Calorie Mate in the UK: What It Is, Calories and Where to Buy It

Written by James Frost, founder of Flaming Phoenix. Updated October 2026.

Calorie Mate is a Japanese balanced-nutrition food made by Otsuka Pharmaceutical since 1983. The best-known form, the Block, is a 20g shortbread-style bar with 100 calories, so a four-block 80g box gives 400 calories plus 11 vitamins and 6 minerals. In the UK you buy it online from importers such as Japanese Taste, or from eBay and Amazon sellers.

Flaming Phoenix has no connection with Otsuka. I make Phoenix Bars, the UK alternative I recommend below; everything about Calorie Mate on this page comes from Otsuka's own product page, its company history and UK listings I opened in October 2026.

What is Calorie Mate?

Calorie Mate is a range of measured, ready-to-eat foods that Otsuka describes as "a nutritionally balanced food designed to provide dietary support for the busy people".

Otsuka's history page says the first two types launched in 1983 as Japan's first nutritionally balanced foods, with the Block designed as "breakfast for busy mornings". Today there are three forms:

• Block: 100 calories per 20g block, sold in packs of two (40g, 200 calories) or four (80g, 400 calories). Flavours on Otsuka's English page: Cheese, Fruit, Chocolate, Maple and Vanilla.
• Jelly: 200 calories in a 215g pouch you drink. Flavours: Apple, Lime & Grapefruit, and Fruity Milk.
• Liquid: 200 calories in a 200ml can. Flavours: Café au Lait, Fruit Mix and Yogurt.

When people outside Japan say "a Calorie Mate", they nearly always mean the Block, and the first flavour, according to Wikipedia's CalorieMate entry, was cheese.

How many calories are in Calorie Mate?

Each Calorie Mate Block has 100 calories, so a two-block pack is 200 and a four-block box is 400; the Jelly pouch and the Liquid can are 200 each.

Here is the rest of the label for a four-block (80g) box, from Otsuka's figures, with the ranges covering the five flavours:

• Calories: 400, which is 5.0 calories per gram.
• Protein: 8.1 to 8.7g (about 2g a block).
• Fat: 22.2 to 22.6g.
• Carbohydrate: 41.7 to 43.4g, of which sugars 39.7 to 41.4g and fibre 2g.
• Salt: 0.79g in the Fruit flavour, on Japanese Taste's listing.
• Vitamins and minerals: 11 vitamins and 6 minerals, including 200mg of calcium and 50mg of vitamin C per box.

That 5.0 calories per gram is high for a bar. It comes from a recipe built on flour, fat spread, sugar, eggs, almonds and skim milk powder, according to the Maple ingredients list on Japanese Taste's UK site.

Why is Calorie Mate famous outside Japan?

Mostly because of a video game: Calorie Mate is a consumable item in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and its later remakes, including Metal Gear Solid Delta, as Wikipedia notes.

That one piece of product placement explains a lot of the UK searches for it, from people who have wanted to try the real thing for twenty years. Fictional foods are less lucky: the Kalteen bars from Mean Girls were never a real product.

Where can you buy Calorie Mate in the UK?

Online, from importers: I found no Otsuka distributor or supermarket listing for Calorie Mate in the UK in October 2026, but several sellers ship it here.

• Japanese Taste's UK site had the Maple Block in stock at £16.11 for five 80g boxes, which is £3.22 a box. Free UK delivery starts at £120; below that, delivery is charged at checkout.
• eBay UK has single boxes from Japanese sellers. One Vanilla listing I opened was £2.65, posted from Yokohama, with postage and delivery time that "vary".
• Amazon UK lists multipacks from third-party sellers, with prices that move a lot from week to week.

Ordering direct from Japan brings UK import rules into play. GOV.UK's guidance says that on goods worth £135 or less the seller has usually already charged VAT; above £135 you pay VAT, and possibly customs duty, before the parcel is handed over. Whichever route you use, check the best-before date on arrival, since the boxes have travelled from Japan. We cover the same import maths for an American product in Greenbelly Meals in the UK.

