Countdown to 1,500
ends on 25th October
Every order supports a mom-daughter led, women-run team and helps us finish this chapter strong.
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days to go
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lovely supporters
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Fresh pantry staples, made in our kitchen before it closes.
Our kitchen closes on 25th October.
Big flavor, made the slow way. For one last run.
PODIs are artisanal lentil-and-spice seasonings from South India that are deeply savory, aromatic, and made to sprinkle over everything from rice and vegetables to eggs, yogurt, and popcorn.
For five years, we’ve made ours from scratch in our own commercial kitchen. Roasting, grinding and tempering ingredients in small batches so we can obsess over the details. Now, we’re losing that kitchen.
Before that happens, we’re making one final round of the PODIs, one-pot meals, and snacks thousands of you have loved.
Help us reach 1,500 final orders.
How you can help
Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned PODI lover, this is the time to stock your pantry.
PODIs freeze beautifully and stay fresh for a long time. Every order helps us use these ingredients already in our kitchen and close this chapter responsibly.
Start here
Any order
New here? Pick a PODI, one-pot meal, or muruku snack mix and get a taste of what we make.
Perks:
- The PODI Trinity Playbook (PDF) for easy and flavorful high-protein and high-fiber, effortless meal-prep!
Build your pantry
$60 and up
Start with a Discovery Set, then add refills of the PODIs you already know you’ll reach for most.
Perks:
- Free shipping, applied automatically at checkout
- The PODI Trinity Playbook (PDF) for easy and flavorful high-protein and high-fiber, effortless meal-prep!
- An invitation to live cooking classes with Alak
Never go without flavor
$120 and up
Already know your favorites? Stock up with our 1 lb. refill bags. They freeze beautifully and keep remarkably well.
Perks:
- Everything included in the previous tiers
- An invitation to a community session where we share what we’re exploring for our next chapter of PODI life - build with us!
The bad news
We're losing access to our kitchen.
For five years, we have made our products ourselves. That has let us be unusually hands-on and meticulous about every little detail — how each ingredient is roasted and ground, how every batch tastes.
Losing this kitchen is a big blow, and recreating the same kind of manufacturing elsewhere is not simple. So by the end of this year, we'll pause manufacturing in its current form. We don't yet know if or when our products will return.
The good news
We get to make one last big batch of everything.
This past year, PODI life grew almost 3x. For a small business that was once told PODIs were too unfamiliar to work as a product, that means a lot. You made that happen. You put PODIs on eggs, rice, vegetables, and popcorn. You packed them into school lunches. You reached for our one-pot meals on busy nights. You brought our cookware, playing cards, and stories into your homes.
PODI life started as a little dream in my amma's little kitchen. I never expected it to become what it became. Thank you for helping us get this far — you gave this audacious little dream a real life.
With enormous gratitude,
Alak
Updates
As this final run unfolds.
#2 - Sept 13th, 2026:
90+ wonderful people came through this weekend! Many placed multiple orders, for themselves, their friends and family 🎁 Our team is so touched 🥹
#1 - Sept 10th, 2026:
60+ wonderful people who have been ordering from us over the years, not only placed their orders, but also sent us the warmest, sweetest notes of encouragement and support by email, so we decided to create this community notes board. Please leave a comment below, these notes from you have kept me and our team going in these trying times! The team and I are so grateful for you!
The community wall
Notes from all of you 💗
1 so far — I read every one.
Podilife has been my life! I use podis almost every day: on my eggs for breakfast, on my veggies for lunch, with tofu, chicken, fish, everything! I even carry a bottle of the chili salt in my briefcase when travelling. Thank you for being a big part of my life. I’m sorry to see you go, but hope to see your reincarnation sometime in the future!
Karen V.B.
15 September
A mother-daughter labor of love
PODI life is led by Alak Nanda and Vasavi, a mom-daughter duo making small-batch South Indian pantry staples with fresh ingredients and a kind of care that is hard to outsource.
Frequently Asked Questions
Welcome! If you’re new to PODIs, our Discovery Set is an easy place to begin. Or pick a PODI, one-pot meal, or muruku snack mix that sounds delicious and start there.
You don’t need to know anything about South Indian cooking. Our food is made to fit easily into the way you already eat.
We’re closing this chapter of PODI life because we’re losing the kitchen where we make our food.
Our final orders close on 25th October, after which food manufacturing will pause. We don’t yet know if or when these products will return, but we’re exploring what PODI life could become next.
Yes! Throughout this final run, we’ll keep making our food the way we always have — fresh, in small weekly batches, in our own kitchen.
Absolutely. Keep your pantry staples sealed in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight.
PODIs also freeze beautifully, so freezing well-sealed refills is a great way to keep your favorites fresh for longer.
We’ll do our best to ship orders within a week. Because we may see unusually high order volumes during the final run, some orders could take a little longer.
We’ll share production and fulfillment news in the Updates section above so you always know where things stand.
Firstly, thank you so much for being here! You can help us by ordering, leaving us a little love note (in the Notes section of this page), and share this page widely with your friends, family and community. A personal recommendation goes a long way :)
Subscriptions will pause on 25th October, so you won’t be billed for a future batch we can’t make.
If you’d like to stock up before then, you can place a separate final-run order anytime.
Firstly, thank you. 💛
Order if there’s something you’d love to try or keep around, leave us a note on the community wall, or share this page with someone who might love PODI life too. For a small business like ours, a personal recommendation goes a very long way.
And if you have ideas for what PODI life could become next, we’d genuinely love to hear them. Write to alaknanda@podilife.com — I personally read every email.
What happens next
I don’t know what the next version of PODI life will look like yet.
But I do know this: the curiosity, food, culture, ingredients, stories, and play at the heart of PODI life are not going anywhere.
Here’s what happens from here:
- Final orders close on Sunday, 25 October. Until then, we’ll keep making fresh weekly batches in our kitchen.
- Once this final run is complete, food manufacturing will pause. We don’t yet know if or when these products will return.
- Subscriptions end on 25 October. No one will be billed for a future batch we can’t make.
- PODI life will keep evolving. We’re taking this moment to rethink what comes next, and we’ll share that journey with you as it takes shape.
If and when our physical products return, you’ll hear it from us first. And whatever PODI life becomes next, we hope you’ll come along with us.
Awards / Featured in
Stay close
This chapter is closing. The story isn’t.
Leave your email and you’ll be the first to hear what comes next — new ideas, new experiments, and, if our physical products return, first word on those too.
