Food/Groceries in Japan
 

Hi all. I just stumbled upon this forum recently and have found it to be incredibly helpful so far. So thanks in advance for all the info.

Anyway... I'll be moving to Tokyo in about 3 months, and there are a number of things I'm trying to prepare myself for. One which I am still seeking some help with is the food situation.

Specifically, I'm looking for a few cheap/easy solutions for how to feed myself while I'm over there. I imagine that will mean learning to cook a few things (I'm pretty much a novice at cooking anything right now), so recipes would be appreciated. More importantly, however, I'd like to get some information on grocery shopping... I cannot read any Kanji yet, so any tips on how to pick out ingredients for some simple meals and such would be much appreciated.

Also, I'll be living/working in the vicinity of Keio University. Any suggestions for places to eat out in that area?

Thanks!

theirs a Japanese Grocery store im going to tomorrow. they have imports and such from japan. the bookstore i go to next to it has pretty good prices, ill check out the prices while im their. but what works out even here in america is eating ramen noobles. only 20 cents a cup

I almost never cooked for myself because there were so many take-out and conbinis around me. Actually it would have probably cost me more to cook for myself than eat bento and other take out every night.

Hmm, are you replacing a certain person at the university who was deported recently? Apparently one of the foreign teachers there was making a little money on the side dealing marijuana.

Anyway, have a look at your apartment's kitchen facilities before deciding how much cooking you are going to do. If it's like most apartments, it will have a single electric burner which takes about 30 minutes to heat water to boiling. It'll take much less time (and, as MMM said, a little less money) to go to the nearest convenience or grocery store and get a prepared meal. The Japanese are artists at making such things, they are tasty and reasonably priced.

Conversely, I cooked for myself for breakfast and dinner 80-90% of the time while I lived there, and enjoyed doing so. Simple stir fry, pork chops, spaghetti, scrambled eggs, etc are all very easy and inexpensive to make.

My fridge fit about 2 six packs of beer and I had one burner, a toaster oven and a microwave. It was easier for me to eat out, didn't make much difference financially, and I was never much of a wiz in the kitchen.

True. especially when you first move you really dont have time to cook and its a pain in the ass to try so eating out is quicker. but a good homecooked meal is also good from time to time.

As someone who cooks for a 3 member family each day - it is MASSIVELY cheaper to cook. Trust me on this. Our food budget for the month (not that we really have a set one, but...) would be gone in a week if we tried to pull off eating out and buying preprepared stuff. I`d have trouble thinking of things to eat that would knock the normal food up into the "prepared" food category in prices.
It is usually as fast for me to heat something as it is for me to make something - just a little more hand movement is involved.

Of course, if you have no kitchen things change, but yes - I have lived with a tiny tiny refrigerator before, and it can be done. Buy a tiny rice cooker and learn to make curry and some donburi things for starters. I`d like to see someone pull off eating for 3 days on 600 yen like you can with curry and rice. (90 for the half the curry base, 65 for a couple onions, 35 for a carrot, 50 for a couple potatoes, 150 for meat of choice... plus about 200 for the amount of rice you`d need from a bag.) The only ingredient that needs to be refrigerated is the meat. After you make the curry/stew/similar thing - you can keep it on the stovetop for 2 days as long as you thoroughly heat it every 8 hours or so.

That's not much less than what I had... I had a 3' tall fridge, and 2 burners on the stove, and a microwave. But you really don't need very much to cook with. And I definitely think I saved money when I cooked for myself. For instance, you can buy a dozen eggs for $2 or so, right? Well, that works out to 50 cents for a 3 egg omelet. Throw in a few green onions and maybe a couple chopped mushrooms if you like for only pennies more.

A whole package of spaghetti costs $1 or less, and lasts 3-4 meals. You can buy a jar of sauce that will last at least 2 meals for about $3. Again, add fresh onions and mushrooms for very little, along with some Italian seasonings and maybe some meat, and you can have a big spaghetti dinner for about $2, maybe a bit more.

