Suppers on the go: instead of fast food, try these healthy options.

• Author: Kalytiak, Tracy

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It's been a long day at work or play and now it's time to think about dinner--a time of despair for people who haven't planned ahead or simply don't feel like putting together the wholesome meal they would like to quickly put on the table when they get home.

Until recently, there were only a few not-so-healthy, not-so-cost-efficient evening meal options available in Alaska--stopping by a fast-food drive-through for a burger and fries, wheeling a cart through a crowded grocery store in search of a rotisserie chicken and veggies or simply driving home with crossed fingers, hoping there might be something in the fridge that's salvageable enough to toss into a stir-fry.

NEW TO ANCHORAGE

New meal-prep businesses materializing in the Anchorage area now make it possible for the harried, the culinary challenged and even people who like to cook but just don't like to craft meals every day to pull restaurant-quality entrees out of their fridge and serve delectables like potato-crusted tilapia or bruschetta chicken almost effortlessly.

Allen & Petersen was the first to offer take-home-and-cook meals for pickup when it launched its ToGo Gourmet operation two years ago. But in 2006, two businesses that are true easy-meal-prep establishments opened in the Anchorage area.

Fort Worth, Texas-based Super Suppers unveiled franchises in south Anchorage and Eagle River and Alaska Dinner Factory launched its store near the intersection of Lake Otis and Dowling.

The so-called easy-meal-prep businesses encourage customers to reserve a time on their Web sites, don an apron, chat with friends who are cooking with them, sip coffee or tea and spend a couple of hours in gracefully decorated surroundings making a month's or a week's worth of dinners at one time, to package, freeze and eat later.

Customers at Super Suppers and Alaska Dinner Factory may prepare their own entrees on site with provided ingredients and recipes, ask that store employees assemble entrees for pickup or simply bring a cooler from home and fill it with preassembled entrees from a large freezer.

BURGEONING TREND

The five meal-prep businesses operating in Alaska (including The Family Table, a Kenai meal-prep establishment) reflect a burgeoning trend.

The Easy Meal Prep industry Web site lists 438 meal-prep companies operating 1,420 open outlets as of Oct. 21. Meal-prep businesses operate in every state except West Virginia, as well as in six Canadian provinces, two Australian states, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The Web site states that another 220 outlets are scheduled to open...