Where to buy healthy pre-made Asian foods
Hi fam - our kids love Bao, potstickers, sushi, ramen, etc. We didn’t grow up cooking these foods and don’t know where to shop for them at groceries outside of the big box places. I’d love love love to find healthy pre-made versions of these to feed our family. I don’t want to resort to the high sodium processed versions from the big stores. Do you all have recommendations on go-to places we can buy these pre-made or frozen at prices that won’t break the bank? I’d love to go exploring but our schedules are insane right now and would be great to start with some vetted recommendations. Extra points for nutrition density and huge win if anything can be delivered/pre-ordered! TIA!!!
Oct 13, 2024
Parent Replies
This is not hard to fulfill in the East Bay! In El Cerrito, there's Yao-ya San on San Pablo Ave on Moeser which is a small Japanese grocery with lots of packaged meals & frozen meals. There's also 99 Ranch on the El Cerrito/Richmond border, and a large Korean market in Oakland on Telegraph. Berkeley Bowl West also has fresh sushi to go & an Asian food aisle.
The farmers market in moraga on Sunday has a vendor that sells excellent baos and pot stickers.
For frozen food I would try Grocery Outlet (inconsistent stock, but if they have them it's amazing value and you buy a bunch), or online/delivery ordering with Weee (which I prefer to 99 Ranch because you get warehouse prices without the storefront costs). For sushi there's a lot of grab & go places within Japanese restaurants, but where do you live? Also sushi is super expensive per meal, in my experience. Honestly those foods are just not very nutrient-dense by nature, even when home-cooked (which I grew up doing). We usually eat these during holidays as a treat. There's just not much vegetables either. Probably dumplings are your best bet, although I find the non-homecooked varieties usually skimps out on protein. Very fun though!
Don't know how healthy they are, but New Dumpling in El Cerrito (on San Pablo) sells frozen dumplings. I can't remember if they are precooked and then frozen or if you have to cook them yourself. Caveat the we have had trouble cooking these without having them stick to each other and/or breaking, but that may well be user error. They also sell non-frozen cooked dumplings for dine in or takeout. https://newdumplingfood.smartonlineorder.com/
I'll preface with I'm not sure what you'd consider highly processed from a big box store. My Asian family didn't really look at nutrition facts growing up, so I'm mentioning things based more on my personal taste (I think I eat pretty healthy) and what my family thought was good enough to buy instead of make ourselves. That being said, Costco and Trader Joe's probably have the best options. I list some options below, and linked to a non-Costco site when possible since I know not everyone has a membership. You might be able to buy directly or find these at other places too.
Costco: chicken + cilantro dumplings (Korean) and MiLa soup dumplings (Chinese). I almost always have these in my freezer for a quick meal. I've also heard good things about their new vegetarian kimbap (Korean - looks kinda like sushi) but I haven't tried it personally. A little less healthy, I have gotten their Tonkatsu Ramen (Japanese) or Pulmuone's Udon (Japanese) but I don't buy these regularly. To make healthier, I add veggies (American veggies like broccoli, corn, cabbage are fine) and curb how much of the spice packet I add. Makes it feel homemade without all the effort
Trader Joe's: Gyoza (these are potstickers and come in chicken or pork). I haven't tried but have also heard good things about their Kimbap (Korean), soup dumplings (Chinese), and fried rice
Good luck!
Berkeley Bowl!
Tokyo Fish Market on San Pablo in N. Berkeley has a good selection from brands that seem more regional/not big box. Also Korean Superette and Kyoto Sushi, both on Solano Ave, have refrigerator cases with pre-made, grab-and-go options. No delivery, though; not sure about pre-order. Good luck.
Tao Yuen in Oakland (816 Franklin St in Chinatown) is really good, though parking can be challenging (there's an affordable garage). The other place we go to for dim sum is The Best Dim Sum and Pastry (that's the name and while it's good it's not as good as Tao Yuen) at 723 E 12th St in Oakland. Easy parking in a neighborhood you might regard as slightly seedy. Trader Joe's sells frozen potstickers (pork and I think chicken) that are pretty good and very convenient. Berkeley Bowl's sushi is quite good.
Your kids might enjoy making fresh spring rolls. Start with rice paper wrappers--you can order these from Amazon, but are easily found in most Asian Markets (I go to Sun Hop Fat at 5th Ave and E 12th in Oakland, or one of the many Chinatown markets). They come feeling like plastic, but get them wet and lay them on a plate and they soften up quickly. You can put pretty much anything in them as long as it can be cut to dimensions that work in something the size and shape of a spring roll. Cilantro, mint, shredded cabbage or lettuce, julienned carrots or cucumber, meat cut into thin slices. Add some sauce inside the wrapper or use it to dip (I'll do vinegar, chili sauce, & soy sauce, or sub lime juice but you can google spring roll dipping sauces for lots of easy options). Roll the spring roll up like a burrito (more or less). My daughter loved taking these for her school lunch. Easy-peasy, really healthy. FWIW, we would sometimes do fusion spring rolls with Tex-Mex fillings (beans, avocado, corn, tomato).
A lot of Asian use Wee (its an asian grocery app).
If not, Yao-ya San, Tokyo Fish market, 99 Ranch/Ranch 99 or even H Mart or Nijiya if you want to go further.
I dont know what you consider healthy