There are lots of other meals too, like the curry rice Nyororin mentioned, that can be easily made for very little money, much less than even a 7/11 pre-made bento. Honestly, one of the reasons why I saved so much money during my time in Japan was because I cooked at home. People who frequently ate out were not able to even come close to my food budget, and IMHO, I think the freshly cooked dinners were better than the conbini bentos anyway!

They probably were, Samurai. I saved by working a part-time job at night, but that didn't allow me to learn to cook. I am not saying cooking for yourself is wrong in any way...I just wasn't smart or motivated enough to do it.

Yeah, a night job would mean less time to prepare a meal. But I should add that moving to Japan was also my 1st time moving out of my parents' house, and my 1st time cooking for myself. That's why I stuck to relatively simple things like scrambled eggs, pan-fried pork chops or chicken, and 3 ingredient super-easy stir fry, and I learned through trial and error what to do and what not to do.

It was my first time living alone, too. That's also part of the reason I got the baito, because hanging out alone wasn't something I wanted to do.

What is baito?

part-time job.

Ah, thanks, I did actually google that before I asked but came up dry.

It's short for "arubaito" which came from the German "arbeit" meaning "part time job"

"Arbeit" actually just means work, not part time work, but anyway, back to the topic:
Ive had alot of trouble in the first days to find anything in the supermarket so here´s my tip:
Start with eating out (its not sooo expensive), but also try to slowly get some easy things, like cupramen, spaghetti, etc... you cant make mistakes.
After you got used to the Japanese signs and layout (that doesnt mean that you can read them!) you will get around a Super quicker, so you can try to cook more fancy things. Also if you can speak a little bit Japanese and know the word for the stuff you need, than you can always ask the Staff.
I found Food in Japan not so expensive as at home, so you can also do a trial and error. If its a 100yen and your not sure if it is what you need, just get it and see, gets fun after a while.
Like Nyororin said, cooking for yourself is off course cheaper, but i felt the difference between precooked food and homemade stuff is not so big like in Europe. I also find it alot easier to cook for 2 or more people than only for myself, but maybe thats just me.

Well, im sure youll get around after some time

I find cooking for myself in Japan to be pretty cheap and easy, even when I was a student here a couple years ago. Lots of produce is pretty inexpensive, and soba noodles are dirt cheap. I can throw together a nice sized stir fry (with beef!) for a mere 340 yen, and that takes about 5 minutes to cook in just in a frying pan with very little mess.

A lot of baked goods are also quite cheap in Japan, too.

One thing I can recommend is to go to the grocery store after about 8:30 (might differ depending on the store) and a lot of items will be marked down (bentos, bakery items, sometimes meat/produce).

What you probably should focus on is small portions and buying fresh ingredients daily, or every other day. At first that will seem like a hassle, but eventually it will become habit and you will appreciate the fresh quality, despite the more frequent buying trips. This will cut down on the need for storage and space to cook.

Soups and rice prepared with multiple portions will probably be ok. Rice gets used up quickly. Soup can be kept at room temp for a while as long as it can be brought to a boil before eating it, but be careful about the ingredients. Meats in soups spoil faster than vegetables and broth at room temp. If you want a thick soup, puree veggies. Don't be tempted to add any form of milk. Creamed soups do not keep well without refrigeration and they can't be boiled without lots of practice.

I haven't lived in Japan, but I went through this when I remodeled my kitchen. Doing it myself meant I was living with only a hot plate & microwave for several months, so I had the same issues MMM mentioned with it just being easier to eat out. But that got old and sometimes expensive.

I used rice alot. Curry roux added to fried ground beef or chicken with vegatables. Ground beef with green pepper and garlic with tomato sauce and hot sauce with rice is good. soup is always easy. But you will need to eat out once in awhile since you will get bored. But cooking yourself is always cheaper.

I appreciate all the info guys. Thanks