I cold soaked rice ramen last year on the PCT- it was a favorite meal of mine! I'm gluten-intolerant and you are right- it is a bit expensive-but totally worth it for me. I found the cheapest/most convenient option was to buy from amazon and put in my resupply boxes. https://www.amazon.com/Lotus-Foods-Ramen-Noodles-Millet/dp/B00HKIBKQS?th=1
In the morning (if I wanted it for lunch) I put the ramen in a Talenti gelato container with a bit of water (it just takes a little bit of experimentation to see how much) add the seasoning packet, screwed on the lid and put it back in my food bag. 3-4 hours later, it is soft and plump! I would regularly add in tuna, or chips or whatever else I had on hand - cause, yea, that's how you do it on the trail. :)
Knorr rice sides also work awesome for cold soaking- same deal, just put it in the talenti container, add a bit of water, and hike away! Then when you stop- dinner!
In normal life, cold noodles sound terrible- but being that my hiker hunger was insatiable- it was like a fun pasta salad.
I've had these before and they are pretty good, if you don't mind paying the extra. Find a good ramen recipe you like. You can make a container of bulk seasoning so you don't have to mix it all the time. I'm sure it could taste even better than that shit food.
Most grocery stores have these (they also sell a large pack at costco):
My fiancee is gf and we tried these for ramen. They are much better than normal instant ramen in taste and texture. https://www.amazon.com/Lotus-Foods-Millet-Brown-Sodium/dp/B00HKIBKQS
If you're used to eating large portions and try to cut back, you're going to feel hungry a lot. It's unavoidable and sucks, but does eventually go away.
If you cut out sugars or other easily digestible energy sources, you're going to lose short term energy for a while. Best to cut things out slowly, instead of all at once. Do this by daily tracking.
Exercise can't replace proper eating habits, but shouldn't be ignored either. Still, long walks are enough for a minimum. Ideally you could try to get a semi regular habit for something like cycling or free weights, but if you're having trouble building habits for eating, focus on those first.
High effort changes work, but are a lot of effort to maintain. If you've struggled keeping with changes, try making low effort changes first. Get those habits to stick first. Then reevaluate after you feel confident you're sticking with it, even if it takes longer overall.
High effort could be tallying every item and calorie per day and planning food ahead of time. You'd need regular trips to the store to keep stocked, regular cooking or meal prep, maybe some new tools to tally down on.
Low effort could be estimating how much of an unhealthy single item you eat/drink a day, and then cutting it down per day or per week, whatever makes sense to you, until you reach a goal. Soda should really just be water, but you can try other things too, like herbal teas with varied flavors. Foods are harder to replace, since you can end up lacking critical nutrition. Frozen vegetables are actually great, try different ways of adding to them, such as with pepper and red pepper flakes. Don't listen to the frozen hate - these are still very good options to use, especially since they're easy.
I still include plenty of carbs in my diet, as I feel better eating carbs. I guess it's part of my genetics, basically the opposite of a "keto-friendly" body. I regularly eat rice ramen (note massive sodium in the sauce packet only, you can buy without it) and home made popcorn with avocado oil and spices. These are incredibly easy to prepare, and can be made to taste different each time. I use eggs for the ramen as well. Still, the point here is that if you don't feel good when cutting out carbs, then don't. If you get to a point where you're eating super healthy but with carbs and want to push further, consider it then, but focus on the smaller things for now.
Always evaluate changes in terms of "how does this work for me?" This means evaluating everything, even how happy you might be with the taste. If taste is important to you and you aren't totally happy with something, this could cause you to lose the motivation to keep going. Just keep looking for what does work for you.
In town, Costco was selling some higher end dried ramen noodles a few weeks ago. They are the same as these from amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lotus-Foods-Ramen-Noodles-Millet/dp/B00HKIBKQS