How to Buy a Meal Kit in Japan

We’re all too busy to shop! Panic! Perhaps this is how your inner circle has been feeling. Or maybe, we’re all too tired to shop. Or, who knows, right now we might think it’s too dangerous to shop. Either way, shopping eventually becomes a necessary evil. Food shopping and cooking at home is often seen as a necessary part of a healthy lifestyle, despite the effort required. Takeaways and ready meals are not the best friends of our bodies or our bank accounts, so what can we do? If only we could use kit to cook and eat a meal at home in Japan without all of the rigmarole. What’s that? We can?

Yes! In Japan, there are several services that provide a happy medium between ordering food and cooking it yourself. When using such services, although most of the ingredients are prepared for you, there is no need to worry about unhealthy eating habits. The vast majority of the ingredients contain no preservatives and are a much better alternative to ordering a pizza—but do allow yourself to splurge on a slice occasionally! Here we take a look at the benefits of meal kit delivery services in Japan and how to order them for yourself.

You may notice HelloFresh Japan missing from this list. As of December 2022, the Japanese branch has closed.

Why use a meal kit service in Japan?

Convenience

Having all the required ingredients delivered to you in a meal kit solves two problems: worry over finding the right ingredients and having to take multiple trips around town to source them. Nothing is more irritating than clicking on a link for a ‘simple’ celebrity-endorsed meal, only to realise you do not have the required herb garden in your kitchen- or a certain type of rice or flour that can only be bought from a specialist shop. With a meal kit, everything you need to prepare the meal is provided for you. 

In fact, there is a third advantage to meal kit services in Japan given present times. With the country under the grip of COVID-19, and key words being ‘isolation’ and ‘social distancing’, it is well worth avoiding a visit to the shops entirely if possible. You might find yourself needing basic everyday ingredients such as oil or butter, but most services carry these as an extra anyway. 

Simple Recipes

Generally, the recipes included in meal kits are simple and do not require more than a few basic skills. Every step is clearly explained with the relevant time and temperature needed included. For those who may struggle with the Japanese, the pictures on recipe cards are indeed helpful. You can also make yourself familiar with common cooking words and measurements, and away you go! (For some useful cooking language, have a look at the bottom of this page.)

For those who do not fancy meal prep or cooking, there are some delivery services that provide microwave-ready meals too. You can’t beat the taste of proper at-home cooking though!

Portion Control

One of the freedoms of cooking at home is that you can choose how much of everything you want to eat. A lot of the time we end up overestimating how much of something we should add (I’m looking at you, pasta!) and, let’s be honest, other times we just feel like being greedy. The problem is, this is a hard habit to break after a while. With meal kit  services portioning everything out in advance, this will no longer be a concern. Trust me, you will not be left feeling hungry either. Recipes for meals from these services generally contain a good balance of all the food groups, and the only thing you might be required to add is some rice on the side.

There are a lot of meal delivery companies around, and their concepts are very similar. Some companies might specialise in seasonal food, or locally sourced ingredients, which might sound more appealing to some customers. (You can compare essential information between a few companies at the bottom of this page.)

For the benefit of this article, we are going to talk about the trial pack available from Oisix. The ingredients may change throughout the year, but at the time of writing, the kit consists of…

• Two meal kits with all necessary ingredients (each meal kit serves 2 people)
• One kale salad pack including cheese and nuts
• A generous serving of spinach (小松菜)
• A 70g serving of pumpkin
• A good amount of cherry tomatoes
• An extra present from Oisix

There are also some optional extras which may cost a little more on top, but look closely, as some are free! All you will need to buy yourself is longer-term ingredients such as oil or butter for the pan, rice, and anything you might like to add to the dishes. Bottom line: a trip to the supermarket becomes more of a choice than a necessity.

Let’s say you’re happy with the idea of meal kit delivery and you want to give it a try. How do you sign up? We’ll walk you through it. 

Signing up and Payment

The Trial Pack

The first thing to do will be to create an account on Oisix. This is a standard procedure and asks for standard sign-up information (name, email, address, payment etc.). Once your account is created, you can order the trial box described above. Your account will also grant you access to the whole online shop, allowing you to customise later orders. It’s probably possible to skip the trial box altogether if preferred, but at that value you might as well go for it.

Future Orders

If you are satisfied with the trial pack, you can continue using Oisix easily. Now that you have an account, you will be able to order meal kits and extras at your convenience. There are a number of boxes or ‘courses’ to choose from, along with the ability to order separate items. There are also special seasonal items during certain periods, such as Christmas or New Years recipe kits. If a full course is not your thing, you can order individual items separately.

This is not a subscription-based service, so you do not need to worry about monthly fees or usage commitments. Think of it as a generic online shopping account.

Ordering and Delivery

Once you are signed up, you can select menu items to fill your box! The default number of items is seven, as listed above, but it is possible to add more items as you see fit. The list is limited and changes frequently to keep up with the seasons, so try not to get too attached to one dish! Delivery will usually be within 2-5 days, but you can easily select the precise date and time that you wish. Just make sure you are in when the order comes. If not, it’s up to you to organise redelivery. If the order gets sent back to Oisix and you do not organise redelivery, you will still be charged. All deliveries are handled by Kuroneko Yamato.

Payment

A variety of payment methods are available and you will be asked to select one as part of the registration process. Make sure you are familiar with which payment methods are accepted. They are clearly explained on each website. Oisix takes most major credit cards, Rakuten Pay, and convenience store payments. Convenience store slips are sent separately after the food has been delivered.

Other Providers

The table below compares ten meal kit providers throughout Japan. You will be able to check important information such as costs and delivery options. In addition to checking the table,  it’s worth checking the website of each provider to see which service best suits your needs.

Which service is best for you?

Still unsure which service is best for you? You can check this webpage (https://gitcasts.com/git-talk) for a comparison of ten different companies. They are ranked by cost-performance, range of items, delivery options, and general usability. Each evaluation is done using symbols rather than text, so it should be easy to understand even with limited Japanese language ability.

Websites for meal kit providers in Japan

If you are interested in trying one of the meal kit options shown in the tables above, follow the link to their website below.

Useful cooking language

Preparation

Cooking

Measurements

Need help with figuring out living in Tokyo? Our Tokyo 101 guides take the stress out of navigating life in Japan.

Featured image by Ella Olsson on Unsplash