diff --git a/components/tyk-gateway/templates/deployment-gw-repset.yaml b/components/tyk-gateway/templates/deployment-gw-repset.yaml
index 1cdea685..b85520c9 100644
--- a/components/tyk-gateway/templates/deployment-gw-repset.yaml
+++ b/components/tyk-gateway/templates/deployment-gw-repset.yaml
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ spec:
       {{- with .Values.gateway.imagePullSecrets }}
       imagePullSecrets: {{ toYaml . | nindent 8 }}
       {{- end }}
+      {{- if not .Values.gateway.disableInitContainer }}
       initContainers:
       - name: "setup-directories"
         image: busybox:1.32
@@ -64,6 +65,7 @@ spec:
         volumeMounts:
           - name: tyk-scratch
             mountPath: /mnt/tyk-gateway
+      {{- end }}
       containers:
       - name: gateway-{{ .Chart.Name }}
         image: "{{ .Values.gateway.image.repository }}:{{ .Values.gateway.image.tag }}"
@@ -135,12 +137,19 @@ spec:
             value: "/opt/tyk-gateway/templates"
           - name: TYK_GW_TYKJSPATH
             value: "/opt/tyk-gateway/js/tyk.js"
+        {{- if not .Values.gateway.disableInitContainer }}
           - name: TYK_GW_MIDDLEWAREPATH
             value: "/mnt/tyk-gateway/middleware"
           - name: TYK_GW_APPPATH
             value: "/mnt/tyk-gateway/apps"
           - name: TYK_GW_POLICIES_POLICYPATH
             value: "/mnt/tyk-gateway/policies"
+        {{- else}}
+          - name: TYK_GW_MIDDLEWAREPATH
+            value: "/opt/tyk-gateway/middleware"
+          - name: TYK_GW_APPPATH
+            value: "/opt/tyk-gateway/apps"
+        {{- end}}
           - name: TYK_GW_STORAGE_MAXIDLE
             value: "1000"
           - name: TYK_GW_OPTIMISATIONSUSEASYNCSESSIONWRITE
@@ -202,7 +211,11 @@ spec:
         {{- if .Values.global.remoteControlPlane.enabled }}
             value: "tyk_policies"
         {{- else}}
+          {{- if not .Values.gateway.disableInitContainer }}
             value: "/mnt/tyk-gateway/policies/policies.json"
+          {{- else}}
+            value: "/opt/tyk-gateway/policies/policies.json"
+          {{- end}}
         {{- end}}
           - name: TYK_GW_HASHKEYS
             value: "true"
@@ -226,7 +239,6 @@ spec:
             value: "true"
           - name: TYK_GW_PIDFILELOCATION
             value: "/mnt/tyk-gateway/tyk.pid"
-
           - name: TYK_GW_DBAPPCONFOPTIONS_CONNECTIONSTRING
             value: "{{ include "tyk-gateway.dash_proto" . }}://dashboard-svc-{{ .Release.Name }}-tyk-dashboard.{{ .Release.Namespace }}.svc.cluster.local:{{ .Values.global.servicePorts.dashboard}}"
           - name: TYK_GW_POLICIES_POLICYCONNECTIONSTRING
diff --git a/components/tyk-gateway/values.yaml b/components/tyk-gateway/values.yaml
index 4adbeb06..8c0fe552 100644
--- a/components/tyk-gateway/values.yaml
+++ b/components/tyk-gateway/values.yaml
@@ -156,6 +156,11 @@ gateway:
   # The port which will be exposed on the container for tyk-gateway
   containerPort: 8080
 
+  # By default, APIs, policies, and middleware are stored on a volume mount,
+  # enable to instead store them in the container's filesystem
+  # (policies will be stored in a single json file)
+  disableInitContainer: false
+
   service:
     # type of service
     type: NodePort
diff --git a/tyk-mdcb-data-plane/values.yaml b/tyk-mdcb-data-plane/values.yaml
index 524d7a66..3f996b4c 100644
--- a/tyk-mdcb-data-plane/values.yaml
+++ b/tyk-mdcb-data-plane/values.yaml
@@ -168,6 +168,11 @@ tyk-gateway:
     # The port which will be exposed on the container for tyk-gateway
     containerPort: 8080
 
+    # By default, APIs, policies, and middleware are stored on a volume mount,
+    # set to true to instead store them in the container's filesystem
+    # (policies will be stored in a single json file)
+    disableInitContainer: false
+
     service:
       # type of service
       type: NodePort
diff --git a/tyk-oss/values.yaml b/tyk-oss/values.yaml
index 6d5b11fa..1dd17195 100644
--- a/tyk-oss/values.yaml
+++ b/tyk-oss/values.yaml
@@ -140,6 +140,11 @@ tyk-gateway:
     # The port which will be exposed on the container for tyk-gateway
     containerPort: 8080
 
+    # By default, APIs, policies, and middleware are stored on a volume mount,
+    # set to true to instead store them in the container's filesystem
+    # (policies will be stored in a single json file)
+    disableInitContainer: false
+
     service:
       # type of service
       type: NodePort
diff --git a/tyk-single-dc/values.yaml b/tyk-single-dc/values.yaml
index 0f15d0b1..2f71aebf 100644
--- a/tyk-single-dc/values.yaml
+++ b/tyk-single-dc/values.yaml
@@ -241,6 +241,11 @@ tyk-gateway:
     # The port which will be exposed on the container for tyk-gateway
     containerPort: 8080
 
+    # By default, APIs, policies, and middleware are stored on a volume mount,
+    # set to true to instead store them in the container's filesystem
+    # (policies will be stored in a single json file)
+    disableInitContainer: false
+
     service:
       # type of service
       type: NodePort