You do not need a specialist kitchen, a suitcase from Tokyo, or a hundred mysterious bottles to cook Japanese food at home. You need about ten things — and in the UK, all of them are a supermarket trip or one online order away. Here is the pantry I’d build from zero, in the order I’d buy it, for under £50.
Prices below are honest ballparks — they drift, and larger Asian supermarkets nearly always beat the big chains. Every item here links to the exact products I recommend.
The Big Five (~£25)
1. Japanese soy sauce (shōyu) — ~£3-4. The backbone of everything. Buy Japanese, not Chinese — they’re different products (a full comparison is coming to the journal). Kikkoman is everywhere in the UK and genuinely good.
2. Miso paste — ~£4-5. Start with awase (mixed) or white (shiro) miso — friendlier than dark red. Keeps for months in the fridge and turns into soup, marinades, dressings, and glazes.
3. Mirin — ~£3-4. Sweet rice seasoning; the gloss in teriyaki and the roundness in simmered dishes. Look for “hon mirin” if you can find it.
4. Rice vinegar — ~£3. Gentler than any European vinegar. Sushi rice, pickles, dressings.
5. Dashi — ~£4-6. Japan’s foundational stock. Purists make it from kombu and katsuobushi (worth graduating to), but instant dashi granules are how countless Japanese home kitchens actually operate, and they’re the right first buy.
🧂 The Big Five, in one order
[Replace with an AAWP list box — the exact soy sauce, miso, mirin, rice vinegar and instant dashi you recommend, so readers can buy the whole foundation in one click.]
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The Supporting Cast (~£20)
6. Japanese short-grain rice — ~£5-7 for 1-2kg. The single biggest upgrade to home Japanese cooking. Long-grain rice is the wrong texture for everything Japanese; proper japonica rice is sticky, glossy and sweet. Yutaka and Clearspring versions are in most big UK supermarkets.
7. Toasted sesame oil — ~£3. A finishing oil, not a frying oil. A few drops transform gyoza dipping sauce, fried rice, and dressings.
8. Noodles — ~£3-4. Start with udon (forgiving, satisfying) or soba. Dried packets keep forever.
9. Panko breadcrumbs — ~£2-3. For katsu — which, fittingly for this site, is another dish with European roots that Japan perfected.
10. Shichimi tōgarashi — ~£3. The seven-spice chilli blend that sits on every noodle counter in Japan. Shake it on soups, rice, eggs, everything.
What NOT to Buy Yet
Skip the sake (cooking wine can wait), the specialist flours, the yuzu products (glorious, expensive — earn them later), and any gadget promising to fold onigiri for you. Skill first, toys later — though when you’re ready, I’ve tested the gadgets that are actually worth it.
Where to Buy in the UK
Larger Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose branches cover most of this list via Yutaka and Clearspring. For better prices and the full range, the online specialists — Japan Centre and Sous Chef — are the move, and a single order gets you everything above. A full ingredient-by-ingredient guide with substitutions lives in my Japanese Pantry.
Total: roughly £45-50 — a complete Japanese pantry, from zero, that will feed you for months. Your first cook? Miso soup with proper dashi. Ten minutes, three ingredients from this list, and you’ll taste exactly why this cuisine took over the world.