How much for a meal at 7-Eleven?

I'll be traveling to Tokyo for 10 days in a couple months and I'm going to be on a very tight food budget. I'll probably end up eating either fast food, convenience store food or vending machine food the entire time. How much should I expect to pay for an average meal from 7-Eleven? Can anyone recommend some good places to eat in shin-okubo or shinjuku, thats where I'm going to be staying.
Any help is much appreciated! Thank you.

Meals can range between 120yen for an onigiri or bread thing to 600yen for a larger bento. You can probably expect to spend 400yen without a drink a decent sized meal.


Places like Yoshinoya that sell meat on top of rice can be quite cheap and they provide free tea. Depending on the size and toppings, you might spend less than 400yen there.

Coco Curry's is also fairly cheap. Curry and rice for around 600yen.

Family restaurants like Joyfull or Gusto can be a bit more expensive but do make up for it by allowing you to linger a bit if you want to take a break while out. And for about 200yen you can get the drink bar which is an all you can drink buffet (non-alcoholic but still quite good)

Most cafes have really affordable morning sets. Doutour for instance has sandwich sets that include a drink and are usually the same price or cheaper than a drink on its own. A lot of cafes offer things like this.

If you're will to spend a bit more for meals, I suggest splurging on lunch. Many nice restaurants offer lunch sets where the meals will be around 800-1500yen for most sets and will allow you to try some delicious food without breaking the bank.

udon and ramen restaurants normally aren't too expensive. You might have to check around bu you should find some for 800yen or less. Okonomiyaki is another food that tends to be on the cheaper side.

Sushi places like Kappa Sushi which are converyor belt sushi places where a plate costs 105 can be cheap if you don't get carried away.

There are also the usual fast food restaurants, both the American chains and Japanese ones.

There are a lot of options when it comes to cheap dining in Japan. It just takes keeping your eyes open for it and setting a realistic budget. Even if you eat cheaply most of the time, make sure to give yourself a couple meals where you can spend more and enjoy the food of Japan. And don't forget to account for snacks or drinks once and a while.

Oh, and lastly, the cheapest place to get bentos is in the late evening at supermarkets or the bento areas in department stores. They'll be reducing prices of anything hasn't sold. If you get lucky with both the timing and remaining food of the day, you can get some good bentos for 50% off or more.

Sage.
Thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for, and the most thorough answer I've ever received on this forum! I'm a bit more confident about my food budget now.
I'm glad you mentioned Yoshinoya, I've never had gyudon but I really wanna try it. Would you recommend other gyudon places as well like Sukiya and Matsuya? Which one is your favorite?

Josh,

Do yourself a favor and try a university cafeteria once in a while. At most universities, anyone is free to dine there and the meals are very affordable. It's not healthy to eat fast food all the time.

I appreciate your concern Uco, I will look into trying a university cafeteria but also I don't eat fast food all the time and this will be a vacation so I don't think eating some fast food is going to do any permanent damage. But thank you!

A lot of foods/eating and Shin-Okubo daily life/travel reports on YouTube.
But guess full or not border line around 500Y without drink.

If enough lunch time go to staff's dining hall of Tocho(Tokyo Metropolitan Government[TMG] Office Building) cheap anybody using.
http://www.tokyo-jinzai.or.jp/rest_cafe/restaurant/staffs_dining_hall....
2nd pic "Seiyo Food" with good Mt.fuji view if fine day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Metropolitan_Government_Building
TMG observation deck(more higher/free) also nice.
http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/attractions/metropolitan_govt_bldg/

Thanks everyone for your suggestions so far, I also had a quick question. How easy will it be for me to get around and order food and stuff with no Japanese? I know a couple phrases, but only enough to introduce myself, say I don't understand or ask where the bathroom is, things like that.
I know I have a couple months to learn some but with no one to practice with I feel like I forget a lot of stuff.

Josh,relax!
Lots of us go to Japan without speaking the language and don't die of starvation...
In a 7-11, Lawson etc. you help yourself. In a department store food floor you point at what you want or help yourself if there is a pile of foodstuff on sale at the end of the day.

Many, if not most, restaurants have realistic displays of their food, with prices,in their front window. Sometimes the waitress took me outside to look at the window and I pointed at what I wanted. In other places they had coloured photos on their menus.

Most Japanese knows a lot of english words
but just not using in their daily life not good at especially listening.
So no worry about ordering,shopping and daily life.
http://youtu.be/v4oq4YeRuf8

Also translator(scanning with sounds) apps recommend.
http://youtu.be/uiRlDjR4A1c

You should watch YouTube vids and more
a lot of Tokyo life/travel vids and blogs in english.

Some ramen and rice bowl restaurants even have the vending machine up in the front where you choose what you like and a ticket pops out. All you need to do is find a seat and hand the waitress the ticket. Have fun!

Got a smartphone? When I went to a restaurant I took a photo of the food outside, went inside and showed the waiter while saying "o onegaishimasu." you'll be fine. Also if you need a fork, it's "forkku o kudasai."

Oh, and if they don't have forks (I didn't come across a place that didn't) prepare yourself by either learning to use chopsticks (I'm too cack-handed to use them) or purchase a cutlery set from a 100 yen store and carry it with you. I never needed to use it but it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

Thanks everyone! I really like seeing what everyone has to say.
DDD I was thinking about using my phone to take pictures of stuff to show people if I need help, great idea! Hopefully I won't need any forks, I've been using chopsticks for a long time but I'm sure there's foods I'm going to have a hard time with. Oh and I'm nervous about the way I hold them, I don't want people to think I use them weird (I'm already a big weird foreigner... I'm 6'5" haha). Oh well its gonna be an adventure!