7-Eleven’s HottaUlam! Meals – Pretty Good for P159!

I’ve been curious about 7-Eleven’s HottaUlam! offerings, especially since they have collaborated with chefs and restaurants 🙂

I thought the concept of bringing the flavors of popular restaurant dishes to 7-Eleven was a great idea! There have been times in my life when I have been a frequent customer of convenience store food – like those times when I worked late / night shift, or those nights when I was seriously into my games and wanted a hot meal that wasn’t instant ramen. Oh, how I miss those days when one can just walk out of the house to buy a small thing like a snack or a coffee at the nearby convenience store at any time of the day or night, without having to disinfect and take a full shower as soon as I got home.

When I heard that our friends at 7-Eleven wanted more people to know that their HottaUlam! offerings were now available in over 2,000 branches in Luzon, of course, I had to try them, too!

We went to a newly-opened 7-Eleven branch (Pinaglabanan cor. N. Domigo) and bought some meals to take home.

This branch is new, has parking, and I like their new, clean coffee machine! (I like to check how well-maintained a 7-Eleven’s coffee machine is and prefer to get coffee from the nice ones). 7-Eleven’s coffee is really good, and only P45 for the biggest size! But you have to pick a branch with a well-maintained coffee machine because those coffees are the best 🙂

HottaUlam!

7-Eleven’s HottaUlam! offerings are convenient and affordable. Price range is P55 to P79 for the single-serves, and P159 for the packs that are good for 2-3 people.

They are ready to eat – you can have them heated at 7-Eleven, or you can heat them at home, like we did. Heating instructions are printed – you basically just microwave it until hot 🙂

I also like that these do not include rice! Many people already have rice at home, or just cook rice at home to save money. These are just purely ulam! 🙂 If you want rice, 7-Eleven also sells cooked rice that you can add to your order.

Here are the flavors that are available for single serve: Rico’s Lechon Binagoongan, Rico’s Lechon Sisig, Pork Laing, two sticks of Pork BBQ, Chicken BBQ, Fried Bangus, Pinakbet, and Ginataang Langka. These are priced at P55-79 each.

Larger servings for families and barkadas are available too! They have Pork Steak, Chicken Curry, and Beef Caldereta are priced at Php159 each and are good for two to three pax. Baliwag Liempo (P165) or Lechon Manok (P115) are also available.

I wasn’t able to get any of the barbecues – maybe because they were too popular and were already sold out!

Anyhow, I was satisfied with the HottaUlam! dishes! Taste-wise, they are flavorful, and from what I can tell, similar to their restaurant counterparts. Of course, the more expensive restaurant version will have more meat and more tender meat, but the taste of the HottaUlam! is good. Malasa and masarap for this price range, and you are assured that the food meets 7-Eleven standards in terms of cleanliness and packaging.

The family actually preferred the larger serving Pork Steak, Chicken Curry, and Beef Caldereta and I also think these are better value. They have more sauce – which is great if you like a lot of sauce to go with your rice, and the meat is meaty – we didn’t get any fat at all – all meat chunks and no “taba”. They also had more “laman” than I expected! The sauce is very malasa and not watery, even though it includes a lot of sauce. More sauce for more rice, I say! 🙂  As for it being good for 2-3 persons, your mileage might vary, and depends if you like to eat more “laman” than rice.

I like that we have ready-to-eat ulam in the ref, and I like that it is budget-friendly. It’s very convenient and can be a lifesaver when it’s mealtime and you’re not prepared to serve anything. You can use these as the main dish, or add some HottaUlam! dishes as side dishes or extras when you feel like the main dish you’ve prepared isn’t enough. When you’re craving for a hot meal in the wee hours of the morning, after finishing a report, or even after some strenuous gaming, a HottaUlam! is very easy to heat up and you don’t have to pay delivery fees! I like to heat up the HottaUlam! Pork Laing and eat it with some leftover rice 🙂 The Binagoongan tastes delicious, but has too much pork fat for my liking.

7-Eleven has always been about making lives easier for the community, moreso during the pandemic when it launched the Bayanihan Savings and Selections initiative, which was to make grocery items available at more affordable prices.

Don’t forget to wear your face mask and face shield, observe physical distancing, and follow safety protocols inside the store. Contactless payment methods like CLiQQ app and GCash are also encouraged to further ensure your safety.