Curry rice is one of the absolute all-stars of Japanese cuisine, and it earned that status by being a friend not only to your taste buds but to your wallet too. If you’re looking to stretch your budget, whipping up a big pot of curry roux with various veggies and meat is an easy way to have a couple of filling, fortifying meals ready for the next few days without spending a lot of money on the ingredients. But curry rice’s budget-friendliness has been eroding recently, as shown in the results of a study by economic trend research firm Teikoku Data Bank.
Looking through retail price statistics published by the Japanese government’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Teikoku calculated that the cost of cooking curry rice at home has recently risen to its highest price in 10 years. The cost of six ingredients were included in the calculation: rice, curry roux (half a block for a single-person serving), carrots, potatoes, imported beef, and cooking oil. The study also included the cost of water and electricity used for cooking rice in a rice cooker, but does not appear to have factored in gas/electricity costs for cooking the roux, vegetables and meat.
Based on June retail statistics for the Tokyo area, the researchers arrived at 329 yen as the cost for cooking a serving of curry rice for one person, a 10-percent increase compared to the cost for the same ingredients/utilities in June of 2023, broken down as: ● Meat and vegetables: 203 yen (20 yen more than .
