Best & Worst: Make-and-freeze dinner businesses sweep the suburbs

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2006. Vote for meal prep companies as the up and comer of 2006, or check out the other nominees in the category.

Dream Dinners. Super Suppers. My Girlfriend's Kitchen. Supper Thyme USA. Chop Shop Kitchens. What's for Dinner. Dinner by Design. The list goes on. If you've got families in your city, town or burg, it seems, you've got meal preparation franchises.

The concept is this: You pay some amount that might seem reasonable, or outrageous, depending on your budget, but is typically quite a bit less than if you were eating out, although little more than if you were just grocery shopping on your own. Say, $200 for two weeks' worth of dinners for a family of four. You show up at a franchise, where there are lots of cutting boards and ingredients, you chop and sprinkle and stir and Ziploc, and at the end of the night you have a few grocery bags full of meals you can pull out of the freezer, stick into the oven, and -- bingo! -- you don't have to cook dinner for two weeks.

It's a good idea. It's one of those ideas that has thousands of entrepreneurial types around the country scratching their heads and saying, "why didn't I think of that?" And most of them decide that it doesn't matter who thought of it, they'll do it, too. They set up an account with SYSCO Corporation (NYSE:SYY), they get their license from the appropriate health board, buy a bunch of measuring cups and a few cookbooks, and before you know it: Gourmet Your Way. Or Simply Homemade. Or Chef Dane's. Or (my personal favorite name) Mom's Meals for a Month. Pretty much got your concept, your target market statement, and your name all wrapped up into one! Presto-businesso.