This story was originally published on Civil Eats.

This spring, as Tarun Bhalla was testing out eight-ounce curry packets for a new line of meal kits, he found that they had a tendency to burst open in a shipping test. He’s been looking for a company that can manufacture stronger packets ever since, but he still hasn’t found one. And meetings are hard to arrange during a global pandemic.

Bhalla and his wife Anu launched Meal Mantra brand curries in