What does it take to create better food for growing children? The Shishu Bhojan story

For a young child, food is much more than a meal. It is fuel for a growing brain, developing muscles, a strengthening immune system, and a body that is changing almost every day. The first few years of life are especially important, with the first 1,000 days widely recognised as a critical window for growth and development.

Yet, access to nutritious food remains a challenge. One in three children under the age of five experiences malnutrition, which can have lasting effects on physical growth, immunity, and brain development.

So the question becomes: how can we make nutritious meals available to more children without compromising on the quality and integrity of the food? 

The answer: shelf-stable, nutritiously balanced ready-to-eat meals, made with only real ingredients, no chemicals.

Meals designed for kids 6-36 months old

When Shakyasimha Foundation and Shiprocket approached us for their project Shishu Bhojan, the brief came with strict nutritional guidelines for kids.

The problem wasn't simply making a meal. It was making the right meal.

Creating food for children between 6 and 36 months comes with a very different set of requirements. Every ingredient, every gram of protein and fat, and every step of the process matters. The meals needed to meet precise nutritional requirements while being:

• Clean and made from whole ingredients

• Free from chemical preservatives

• Shelf-stable

• Easy to prepare and rehydrate

• Suitable for the nutritional needs of growing children

Traditional shelf-stable food often depends on preservatives, synthetic emulsifiers or inexpensive fillers to extend shelf life and maintain consistency. But Indic Roots ready-to-eat meals are made with freeze-drying technology, which completely eliminates the need for any kind of preservatives or chemicals.

Freeze-drying: making shelf stability work differently

Freeze-drying is a food preservation technology that removes moisture from food at very low temperatures.

Unlike conventional high-heat preservation methods, it allows the food to retain much of its original structure, flavour and nutritional profile. When water is added back, the food can be rehydrated and enjoyed in a form that is remarkably close to the original meal.

For our work with Shishu Bhojan, this presented an opportunity to create shelf-stable meals without relying on preservatives, while retaining up to 98% of nutrients.

From a nutritional brief to a real meal

The goal was never to create food that was simply "healthy." It was to create food that was nutritionally precise, clean, practical and scalable.

That meant combining traditional whole ingredients with food technology in a way that solved a very modern problem: making quality nutrition accessible without compromising on ingredient standards.

The result is a range of 100% clean, macro-balanced, shelf-stable meals designed around the specific nutritional requirements of children aged 6–36 months.

Because when it comes to raising children, "good enough" isn't good enough.

“It is deeply satisfying to see something that began as a demanding product-development challenge become food that contributes to something much bigger: helping put nutritious meals within the reach of children who need them.” 

- Ishit Pilani, Co-founder, Indic Roots

In partnership with Shishu Bhojan and Shiprocket, we are proud to have delivered over 50,000 uncompromised, macro-balanced meals to nurture young lives.

Find out more about the initiative here