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Need advice on spending food budget

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jet_dee

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Hey, in two weeks I'll be in Kumamoto, Kyushu, for six months, volunteering at the hospital.

I'll be given about ﾂ｣100 pounds, or 20,000 yen, a month, for food, and I'm trying to find out how best to allocate that. I'd rather not eat any, if possible, western food for the duration of my time in Japan, for 2 reasons: it can be more fatty, and I want to immerse myself in the culture as much as I can.


So, what would you suggest for a three-four meal a day diet?
 
I don't think I would be able to survive on 20 000 Yen for food. I would probably starve to death. Maybe you can buy a BIG bag of rice while your there and eat at home. I don't think you'll be going to too many restaurants while you are there. Good luck though, 20 000Yen a month would definitely be a difficult task for me, but others on this forum might have survived on that much. Maybe I just eat too much :?
 
I hear Japan is expensive...
Would that also be able to afford soy sauce for every meal and the ability to steam it? I am also going to Japan--in not to long. I can survive of soy sauce riddin steamed rice. As long as I get a occautional meal of meat.
 

The single biggest difference - price wise - between the UK and Japan is the cost of supermarket food. Expect to pay double compared to the UK and get about 50% less in volume.

I just can't see how you'll make 20000 yen stretch for two weeks worth of food - let alone a month. Not if you want to eat regular, healthy meals. There really is no such thing as cheap food in Japan. Eating out is often just as 'cheap' as cooking for yourself. For example - even if you went on an apple diet. Three apples a day for 30 days the costs would be 90 times 100 yen (the conservative cost of one large apple) - 9000 yen. Almost half your budget.

Are you going to be living with a Japanese family? That would be your best bet to make ends meet, learn Japanese, eat 'Japanese' food etc. etc.

For your information, a gaijin employed as a full-time English teacher in Japan must be paid a minimum of 250,000 yen every month in order for the employer to receive a work permit.
 
Yeah, i know. I'm going with a company, and with another person my age. He gets paid the same for a food budget too, so ideally we can split 40,000 yen between us per month, and just share breakfast, and lunch foodstuffs. We apparently get taken out by the hospital staff a fair bit, so I presume they will happily pay for meals out sometimes. Not saying i'd sponge off them, but that they'd understand our situation money wise.
 
Try checking this out

I managed to eat pretty cheaply in Japan, though I don't know about 20,000 yen for a month. I'm not sure how much you eat, but I'd usually get about 250 yen worth of bread for breakfast from one of the million bakeries, a couple of 100 yen onigiri at a konbini for lunch, then "splurge" on some 700 yen ramen for dinner. The thing that really got me was spending money on drinks during the day...dropping 100-150 yen for an Aquarius every 6 hours can add up during the course of a month.

I definitely recommend supermarkets at closing. They're desparate to get rid of food, and you have a large selection. It's tough to navigate them near closing, but well worth the effort. Check out 100 yen stores too, as some have grocery sections. Other than that, I'm going to have to side with the rest of the posters in this forum and suggest it's damn near impossible unless you're willing to lose some serious weight.
 
jet_dee said:
Yeah, i know. I'm going with a company, and with another person my age. He gets paid the same for a food budget too, so ideally we can split 40,000 yen between us per month, and just share breakfast, and lunch foodstuffs.
Click to expand...

Well that does improve your situation a little bit. 2 people can exist on a limited budget far better than just one - you buy larger portions which are more cost effective.

jet_dee said:
We apparently get taken out by the hospital staff a fair bit, so I presume they will happily pay for meals out sometimes. Not saying i'd sponge off them, but that they'd understand our situation money wise.
Click to expand...

Be sure to inform the hospital staff just how little money you're both living on. They will sympathize I'm sure. Most Japanese who do similar volunteer work overseas take the equivalent of several thousand pounds with them.

Just how many hours a week are you expected to work though? Will the work include evening and night shifts? English teachers can get away with living on 100 yen boxes of cookies because the work isn't exactly demanding - but care work is pretty tiring - physically and mentally. I assume that the hospital will cover the costs of any medical treatment you may have to receive - yes, in Japan you DO go to a hospital when you have a bad cold, not a family doctor, and the costs are prohibitive without insurance.
 
Lets see, 5kg of white rice will set you back at least 2000yen, you might want to dish out 5000yen for a rice cooker to cook your rice for 6 months and then with the rest of the money each month you can buy little bits of meat and vegetables to go with your rice. But personally I just don't see myself surviving on 20 000 yen a month. Personally I would need about 50000yen a month, but some university students over here survive on about 35-40 thousand yen a month. Good luck though, and if I had a colleague that was only earning 20000 yen a month for food I would definitely take pity on them and take them out sometimes. But Japan is seriously not the place where you want to be short of money. Although I did meet someone who survived on 99yen a day in Tokyo for a month before he got a job he ate one a day at an all you can eat rice place
 

I don't know about hospitals, but many companies operate cafeterias for employees where the meals are dirt cheap. You may find that hospital employees can make use of the hospital dining facilities at a sharp discount. Definitely look into this, and if such a thing is available, you might stretch your budget quite a bit by having a couple of your daily meals there.

Barring that, you can scrounge scraps from what the patients leave on their trays.....
 
Maccas costs about 550yen for a Bigmac coke and fries. 20,000 yen is not alot, you will have a fun time on that
 
Hmmmm i got through 20,000yen on food per fortnight easy.

Don't inore western food. Trust me.

When you first arrive you'll be homesick and that can cripple. Chowing down on a bit of Maccas (I've long since quit fast food but at the beginning? Necessity), pizza, Subway or other western food is A) comforting, B) sfae. With such a limited budget you're making a risk buying something and not knowing exactly what is is. Eg when I first arrived I went alone to okanamiyaki restaurant. Had a picture menu but the pics weren't clear.

