GS25 Spam Sundubu Kimchi Jjim Review [Korean Food]

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Hello! Today’s pick is the Spam Sundubu Kimchi Jjim, a chilled ready meal released by GS25. I usually review convenience-store ready meals as single-serving dinners, but I love kimchi jjim so much that I bought this one without a second thought! With quality that holds up even next to delivery food and great value, I was really satisfied. Honestly, it didn’t leave me with any of the usual preconceptions about convenience-store ready meals. So let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Table of Contents

📋 At a Glance

Product: GS25 Spam Sundubu Kimchi Jjim (spam and soft-tofu kimchi stew)
Store: GS25 (convenience store)
Price: 12,900 won
Calories: 879 kcal
Weight: 1,072 g (2–3 servings; sodium at 304% of the daily recommended intake)
Main components: 3 Spam slices, kimchi (from China), soft tofu, 6 sheets of gim (seasoned laver)
Cooking: microwave 7 min 30 sec at 1000W (8 min 30 sec at 700W)
Verdict: ★4.0 — a bold, spicy stew that rivals delivery, great value, and a versatile large-format base!

Spam Sundubu Kimchi Jjim: Price and Key Points

I’d thought this menu was pretty large and hearty even as a meal, but the concept itself is a delivery-style drinking snack. Since I happen to love kimchi jjim and will even order it in when I can’t be bothered to make it, I just couldn’t pass it up! The price for this menu is 12,900 won.

Since it’s hard to tell the composition from the outer packaging alone, they even marked it on the front! It’s 3 Spam slices, kimchi, soft tofu, and gim (6 sheets). Even at 3 Spam slices, it doesn’t actually feel like that much, right? Still, a similarly composed kimchi jjim easily runs 12,000 won if you order it for delivery these days, so maybe the difference isn’t so big.

For the cooking method, you pour all the contents of the pouch (a plastic pouch, I’m guessing?) into the plastic container, cover the lid loosely, and microwave for just 7 minutes 30 seconds at 1000W. After cooking, you eat it as you like or with the included gim. Looking at the whole process, you just pour and cook, with no adding water or any other step, so it’s pretty simple!

The total weight of this menu is 1,072 g, with 879 kcal and sodium at 304% of the daily recommended intake. Setting aside the sodium, looking at the calories for the total volume, it’s a quietly generous amount even to eat alone. As for the ingredients, the kimchi is from China, Spam is in there of course, and it seems there’s no separate pork added.

Contents and Cooking

So let’s quickly look over the contents and then get straight to cooking. As checked in the cooking method earlier, this menu has this pouch inside the plastic container, plus a sheet of gim. There’s no need to add or mix anything else during cooking.

Microwaving for 7:30 at 1000W

As the cooking method directs, I poured all the pouch contents into the plastic container! Leaving it like that, the very top looked like it might dry out a bit, so I gently shook the container side to side to level it out (!).

From here, close the lid and microwave for 7 minutes 30 seconds at 1000W. At 700W it was 8 minutes 30 seconds, right? I’d somewhat expected it, but the soft tofu is all mashed up! I did wish they’d packed it separately, though thinking about the soft tofu’s shelf life, that would probably be a headache.

Anyway, this is how it looks after 7 minutes 30 seconds in the 1000W microwave. Quietly not bad, right? The smell is up there with a decent specialty delivery kimchi jjim! So let’s dig right in.

Taste Test: How Does It Actually Taste?

First I took a big ladleful with a slice of Spam and tofu and tried it right away! Wrapping soft tofu in kimchi and then wrapping that again in gim, like it’s laid out on the packaging, seemed a bit tricky. Still, the Spam, kimchi, and soft tofu combo doesn’t add any needlessly sweet seasoning, so the taste is quite good. That sharp, hearty spicy flavor comes through nicely!

As I noted with the ingredients earlier, this menu is essentially all Spam. There’s no separate meat or tuna. So if you love a meat-forward kimchi jjim, you might find it a touch lacking! Adding sausage or ham, or if you want to go further, searing a little meat to add in, could be one way to go. As you keep eating, the broth seasoning does feel a bit strong.

The soft tofu being all mashed was a slight letdown, but distributing soft tofu separately makes shelf-life storage tricky, and honestly, even other delivery specialists that include soft tofu rarely have a pristine look (…). So I just scooped it up as-is, and it’s more than enough to mix into rice too.

Convenience store instant food comparison

Using It as a Base

The gim, for what it’s worth, is great for wrapping up kimchi and rice too! Now, this menu is 12,900 won, and these days a single-serving menu at a decent kimchi jjim specialty shop is 12,000 won, and adding a few options easily pushes it past 15,000 won, right? In that case, this menu can be a pretty good pick as a base to cook however you like. Compared to a specialist’s single serving, the kimchi is quite generous and the seasoning is fairly strong!

Whether you buy instant rice separately or make rice at home to pair, having to prep rice separately is a downside, but since this menu is meant as a drinking snack, that’s understandable. It’s also a great menu to eat at your lodging on a trip or at a campsite when camping, so you could use it that way too! Especially on a camping or pension getaway, it’d be great to sear some meat into it. If it feels a bit salty, add a little more water and use it like a kimchi stew.

Final Verdict

Overall, the quality was good even for a convenience-store ready meal, and the value was decent too. It’s great to use as a base for adding other ingredients, and it was good to eat even away from home, camping or on a getaway! Weighing all these points, it was a quietly recommendable menu!

To sum up, even if the mashed soft tofu and the lack of any meat or tuna beyond Spam are slight letdowns, the sharp, hearty broth, generous kimchi, and large-format value made it a highly satisfying menu. It was especially great to use as your own kimchi jjim base by adding sausage or seared meat, or as a snack for camping and travel! For anyone in Korea who loves a spicy kimchi stew, it’s an easy GS25 grab.

For more on the makeup of the GS25 Spam Sundubu Kimchi Jjim and the launch of this large-format ready meal, you can read the (Korean source) Sidae report on the GS25 large-format kimchi jjim launch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much is the GS25 Spam Sundubu Kimchi Jjim?

It’s 12,900 won. The total weight is 1,072 g at 879 kcal, a large 2–3 serving size. Since ordering a single serving of kimchi jjim for delivery runs 12,000 won and easily tops 15,000 won with options, it’s decent value for a large format.

Q. What does the Spam Sundubu Kimchi Jjim taste like?

Personally, without any needlessly sweet seasoning, the sharp, hearty spicy flavor comes through so well that it was satisfying enough to rival delivery. That said, the soft tofu is all mashed after cooking, and with no meat or tuna beyond Spam it may disappoint meat-forward fans, and the broth seasoning is fairly strong.

Q. How do you cook the Spam Sundubu Kimchi Jjim?

Pour all the pouch contents into the plastic container, cover the lid loosely, and microwave for 7 min 30 sec at 1000W (8 min 30 sec at 700W). There’s no need to add water or other ingredients, so it’s easy. If it feels salty, add a little more water and enjoy it like a kimchi stew, and sausage or meat pairs well too.

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