Meal prep services giving Fresno families healthy and easy choices for dinner

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Meal prep services are growing in popularity. One food industry firm predicts meal kit services could become a $3 to $5 billion business in the next decade.

Chicken is sizzling inside the Young Chefs Academy, but it's not for kids, it's a part of a new business venture to help parents get dinner on the table.

"My biggest goal is to relieve that stress, because I know trying to plan a menu and trying get to the grocery store, and trying to cook it when you have kids and activities and places to be, is not always realistic. If this can help relieve a little bit of stress from a Mom or dad, that makes me happy," said Shayna Telesmanic, Young Chefs Academy.

Telesmanic just started "Meals To Go" where they create three family sized meals a week to pick up. On this day, they made chicken piccata and eggplant parmesan in a meat sauce.

"You can pick them up and know that you're feeding your family something healthy, something fresh, something homemade. We try to use local produce from the farmers market," said Telesmanic.

People order online and pickup that following Tuesday. The cost is $25 to $30 and serves four to five people.

Activmeals is another meal prep business attracting customers. They have four pick up locations in the Fresno-Clovis area.

"After seeing close friends and family struggle so much with the nutrition part throughout the day, we decided to create something that not only educates them about nutrition-- but makes it easy for them to order and have it ready for the week," said Amir Sadaghiani, Activmeals.

Sadaghiani started Activmeals, a healthy meal prep company with clean and portioned food, just seven months ago.

"We get all fresh ingredients that are delivered to the kitchen. Experienced cooks chop it up, season it, packaged and distributed to a convenient location."

People just order online and can customize their orders to include salmon to chicken and more. Meals average about $7.50 and go up. In the future, Activmeals hopes to add pickup locations in the South Valley.

Both companies said they're continuing to grow week by week. But their overall goal is to get you focused on spending more time with your family.