Meal kit delivery services are not just helping out busy households but also seniors in Japan's increasingly graying society.

The selling point is that customers can prepare fresh meals on their own with a ready-made kit of food ingredients and seasonings in just the quantities they need, saving time and reducing food waste.

Customers mainly include people with little cooking experience, homemakers having trouble with everyday menu planning, and seniors. But gourmets are also being targeted with new services delivering high-grade meal kits for use in web-connected cooking devices under the internet of things concept.