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Have you taken a look in your freezer lately? Has that carton of ice cream from last summer grown into an ice fortress yet? What about that mean-looking freezer burn on that mystery meat? Maybe it is time to clean out the chiller and fill it up with some surprisingly yummy frozen foods from your local Japanese grocery store.

While this is far from world-class gourmet dining, the following six foods will definitely make your stomach happy on a night when pushing the microwave’s “start” button is all the cooking you want to do. Click below to find out which Japanese frozen foods are worth your hard-earned yen!

We scoured cold freezer sections of Japanese grocery stores to find the best frozen food for our dear readers. After settling on the six most delicious, we then rated the products in two categories: taste and value. We then gave each food item two ratings in each category from a total of five stars.

• No. 6

12 pack of gyoza (Chinese dumplings) from Ajinomoto

In the world of frozen groza, Ajinomoto is king. These dumplings can be made without any water or oil whatsoever, meaning you won’t have to deal with the soggy and oily gyoza if your cooking is a little off. This is an especially good buy for people who live on their own since the package can easily be split into two, making for a more reasonable 6-dumpling portion.

Price: around 200 yen (US$2)

Taste: ☆☆☆

Value: ☆☆☆

• No. 5

300 g Soft and Juicy Fried Chicken from Ajinomoto

Coming in fifth place is Ajinomoto’s delicious Japanese-style fried chicken. Now, we acknowledge that there is certainly cheaper fried chicken in the freezer section, but this brand uses only Thai chicken, which is usually of slightly higher quality than other imported poultry. You can trust the wording on this package because this is truly the juiciest fried chicken ever to come out of your freezer. It also comes with a sachet of sauce that is a great accompaniment to the flavor of the chicken.

Price: around 350 yen

Taste: ☆☆☆☆

Value: ☆☆☆

•  No. 4

10 pack of grilled onigiri rice balls from Nichirei

These delicious rice balls are grilled with soy sauce and are probably one of the most economical snacks in the freezer section, coming in at just 30 yen (US$0.30) each. Since you can pop one rice ball at a time into the microwave, they make the perfect (and consistently yummy) snack for in between meals.

Price: around 300 yen

Taste: ☆☆☆

Value: ☆☆☆☆

• No. 3

Spa’s Premium Big Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Fried Eggplant from Nissin Foods

Weighing in at a whopping 370 g, this 200 yen chilled pasta is probably the best value in the freezer section and it can easily fill up even the most hungry eater. The taste is pretty much par for any comparable ready-made pasta from a convenience store. There are also other flavors available, like Neapolitan or mentaiko cod roe, but the portions are a little smaller. Definitely one to have on standby for emergencies and lazy weeknights.

Price: around 200 yen

Taste: ☆☆1/2

Value: ☆☆☆☆☆

•  No. 2

Authentic Fried Rice from Nichirei

We have absolutely no complaints with this fried rice, which is adorned with juicy char sui pork and fluffy eggs. It is so incredibly delicious that we think it may be impossible for Nichirei to improve on this frozen fried rice. Like how Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, this fried rice is the undisputable King of Frozen Foods.

Price: around 400 yen

Taste: ☆☆☆☆☆

Value: ☆☆☆

• No. 1

7-Eleven Premium Tsukemen

Tsukemen, sometimes known as “ramen’s weird brother” on account of the diner dipping the noodles in the soup rather than it all being served in one big bowl, is always delicious and being able to keep some in the freezer makes emergency and lazy meals that bit more exciting. 7-Eleven’s thick tsukemen noodles have a perfect texture and pair well with the rich and delicious pork and seafood broth-based soup that comes packaged. And their incredibly low price makes these great noodles almost miraculous in their value and taste. In short: frozen Japanese food perfection.

Price: 158 yen

Taste: ☆☆☆☆☆

Value: ☆☆☆☆☆

Have you tried any of these fine frozen foods? Do you disagree or have a better recommendation? We would love to hear about your adventures in the freezer section!

Images: RocketNews24
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