Shirdi Sai Baba loved serving food to his devotees. The Shirdi Sai Baba Trust keeps the tradition alive by providing free food all people visiting the temple. The menu includes chapati, rice and curry, two vegetarian dishes and dessert. Ladoo (a sweet given as prasadam to devotees) and sweet boondi (a sweet made of besan flour, deep fried in ghee, with a sprinkling of cashew nuts and raisins) are given free to devotees.
The kitchen at Shirdi Sai Baba temple is one of the largest in the world and serves food to nearly a million people every month. The kitchen maintains high food hygiene standards. Water is treated in the reverse osmosis method.
The kitchen functions from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM. It is considered the biggest of its kind in Asia. On an average, 40,000 people have food in the kitchen daily. The numbers go up to more than 100,000 during holidays and festivals.
The kitchen annually uses around 1,600 tonnes of wheat, 900 tonnes of rice, 600 tonnes of gram flour, 900 tonnes of sugar, 250 tonnes of toor dal and 720 tonnes of vegetables.
More than 1000 people work in the kitchen 24X7. Much of the work, including kneading dough for chapatis, rinsing of food grains and washing utensils, is automated.
The kitchen has been constructed on seven acres at a cost of 35 million (35 crore) rupees. It includes a modern kitchen, a cold storage and halls for preparing ladoo and boondi. The 44,567 sq.ft dining halls on the ground and first floors of the complex can accommodate more than 7000 devotees. Three dining halls, each covering 20.240 sq.ft have been constructed for VIPs. Each can accommodate 300 people.
Shirdi Sai Baba Temple kitchen is solar powered and is one of the largest in religious centers across the world. Before the installation of solar power, the kitchen used to consume 550 tonnes of cooking gas every year.