I followed the recommendation of another reviewer and used a packet out of the regular, cheap ramen with these. There is a smell when you open these. Seaweed? Fish? I’m not sure, but it’s odd. I rinsed them under hot water for a minute or so, and the smell seemed to go away. To be safe, I rinsed them for another minute. I boiled 2 cups of water, added it to a bowl with the ramen seasoning packet, and added these noodles. I could easily distinguish these from ramen - these are far more stretchy/rubbery, and the noodles stick more to each other, making it hard to take a bite without half of them coming out of the bowl at once. That said, for 40 calories (and a small amount of net carbs for the keto folks), these fill the craving well. I do think I would cut back to 1-1 1/2 cups of water to concentrate the broth flavor a little more. I could see these being great in a Thai noodle stir fry and will be trying that next!

You really have to rinse them a lot in hot water. There's a smell at first out of the package, but it does go away.

I then boil a couple of cups of water without adding the noodles, and (bonus tip) add a packet of the cheap-o Maruchan chicken seasoning from the packages of normal ramen he can't eat anymore; then I put the hot broth in a bowl, add the noodles, and voila!

Prepared this way, he says it's nearly indistinguishable from his favorite. Definitely recommend!