About Krishna Temple Ujjain’s Mid Day Meal Program

Simply put “We cook meals, deliver love and spread happiness”. Our service of “seva” is to prepare the Mid Day Meal in our center, which is a nutritious and sumptuous meal consisting of dall, chapatti, khichdi, sweet dalia, pulav and vegetables. The meals are then packed and sealed in specially designed stainless steel containers and are transported in dedicated vehicles to the schools where they are served to the children during their lunch hour.

The meals preparation starts at 4:00 a.m. with the cutting and cleaning of vegetables and dall. The meals are cooked in several steam-jacketed cauldrons each having a capacity of 300 Kgs. Then a chaunk is prepared in pure ghee/oil with freshly cut tomatoes and spices. This is then added to the cooked dall and vegetables prepared in the cauldrons are transferred into specially designed stainless steel containers that move forward through the conveyor system and then covered with a lid and sealed. We have got a chapatti making machine which is fully automated and produces 10,000 chapattis per hour. The containers are then fitted into cargo vans and transported to the schools. The school coordinator receives the sealed containers of meal which is served to the students during the lunch break. Our project is part of the worldwide network of affiliates of Food for Life Global.

The Site

We are based in the industrial area of Nagziri. The kitchen is purpose-designed by our engineers and architects for this project: it is an impressive glass and composite panel structure spanning 7500 square feet and has the capacity to deliver 100 000 meals daily. We are committed to making a difference and intend being involved in this mission of feeding children for a long, long time. With your support, bigger facilities will be built to continue the important work of IFRF.

The Kitchen

The kitchen is fully fitted with equipment of exceptional technological standard and efficiency.

Our automated potato peeler stomachs 30kg of potatoes, and peels them in 3 minutes! Another machine needs just an hour to cut 150kg of vegetables! A huge boiler powered by environment-friendly wood fires produces steam that is channelled to three huge steam jackets. These cook 500kg of dahl or vegetables in just 30 minutes!

Most captivating of all is the chapati machine! This awesome feat of design assumes pride of place in the kitchen, and produces 10 000 chapatis every hour! It is a treat just to watch the huge paddles mixing the dough and the trendy conveyor belt system pass it under rollers, then cutters and finally along rows of gas which puff the dough rounds and cook them!

Of course, a strict standard of hygiene and cleanliness is reverentially maintained in every aspect of the kitchen.

Fresh Grains

 

The classy industrial kitchen is flanked by offices and conference rooms, as well as a residential building for the cooks and other employees who live on site. A special area of this building is reserved for our wheat mill. Raw wheat is suctioned from outside the building into a machine on the top floor. There, the stones are separated from the wheat and an extractor fan channels all dust particles and impurities into a collection area outside. The clean wheat is then husked and directed through a pipe into a room on the ground floor. It is here that a machine grinds the clean wheat into flour and helps package it into sacks for use in the kitchen. Yes, our flour is made from scratch!

The Meal

Sixty thousand chapatis, one and half tons of vegetables, and a further one and a half tons of dahl (lentils): this is the enormous quantity of food bought and prepared every day in IFRF Ujjain to feed 20,000 growing children!

Every child receives three chapatis, 100g dahl and 100g vegetables, making for a meal that is balanced in proteins, carbohydrates, fats and important vitamins and minerals. The food is both tasty and satisfying.

From Us To The Children

IFRF mini loading trucks, directed by a route and distribution manager, deliver the food to 110 overnment primary schools in the city. This requires considerable management in order to get the the food to all 20 000 children in time for lunch. There are six vehicles traveling six different routes through the city. Food is delivered between 7 and 12am to all schools, and between 12 and 5pm to those schools with longer hours.

“I am helping feed children who don’t get food at home. Sometimes, when a driver is absent, I go myself to drop off the food. I enjoy serving the children very much. I feel I am making a difference!”

– Mr Vivek Mandloi, Distribution. Manager

Contact Us

ISKCON Food Relief Foundation,
35-37 Hare Krishna Land,
Bharatpuri,
Ujjain (M.P.)
PIN 456010
INDIA
Phone: +91 971 319 9966

For donations, please contact:

Mr. Sandeep Gupta (C.A.)
IFRF Mid Day Meal Scheme,
Industrial Area -Nagjhiri,
Ujjain (M.P.)
PIN456010
India
Phone: +91 982 7073456