Started as a hobby for most, ‘Covid tiffins’ are now lifeline for many battling the pandemic

  • | Thursday | 6th May, 2021

New Delhi: The Covid-19 second wave in Delhi-NCR has sparked the growth of what has now come to be called Covid tiffins. The Covid tiffins are gaining prominence as home-cooked, hygienic, healthy and cheap food options, especially for families where all members have tested positive or single patients struggling without support systems.

New Delhi: The Covid-19 second wave in Delhi-NCR has sparked the growth of what has now come to be called Covid tiffins. The Covid tiffins are gaining prominence as home-cooked, hygienic, healthy and cheap food options, especially for families where all members have tested positive or single patients struggling without support systems.

Some of the Covid tiffin initiatives have seen a massive jump in sales over the past month alone, chiefly because the food is cooked by those at home.Take the case of the popular ‘House of Kitchens’. When it was launched online in August last year, it started its Covid service with just 11 registered home chefs on 15 April. That number has now risen to 300. According to Anupriya ‘Ana’ Singh, who launched the initiative, they have delivered over 2,75,000 tiffins across Delhi since 15 April.

“House of Kitchen was actually started in August 2020 when I noticed that many housewives had started cooking elaborate, special meals and wanted to sell them. I had then set up a network of chefs within Delhi who would then deliver these special dishes to people who were getting bored of home cooked meals,” Singh told ThePrint.

“But the need shifted in the second wave when more and more people started falling sick and wanted hygienic, home-cooked meals. That’s when we shifted our focus to meals for Covid patients.” Singh isn’t alone. There are at least 21 different tiffin services in Delhi-NCR, offering food for as low as Rs 100 per meal to Covid patients and those in isolation.

Help for Covid-affected patients and families

Patients and those in isolation are mainly drawn to the Covid tiffins’ promise of home-cooked food. They also say the subsidised rates are an added advantage. Ankit Srivastava, 28, who is Covid positive and in home isolation in Noida, said the tiffins he orders “feels like a mother’s hug”. “Usually when you order from outside, you don’t know the oil that’s been used, or how hygienic it’s been but with the home-cooked tiffin service, I know that the food is coming from a safe space and reminds of me home,” he told ThePrint over the phone.

“We’re two persons in the house, both Covid positive, and so it’s difficult to cook. Restaurant food isn’t an alternative to home-cooked food that tiffins can be, for a short period of time,” Srivastava added. “Besides, tiffins are more affordable then constantly ordering food via these apps.”

The tiffin services have also helped grieving Hindu families that practise the tradition of not cooking meals in their kitchens for 13 days after a relative’s death.

Typically, relatives in the city cook and provide meals at this time but Covid has made that difficult.

“I relied on a neighborhood tiffin service for some days after a family member passed away due to Covid,” said an Indirapuram resident, who didn’t wish to be named. “Since we can’t cook in the house and nor can our family members come to our house or interact with us, ordering home cooked meals really helped.”

The House of Kitchens identified another place where people are in desperate need of food — hospitals.

“A doctor had written to us congratulating us on our venture, and had described how she had to go home and cook for two days for her family members and bring two days worth of food with her to the hospital and how painful and exhausting that was,” Singh said.

“That made me realise even doctors, nurses, paramedics and other staff are also in need of food. So we started sending sponsored meals to LNJP and Safdarjung. 100 lunches go to LNJP while 100 dinners are sent to Safdarjung. And believe me they vanish within 10 minutes.”

The ‘Meals on Wheels’ initiative for hospitals was started on 25 April and funds are raised online. Those looking to donate can WhatsApp House of Kitchens at +91 70652 65000.

The Meals on Wheels initiative by House of Kitchens | By special arrangement
The Meals on Wheels initiative by House of Kitchens | By special arrangement
Something to keep you afloat
While the Covid tiffin providers insist that this is no business model, the service has benefited those at home cooking the meals.

Anuradha Poddar has been a caterer for almost three years, serving food in parties and other gatherings in Noida. Amid the second wave, many approached her for meals as they couldn’t cook themselves at that point of time.

What started with 4-5 meals a day has now reached a figure of almost 30 tiffins per meal. She serves tiffins to sectors 50, 41 and 42 in Noida. “The catering business obviously took a massive hit during the pandemic and this has helped me sustain myself,” she said. Poddar serves meals that include three chapatis, rice, salad, raita, dal and a seasonal vegetable for Rs 180 per tiffin, which includes the delivery charge.

“It’s not all about business though; it’s also highly gratifying to see that I am able to help out families in at least some capacity right now,” she added. “Besides, I have also been able to help a young boy — who delivers all my tiffins — find employment.”

While Anupriya Singh insists House of Kitchens is not and should not be looked at as a business opportunity, she also acknowledges that it has helped her home chefs find a footing during these difficult times.

“I have a chef in the Laxmi Nagar area, who told me that when she started with us, she only had Rs 200 in her account, and had been unable to pay her daughter’s school fees for a while,” Singh said. “But within 15 days of working with us, she said she now has Rs 45,000 in her account and was so relieved that she’d be able to afford her daughter’s school now. So it’s nice to see that we’re helping both families as well as the volunteering home chefs.”

The home chefs working with House of Kitchens decide their own rates and are paid that amount in full. The chefs working with House of Kitchens provide meals starting at Rs 100. House of Kitchens had also partnered with ‘Paapos Delivery’, which chefs use at their own discretion.

“I have been making tiffins and serving them for just Rs 120 per plate for about nine days now and have already served more than 1,200 meals and have made a profit of Rs 5,000,” said a home chef in Indirapuram, who didn’t wish to be named. “I know that’s not a lot but I just want to help people for now. I would serve meals at absolutely no profits but am a single mother and need this money too.”


If You Like This Story, Support NYOOOZ

NYOOOZ SUPPORTER

NYOOOZ FRIEND

Your support to NYOOOZ will help us to continue create and publish news for and from smaller cities, which also need equal voice as much as citizens living in bigger cities have through mainstream media organizations.


Stay updated with all the Ghaziabad Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.

Related Articles