Toy
Dear coworkers, they may not pay us enough to buy real food for lunch, but they do provide the water at no charge.
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:38 pm rating: 47
#5
smirkette
I guess these folks weren’t using their noodle.
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:40 pm rating: 54
#6
Lita
How hard it is to cook ramen properly? You just have to use your noodle.
(And with that, I think I need some food.)
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:41 pm rating: 12
#7
knitchic
I’m a little sad that this has happened often enough to warrant a sign. How did these poor deprived people manage to get to a time in their lives past adolescence without knowing the salty joy that is ramen? What is the time limit for filling child abuse charges?!
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:46 pm rating: 3
#8
Judy
I once forgot to put the water in my cup o noodles, and set the office microwave on fire. It smelled for weeks… I had no idea there were others out there!
(in my defense, I’ve always boiled the water then poured it over the noodles to cook, never microwaved the cup itself (and never will again!))
Jan 29, 2014 at 4:50 pm rating: 4
#9
Tard
I’m a reasonable guy, but when people burn microwave popcorn in an office setting…. WEEKLY… They. Must. Die.
Jan 29, 2014 at 5:23 pm rating: 28
#10
DS
http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Homer_6c1e87_217664.jpg
Jan 29, 2014 at 5:25 pm rating: 5
#11
Anne Marie
Hah, a pre-med student did that in the honors dorm I lived in. She may now be treating patients.
Jan 29, 2014 at 9:58 pm rating: 16
#12
assiveProgressive
I have never eaten ramen noodles, even though my spouse buys big boxes of it at Aldi. Salt content is ridiculous. Use that, Atlanta, next time it gets icy
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:22 pm rating: 9
#13
Poltergeist
When life gives you ramen, start a microwave fire.
When life gives you a microwave fire, make s’mores.
Jan 29, 2014 at 11:24 pm rating: 28
#14
Smurfette
We used to know when my sister cooked ramen, because the kitchen was always full of greenish smoke when she was done. Eventually the microwave couldn’t take any more and committed suicide.
Jan 30, 2014 at 2:00 am rating: 17
#15
Kellie
I used to work Saturdays in our office…was pretty laid back, usually about 15 people would be in the whole place on weekends (at the time, our place had about 100 staff on a normal work day).
Anyway, used to buy those single serving cups of Easy Mac to have for lunch sometimes… So one particular Saturday, I take one, tear off the lid, read the back of the container for a cooking time and pop it in the microwave.
Few seconds later I think, coffee night be good. But I don’t want to make a whole pot if no one else wants any. So I leave the breakroom and walk up a few aisles of cubicals to see if anyone else would like some.
Return to the breakroom a couple minutes later and there’s thick grey smoke billowing out of the microwave. Immediate reaction is: WTF!?!?!
Stop the microwave and pull out the Easy Mac container which is still pouring out smoke…throw it in the sink and turn the water on to extinguish the heat (if wasn’t on fire but was probably close).
Couple people come in because they notice the smoke smell and I have to explain I forgot to put water in my f-ing EASY Mac. Keyword being: easy….just add water and cook and somehow I missed step one. I started getting shit for this immediately.
It took a long time for the office to air out and the office building we’re in doesn’t have any windows that open, so doors had to be propped open to get fresh air, which is usually not allowed for security reasons.
Can’t say why or how I missed step one out of two whole steps…but it took forever to live it down. A couple people also complained of headaches and faintness from the smell that day, so yeah, it was a pretty awkward position to be in.
Somewhat relieved to hear this has happened to others, actually. Sigh.
Jan 30, 2014 at 2:54 am rating: 20
#16
Marie
These people are the reason there are instructions on things like Pop Tarts. What did they think would come out of the microwave?
Jan 30, 2014 at 3:31 am rating: 12
#17
The Elf
The Flying Spaghetti Monster gets angry when you burn his noodly appendages. NO BEER AND VOLCANOS FOR YOU!
I suspect pirates.
Jan 30, 2014 at 7:32 am rating: 21
#18
Spamajama
My best friend’s Fairy Godmother makes 3 goats and 2 chickens a day setting fire to people’s Top Ramen! She was laid off from her job as Mr. T and in the past month has made muffins in her pants!
***LURK HERE****
Jan 30, 2014 at 9:19 am rating: 37
#19
Tesselara
I have to admit–that sign made me laugh and laugh. I love the guy fleeing in fear from the ramen fire.
