Restaurants in the country have stepped up to make quarantine cooking easier by tapping into the concept of DIY meal kits, which come with pre-portioned ingredients to recreate a restaurant quality meal at home.

A popular burger joint in Delhi’s Defence Colony, AKU’S – The Burger Co. has introduced such kits for their items. “We thought why not make it easier to cook burgers without having to shop for each ingredient?,” says founder Ankit Malhotra, with co-founder Akriti adding that all their products are preservative free.

And it’s not only the measured ingredients to prepare a delicacy, some eateries are also delivering their signature sauces for foodies to enjoy the flavours of restaurant in the comfort of one’s own home. Saurabh Khanijo, director of a pan-Asian chain, Kylin, is trying to cater the demand of ready-to-cook sauces and feels the concept was long overdue in India. “The packaging has been kept simple to avoid too many hands touching it,” he says.

For some, DIY kits are a form of encouragement for amateur cooks. “Not everyone’s a great chef and can cook from scratch. It’s a start as something half-done is provided. We’ll send spice mix and curry and you have to add chicken, butter, etc.,” says Amit Bagga, co-founder and CEO of a North Indian cuisine restaurant, Daryaganj, which is preparing kits for dishes such as dal makhni and butter chicken.

Shubham Maheshwari, founder of Being Chef that has been providing meal kits since 2014, says, “Now restaurateurs are acknowledging that the DIY kits are future in food industry.” He also adds, “Our recipe kits provides buyers with all the ingredients (chopped & processed) customised as per one’s taste with a simple 8 step recipe card.”

Bagga recalls that the DIY segment has existed from a very long time, and adds, “We all call this ready to cook segment and it can include even as simple as a spice mix, and has been there already since a long time. It’s just that there’s a new name for it.”