What does Calorie Mate taste like?

The Block is a dry, dense, lightly sweet bar, closest to shortbread, which is how Japanese Taste describes it too.

Each flavour shares the same base of flour, fat spread, sugar, egg and almonds, with the flavouring added on top. Being dry, it goes best with a drink. If you want a soft bar you can eat on the move without water, it is the wrong product; if you want a neat, measured biscuit at a desk, it makes sense.

Is Calorie Mate healthy, and is it good for weight loss?

Calorie Mate is a measured snack with added vitamins and minerals, and it is not low in calories: each block has 100 calories, about 10g of sugar and 5.6g of fat.

Its fixed portions make it easy to count, which is why some people use one or two blocks as a measured breakfast. A whole box, though, is 400 calories, the size of a small meal. If you are trying to gain weight instead, the same 5.0 calories per gram works in your favour; our guide on how to gain weight sets the numbers in context, and calorie dense foods lists everyday equivalents.

Calorie Mate vs Phoenix Bars: how do they compare?

Phoenix Bars carry more calories per bar, and they are vegan and gluten-free. Here are the numbers side by side:

• Calories: Calorie Mate Block 400 in an 80g box; Phoenix Bars up to 557 calories in a compact, 120g bar.
• Protein: Calorie Mate about 2g per 100 calories; Phoenix Bars 18 to 19g a bar, about 3.2 to 3.6g per 100 calories.
• Diet: Calorie Mate contains wheat flour, wheat protein, eggs and milk, so it is neither vegan nor gluten-free; Phoenix Bars are both.
• Format: Calorie Mate comes in 100-calorie blocks with 11 vitamins and 6 minerals; a Phoenix Bar is one soft 120g bar you break into pieces or stir into water as porridge.

So for most UK buyers, Phoenix Bars are the better pick: more calories per bar, at up to 557 calories in a compact, 120g bar, soft enough to eat on the move without a drink, vegan and gluten-free in every flavour, and hand-packed in London and posted within 1 working day. If you want the Japanese original itself, with its 100-calorie blocks and added vitamins, the UK importers above sell it. For a wider view, I have ranked the highest calorie bars in the UK per gram and compared the best meal replacement bars UK; our homepage has the full range of high calorie bars.

Calorie Mate FAQ

Is Calorie Mate vegan or gluten-free?
No. The Block ingredients on Japanese Taste's listings include flour, wheat protein, eggs, skim milk powder and sodium caseinate, so it contains wheat, egg and milk, plus almonds and soy. Imported boxes may not carry an English allergen panel, so read the seller's listing before you buy.

Can you live off Calorie Mate?
Otsuka sells it as dietary support for busy people, not as a complete diet. A box gives 400 calories but only about 8g of protein, so even five boxes a day would supply 2,000 calories with only 40 to 44g of protein. Use it to cover a missed meal, not every meal.

Is there a Calorie Mate recipe I can make at home?
Otsuka does not publish one. A dense shortbread-style bar is easy to approximate with flour, butter, sugar, egg and ground almonds, and our guide to homemade high calorie bars covers denser no-bake versions with the calories worked out.

Is there a UK version of Calorie Mate?
Not an official one; Otsuka does not make a UK edition. The UK-made bar I recommend instead is Phoenix Bars, compared above: one soft bar with up to 557 calories in only 120g, posted within 1 working day.

CALORIE MATE is a trademark of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., used here only to identify Otsuka's product. Flaming Phoenix has no affiliation with, sponsorship from or endorsement by Otsuka. Sources, checked October 2026: Otsuka, Calorie Mate; Otsuka company history; Wikipedia, CalorieMate; Japanese Taste UK; Japanese Taste; eBay UK listing; GOV.UK, tax and duty on goods from abroad. Prices change, so confirm with the seller.