Jan 30, 2014 at 10:11 am rating: 15
#20
assiveProgressive
When microwaves were a new thing and my mother was drunk all the time, she would do things like put a metal mixing bowl full of mashed potatoes in the microwave. The house never burned down but I have memories seared into my brain.
Jan 30, 2014 at 10:23 am rating: 7
#21
The Elf
Anyone else love the title of the post? “Jazz hands!” Well, fire tends to make me enthusiastic, too.
Jan 30, 2014 at 1:57 pm rating: 9
#22
L
Okay, I have the best and the worst microwave story.
Worst: My cousin knew how to microwave when he was 2 or so. My aunt decided to get a kitten. One morning, he wakes up and the kitten is cold.
They had to bury the microwave…
Best: So, about 15 years later, my cousin is 17 and he’s the youngest. No babies in the house or anything. One day, my aunt decides to make popcorn. She puts the thing into the microwave, and hits 33:33 because that’s what she does. Then she got distracted, upstairs, I think. It was DONE when she finally remembered.
So she put the microwave out into the yard because the stink is so bad.
My uncle comes home that night and his immediately response is to go, “FRED??” (Their dog.)
Jan 30, 2014 at 2:10 pm rating: 17
#23
Lita
The worst I’ve ever done was actually entirely NOT my fault.
We had this awesome mug that had a strip of gold stuff around the rim. I wanted tea. I was leery of microwaving that mug because hey, gold strip. So I asked my mother (who bought the mug) if it was microwave safe. “Yeah, it’s fine, that’s just paint.”
…Thankfully I was standing right there watching when the rim started sparking. No damage, except to my nerves…
Jan 30, 2014 at 2:24 pm rating: 2
#24
Kasaba
When I first moved to this country, I spent the first week staying in a guesthouse that my new employer had arranged. Upon my arrival, I found the owner was not in, and had left a note on the door, telling me to get the key from the neighbour and make myself at home. It was a little strange being in a stranger’s house on my own, but in an effort to “make myself at home”, I decided to heat a small cup of milk in an ancient looking microwave. I can’t remember what settings I chose, but the microwave kept going and going and going and going, and no button that I pressed would make it stop. I got worried that the owner would be home soon, and eventually I decided to just open the door of the microwave. In every microwave, I’ve ever used, this cuts the power, but not in THIS model. It kept going….with the door open, which freaked me out. A lot. I think I slammed the door shut and unplugged it. And then maybe went to my assigned room and cried a bit.
Also, my younger brother once microwaved a banana with skin on. Don’t do that.
Jan 30, 2014 at 4:42 pm rating: 16
#25
Heely
I never add water to the Ramen noodles. Instead I just eat them dry, then drink a glass of water. Jump up and down a few times and voila! No microwave needed!
Jan 30, 2014 at 5:07 pm rating: 13
#26
Havingfitz
My parents had a habit of naming everything in our house. Our microwave was Mikey. When I was 4, my uncle bought Mikey from us. The next day he tried to cook eggs in Mikey: raw eggs, with the shell still on. He blew the door off. It was a very long time before I forgave him for ‘killing’ Mikey.
Jan 31, 2014 at 8:45 am rating: 10
#27
Kerryn
My friend did this once! Was a bit tired at lunch time, went to microwave her noodles, forgot the water. The burning smell stunk out the break room and half the store. She was never the brightest!
Feb 2, 2014 at 1:06 am rating: 0
#28
H for Toy
Happy Groundhog Day! Saw a Facebook post today that made me think of you, Elf.
“Legend has it, if the groundhog sees some Zinfandel, the next 6 weeks of winter won’t suck as much.”
Feb 2, 2014 at 7:36 pm rating: 9
#29
Tard
Did I mention … GO HAWKS!!
Feb 3, 2014 at 7:48 am rating: 2
#30
S4R4H
Yes, I’m late to the game but Seattle + coworkers so exhausted they forget to add 1 out of 2 ingredients = Start-up!
Feb 19, 2014 at 2:44 pm rating: 0
#31
Dr Chalkwitheringlicktacklefeff
If the note-writer is trying to make a point about not allowing ramen to boil over and dry out, technically it’s Ramen + Water + Heat – Water = Fire Risk.
Apr 17, 2014 at 8:00 am rating: 0
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