Baba has told his devotees, "I am a slave of those who always remember me in their thoughts and actions and do not eat anything before offering it to me." If you are in Dwarkamai around midday, you may see people offering food to the portrait. After being offered, the food is then taken back to the person's house and shared as prasad or distributed among those in the mosque. The Sansthan also offers food to Baba here (as well as at Gurusthan and the Samadhi Mandir). After noon arati, a small portion is added to the pots in Dwarkamai and distributed there as prasad; the rest is taken back to Prasadalaya and mixed with the other prasad offered to devotees

In the context of offering food to Baba's portrait, we may recall the story in the Sri Sai Satcharitra of the Tarkhad family. Mrs Tarkhad and her son were planning to visit Shirdi, but the son was reluctant to go, as he was afraid his father would not properly carry out the daily worship to the large picture of Baba he devoutly kept in their house. His father assured him that he would, and mother and son left for Shirdi. For three days all went well, but on the fourth day, although Mr Tarkhad performed the puja, he forgot to offer the customary few pieces of lump sugar. As soon as he remembered his omission, he prostrated before the shrine, asked for forgiveness and wrote a letter to Shirdi.

Meanwhile, around the same time in Shirdi, Baba turned to Mrs Tarkhad and said, "Mother, I went to your house in Bandra to get something to eat, but the door was locked. I managed to get in somehow, but found that Bhau [Mr Tarkhad] had left nothing for me to eat so I have returned unsatisfied." Mrs Tarkhad did not understand what Baba was talking about, but the son immediately realized and asked Baba if he could go home. Baba refused, but let him do his puja in the mosque. The son wrote to his father imploring him not to neglect the puja and the two letters crossed in the post and were delivered the next day. This shows that in a mysterious and inexplicable way, when we offer something to a picture of Baba, it is not merely symbolic, but we are offering it to Baba himself.