JAPAN'S CONVENIENCE STORE MEAL HACKS

Everyone knows I love a convenience store in Japan – one of my longest posts I have is about my love for Japanese convenience stores and vending machines, actually.
The food is so fresh, affordable, it constantly changes and it’s literally there for us at any time of day.
There are also, to the surprise of many first time Japan visitors, many healthy convenience store options in Japan.

But this blog post is about making meals using just convenience store bought meals and ingredients.
Disclaimer: you will, of course, have a full range of Japanese ingredients if you go to a Japanese supermarket (put “supermarkets near me” into google maps) but this is mostly for families who have arrived into Japan late at night or are tired after a big day out sightseeing. Please remember that if you want a pre-made meal- Japanese supermarkets have an amazing range of microwavable pasta, rice and noodle dishes as well as salads and bentos. This article is for aimed at parents who want to prepare something that might taste more familiar to their kids – but also won’t take a really long time or cost a lot of money.

I also want to share options that you might not know about if it is your first visit. These recipes are useful if you are staying at an apartment style hotel like Mimaru or &Here (which is what I recommend for young families – especially if you have picky eaters, kids who really need routine or if you have a neurodivergent household and are travelling in Japan.)

I hope this helps if you are trying to save money, have arrived late or just need something fast to eat back at your room as you have sleepy children etc.
Please note that some convenience stores have eat-in areas and regardless if the don’t you can still make use of the in-house microwave ( for items you have purchased at the store.). It’s good to remember that it’s not polite to eat while walking so it’s best to heat up any meals back at your accommodation or warm them up and carry them back to eat right away.
Oooh and one more tip? The microwave’s at the convenience stores are CRAZY strong. So you might want to heat up food in short increments as those mighty Japanese industrial microwaves have super zapping power.

I’m going to write this blog post assuming everyone reading here is looking for a meal to either make up quickly or heat up once they are back at their temporary Japanese “home.” Some meals are best used for those staying in apartment style hotels with a kitchenette.

Meal suggestions that are easy to put together for kids with Japanese convenience store ingredients:
*These suggestions aren’t vegan or gluten free. Please read here for all of my tips on what to do and how to plan ahead for specific dietary requirements and allergies in Japan.

Please remember to use google translate for labels on the back of foods – should you need to know all ingredients (and just for checking flavours etc – as many people pick up things like butter when they think it’s cheese etc.)

These items are all from 7-Eleven Japan.
Salad, Banana , Rolls (with margarine inside), Strawberry Yoghurt, Slices of Ham.

Kiri cracker & cream cheese packets can be found in many convenience stores, as can Corn on the Cob (see the back of the packet for how long it needs in the microwave), Salted Rice Onigiri – this rice ball doesn’t have anything other than rice inside, Cucumber, Hamburger Steaks (there are various different brands of these in the freezer and fridge sections. The heat up time is written on the back. Some have a demiglace sauce and some have a Japanse style self pouring sauce inside the packet.

All of these items are from Family Mart. Boiled eggs, French Roll with pieces of cooked bacon and potato, Sea-Chicken (Tuna) and Corn Salad, Mandarin Jelly and Strawberry Milk.

Assorted Donuts, Karaage Bou (Fried Chicken on a skewer) – these are sold at the counter at 7-Eleven, Green Smoothie, Vegetable Sticks (different types come with different dipping sauces/dressings) , Tomato Rice Riceball with Egg with bacon or chicken pieces – called Omurice .

Now here are some to use if you have a kitchenette in your room (highly recommend when travelling with small kids or picky eaters or those with allergies):

*Please note that the Golden Curry (Japanese curry roux) VEGAN version is only sold overseas and I’ve never once spotted it in Japan. If this is on your “must eat” list in Japan, please be sure to bring it with you.*

Now, remember- you can buy ready made meat sauce pasta that you can microwave at your hotel or in the convenience store – however, if you’d like to make it fresh …
Convenience stores do sell dry pasta for cooking (in the pantry section), and meat sauces, pesto style sauces and there is often a napolitan sauce too . Napolitan is a Japanese ketchup spaghetti sauce – we really like it.
Top left of this picture is apple juice. Bottom left is a Lawson salad “1 portion of veg a day” salad, and bottom right is a margarine bread roll from the bakery aisle at Lawson (tastes better if it’s had a few mins under the grill of a Japanese toaster oven though.)

Extra pasta tip: above the salads are some packets of “salad chicken” which is a cooked chicken breast or thigh (depending on what you buy.) You can always mix chicken and the pesto sauce through pasta and have a chicken pesto pasta dish.

My kids love this “Gold” Hamburg steak from 7-Eleven. For fellow aussies, this is like eating really nice juicy beef rissoles (for the Americans, its like a juicy meatloaf kind of thing.) I recommend getting these and using the microwave at Hotel Imagine to heat it up. You can microwave it in the bag (google translate the instructions on the back) and it’s really nice to serve with convenience store microwaveable rice (pictured below.) See here if you’d like more suggestions on snacks and grocery items we love to buy in Japan.