I THOUGHT I was ordering bacon and egg stuff. It was my first time with okanamiyaki.

The waitress brings out a bowl of white goo and a bowl of seafood bits. what I think. Wht do I do?
Ask the waitress and she hurridly shows me how too cook it myself, then hurries off. I start cooking.

I don't like seafood at the best of times, the worst of times it can make me physically ill.
I cooked the stuff. But over-cooked one side severly and undercooked the other side, resulting in a burnt okanaimiyaki with an uncooked center of fish bits. I also didn't know about source. As I said, it ws my first time and I was alone.

I STRUGGLE through the stuff but leave very unsatisfied and down 1200yen because of drinks as well as the stuff. On the way home it all came out the way it went in if you know what I mean. Bam, 1200 lost in a side-alley.

Anotehr time I was VERY homesick and in the anger stage. Too calm myself I decided to cook carbonara for myself. I buy the eggs, cream, bacon, cheese and pasta. Cost a bit more than I could afford too.
Start cooking. Fry the bacon, pastas cooking. I open the cream, put it in the bowl. Go to crack the eggs. They feel odd. They crack. Nothing happens.

The eggs were pre-boiled. I bought pre-boiled egg's. I went into an enraged fit. Again a pile of money down the drain.



Don't overlook western food. Its cheap, easy and you know what you're getting. When you're homesick, hungry, easily confused by a new place and living on a budget the western food can be a god-send.

On a side note is 20,000 yen a month ALL you get? Do you get spending/recreation money as well?
 
FirstHousePooka said:
The eggs were pre-boiled. I bought pre-boiled egg's. I went into an enraged fit. Again a pile of money down the drain.
Click to expand...

I do hope that this is one of those things that enrages at the time but amuses later.....because I had a hell of a good laugh off of it.

Reminds me of the story of some fresh no-English immigrants to the US who went to the supermarket to get something to cook supper. They couldn't read the packages, didn't know what a lot of the stuff was, had no help with anything, so they decided to go the safe route and make their choice based on pictures on the product labels.

They bought a nice big can of delicious-looking fried chicken. Yuuuuummmmmm Yuuuuuummmmm!!!!!!!!!

They dug quite a way down in the Crisco before they realized there was no fried chicken in the can.
 
mikecash said:
They dug quite a way down in the Crisco before they realized there was no fried chicken in the can.
Click to expand...
What the heck is Crisco?
 
PaulTB said:
Oh that's alright then - I could spare an inch or two.
Click to expand...

Tie a knot in it, big man.

From the Crisco website:

Crisco has been making life in the kitchen more delicious since its introduction in 1911, revolutionizing food preparation and nutrition. From baking to deep-frying, simple salads to Sunday dinners, Crisco products are versatile ingredients that adapt to your cooking style so you can easily create memorable family mealtimes.

Crisco created the first shortening product made entirely of vegetable oil, and also promoted the first cooking oil recognized for its light taste. More recent innovations include Canola, Corn, and Natural Blend oils; Crisco Sticks for baking ease; and alcohol-free No-Stick Cooking Sprays. Crisco shortenings, sprays, and cooking oils remain key ingredients in kitchens throughout the world, complementing your favorite recipes and making cooking and baking a snap.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

In one of it's incarnations, it comes in a rather large can. A can large enough to make the possibility of it containing a delicious fried chicken meal sufficient for 2 or 3 people not at all implausible. I don't remember if they vary the picture on the can, but I do remember the fried chicken picture. You can sort of make it out here: http://www.crisco.com/images/products/shortening_allveg.jpg
 
mikecash said:
I do hope that this is one of those things that enrages at the time but amuses later.....because I had a hell of a good laugh off of it.
Click to expand...
Oh it definately has comedy uses now.
 
A tourist in Japan without a network, I'd recommend about (or at least depending on which city/town and duration) 80ﾂ｣ (GBP) or 16000 Yen....for transportation, food, pocket money, hotel.....PER DAY!
 
OMG....ﾂ･20 000 :| !!!! I suggest you find some friends soon !!! There are people out there who are so nice!yep...friends, nobody can live w/o em ;-) !
 
I can't tell you how disheartening it is to learn that I need more money per day to live on in Japan than I currently earn working in Japan.

Mathematically, I should have left long, long ago.
 
mikecash said:
I can't tell you how disheartening it is to learn that I need more money per day to live on in Japan than I currently earn working in Japan.

Mathematically, I should have left long, long ago.
Click to expand...
She did say a tourist without a network.

Heh but even working here for the first 6 months was at a loss. Still had to borrow money from parents.
 
FirstHousePooka said:
She did say a tourist without a network.

Heh but even working here for the first 6 months was at a loss. Still had to borrow money from parents.
Click to expand...
Yes, a tourist without a network and desire to travel all around Japan needs this amount of money per day...I believe.
(thank you FirstHousePooka)
 
Miss_apollo7 said:
Yes, a tourist without a network and desire to travel all around Japan needs this amount of money per day...I believe.
(thank you FirstHousePooka)
Click to expand...

If it's alright.....I'd like to have that much money too, please.
 
I was with a host family and I spent about 3000 a week, but thats without paying for transport, breakfast and dinner, accomadation, etc.
 
Ewok85 said:
I was with a host family and I spent about 3000 a week, but thats without paying for transport, breakfast and dinner, accomadation, etc.
Click to expand...

Wow, you must have been chilling. I easily spent over ichi man, despite having a host family. Those nomihoudai will get you.
 
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