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TV Dinner

Japan With Kids - Forums: Shopping in Japan: Foods: TV Dinner
By Yuko Kubota on Friday, May 21, 2004 - 1:37 pm:

I know the answer is no, but I'm going to give it a shot.
Is there any way at all I can obtain TV dinner in Japan? It has to be a type you prepare in an oven and not a microwave. Preferably a Chinese meal, but anything will do.

I don't care if it's mail delivery and I can also spend money to travel very far if I can return within the same day (I live in Yokohama).

For those who don't know, TV dinner is a special kind of ready-made frozen dinner sold in supermarkets in the U.S.. I know it's junk food (I usually stick to natural foods), but I haven't had it for 30 years and it's a taste I really miss from my childhood days in Pasadena. Thank you so much for your cooperation!


By Steve K on Monday, May 24, 2004 - 11:23 am:

I've seen TV dinners in Tokyo, but I can't remember where. I live in eastern Tokyo, so some of the places near me are probably too far for you. Have you tried National Azabu in Hiroo? How about Kinokuniya (I don't know if the store is under renovation)? The import store (B1 level) in Ikispiari may have TV dinners. I can't recall its name, but it's a chain store so there may be one in Yokohama. Lastly, have you tried the new Costco in Tamasakai?

By the way, what kind of Chinese TV dinners are prepared in ovens? I come from Vancouver, whose stores offer lots of quick-to-prepare and cooked foods, but no TV dinners per se (e.g., Swanson's Hungry Man line). A lot of the prepared dim sum foods is frozen and has to be steamed to be cooked properly.

Steve


By Yuko Kubota on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 11:49 pm:

Thank you for your response, Steve. At least I have something to look forward to!

To answer your questions, no, places near you are never too far for me. As I wrote, I've realised they're not everywhere so I'm willing to go as far as Okinawa or Hokkaido. But with my son, I don't think I can afford to travel overnight outside Japan. Besides, I have to worry about finding ovens, and it would be terribly lonely to fly all the way to L.A. just to eat it and come back. So please post again if you remember where you saw them in Japan.

Yes, I check out the frozen food section every time I go to National Azabu or any Kinokuniya branch or any market with imported foods, but no luck. I do recognise ready-made frozen food like a pack of fried chicken or stew, but that's not what I'm looking for. I want the whole American style dinner with gravy and dessert.

No, I've never yet been to Ikspiari, but looking at their website, the only place likely to have them at all seems to be Seijo Ishii Supermarket. I phoned them and they said they didn't have it. Btw, their Shin-Yokohama branch does not have them either.

This was the first time I heard about Costco. I phoned them and they didn't have them, but the shop seems interesting, so maybe I'll drop by some day.

The Chinese TV dinner I have in mind was my favorite back in the early 70s. I don't know if it's even available today, but I think it had chop suey (misspell?), American style Chinese egg rolls (you know how Chinese food is so different depending on the country), and nothing steamed.

What I liked about TV dinners is the way the dessert syrup stuck to the foil plate (I know it's junk), and the variation of meals that's packed in one dinner plate, and the fact that the variation causes a very original mixture of tastes. Maybe I'll email National Azabu and make a request.

My next question would be, if I visit somewhere closer like Saipan, would I be able to obtain TV dinner and find a place to prepare and eat it? If so, how? My quest continues...


By Shibuya on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 1:53 am:

Yuko, why don't you try asking
FBC (the Foreign Buyers'
Club: www.fbcusa.com) if they
can get some
TV dinners for you? I have
heard that they do all kinds of
special orders, if they can find
what you're looking for. People
have even imported pools
from them.
I grew up on the occasional
frozen dinner, too.
Natstukashii!
Good luck.


By Yuko Kubota on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 - 5:14 pm:

Good news and bad news.
I phoned Foreign Buyers' Club, and they said they didn't have it and have no current plans to import new frozen food from the U.S.. Before that, I phoned National Azabu and they told me that probably no retailer can import TV Dinner to Japan due to artificial preservative standards (now we know they're really junk!). The clerk said that I can consider kojin-yunyuu (individually importing from overseas shops), but he said that the last time he checked there weren't any makers that deal with overseas customers, which I agree.

The good news? Thanks to Shibuya-san, I learned about Foreign Buyers' Club for the first time, and they recommended me a Mexican meal made by an American chef. It's good to know you can order a wide variety of imported foods while National Azabu is a bit far from here, and I ordered FBC's catalogue. Well, maybe this is not such a good news, but I always like to look at the bright side. At least, now I finally know all about TV dinner in Japan.


By Steve K on Thursday, May 27, 2004 - 11:02 am:

Yuko,

Sorry about giving you the wrong lead with Seijo Ishii Supermarket. I wasn't sure but thought you might want to ask their staff since their stores seem to have a better selection of imported foods than Meidi-Ya stores. If I come across TV dinners in a store again, I'll let you know. The information about artificial preservative standards was interesting: it made me question myself about when I saw TV dinners in Japan.

By the way, when I was in Vancouver last year, the frozen dinners available at the supermarket included a Chinese stir fry (chop suey) from Nestle (under their Stouffer's Lean Cuisine brand). And from what I understand, aluminum trays are no longer being used for TV dinners. Frozen foods are either on microwaveable trays or in a bag.

Steve


By Yuko Kubota on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 10:49 pm:

Steve, I appreciate your info on Seijo Ishii as well, and asking their staff was exactly what I did. I truly appreciate any tiny info on this issue. In fact, the Mexican meal that FBC recommended sounds quite nice with rice and all, so I'm looking forward to the catalog to see if this will be an alternative.


I wonder if the Nestle Chinese dinner you're talking about is this. It's the only one I can find on-line;
http://www.nestle.ca/en/Products/Browse_by_Category/Meals/Chicken_Turkey/lean_cuisine_chicken_chow_mein.htm?view=BrandView
But of course, I'm looking for something more like this (which is just an old ad);
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1526&item=3679002037&rd=1
Just seeing the triangle shape sections makes me hungry (Now I'm beginning to sound creepy, I know).

But you may be right about the trays. A friend in NY did mention in his email a few months ago that they still have oven type ones, but my favorite local tin tray oven dinner (not TV dinner) has disappeared from Japanese supermarkets, so I suppose they stopped selling any kind of tin trays due to health reasons.

The Japanese friend in NY also said I'm having illusions and that if I eat TV dinner now, I'll know it's not tasty. Maybe I'm just looking for cancer, and should compromise with the old ad instead of the real thing. Oh well, man must move on.


By Steve K on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 11:07 am:

Yuko,

I saw the poster on e-bay and think it must be old. Though I wasn't looking at frozen foods in Vancouver supermarkets last year, there didn't seem to be any frozen dinners on aluminum trays in their freezers. However, I could easily be mistaken, especially if no-name brands or supermarket brands were offering them, possibly as throwback products (see http://www.cnn.com/FOOD/news/9903/31/tv.dinner/>. And Vancouver is a tiny market compared with New York.

Steve


By Yuko Kubota on Thursday, June 3, 2004 - 9:27 am:

Thanks Steve for the very interesting article. So I guess TV dinner sort of represents a certain era and culture. I'm beginning to think if I should seriously buy that ad from ebay, but if I put it on the wall, I'll probably start seeing nightmares of me eating TV dinner I can probably never eat in real life!


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