Lindsey Nair

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It was hard to concentrate on my interview with best friends Emily Sesler and Shannon Sweeney as buttery, chocolatey aromas wafted from the kitchen.

Emily's husband, Jeff Sesler, was making batch after batch of lemon bars, mocha fudge brownies and preacher cookies while Shannon's husband, Greg Sweeney, worked quietly on his laptop in the corner.

We weren't hanging out at one of these couples' neighboring houses, though. We were at their home-away-from-home; a place Shannon says could be your home-away-from-home, too, if you're tired of spending hours in the kitchen.

The Seslers and the Sweeneys partnered in January to run Foodies, a business in Roanoke County that offers cooking classes, a meal assembly service, box lunches and other food-related services.

Although Foodies has hosted cooking classes since former owner Chris Berry opened it in 2004, the meal assembly is a fairly new addition and one that excites the new owners the most.

But they worry that in these tough economic times, folks who don't understand meal assembly will assume it's for families with disposable income.

"The point," Shannon said, "is to rival the cost of fast food but also beat its nutritional value."

Emily, a tall, businesslike brunette, first met the bubbly, imaginative Shannon when they were waitressing at Pargo's in the early '90s. But they lost touch when both left to pursue careers.

Some 10 years, two husbands and three children later, the women unwittingly moved with their families to the same street in the same Roanoke County neighborhood.

Emily had been working for Wachovia since 1993 and Shannon for an engineering firm.

Now, both women still work their full-time jobs in Roanoke. Greg works full time in telecommunications from his laptop, which is often set up at Foodies in case he has to jump in and help Jeff.

Jeff, who worked for Carter Machinery for 23 years, is the only one who quit his full-time job for Foodies. The ladies call him the "backbone" of the business and joke that he now has chocolate ganache on his hands instead of grease.

With five children between them now -- three boys for the Sweeneys and a boy and girl for the Seslers -- the couples firmly understand the need for quick, easy weeknight meals.

That's why they expanded Foodies and transformed a former carpet shop next door into a huge, open room with six stainless steel food prep stations. There, customers use homemade ingredients to put together meal kits, which are meant to be frozen and reheated for quick, wholesome dinners.

The menu changes periodically. In September, clients can choose among dishes such as pork chops smothered in apple chutney, shrimp with feta and orzo, honey ginger chicken breast, maple-glazed salmon and more.

Here's where it gets a little eye-bugging: Four meals costs $94, eight meals costs $172 and 12 meals costs $239. But the owners point out that each meal contains four to six servings, and if you get the most out of each meal, you're paying less than $4 per serving.

Emily and Shannon believe those are pretty competitive prices, considering that the meals -- including sauces -- are all made from scratch and are less fattening and more healthy than fast food.

Because I'm wary of the Tiny Tim dinner, I challenged the ladies on their serving sizes. They said each serving includes 4 to 6 ounces of meat. One shrimp meal, for example, includes a total of 1¹₂ pounds of shrimp.

Other arguments for meal assembly: Customers don't have to buy their own container of expensive ingredients when they'll only need a little bit for the recipe, and they don't have to waste gas driving from store to store to find everything they need.

Recently, Foodies began offering ready-made meals, which are sold at the same price as self-assembled meals. They also do $5 side dishes, boxed lunches and dessert trays.

A significant amount of Foodies' business comes from special occasions such as parties, team-building exercises and bridal showers. One group threw a baby shower in the meal assembly room and each woman donated two of her meals to the mom-to-be.

Cooking classes are still held at Foodies and are taught by trained chefs who are hired for each class. The classroom seats about 25, faces a fully equipped kitchen and has two large-screen televisions so everyone can see what the chef is up to.

Emily and Shannon are even thinking about adding catering and more classes to their to-do list.

"We have a self-proclaimed 'Paula Deen of Floyd County,' " Shannon said, "who wants to teach a canning class."

Reminder: Greek Festival

Don't forget to head out this weekend to the Roanoke Greek Festival at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church on Huntington Boulevard in Northwest Roanoke.

In addition to Greek crafts, music and tummy-popping amounts of authentic food, the festival this year will include a marketplace. Among the offerings: olives, Greek spices, Papagalos coffee, honey, Greek chocolate bars, olive oil soaps, candies, canned goods and a Greek cookbook put together by the church. Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Do you have a quick, easy recipe to dress up plain chicken breasts? Share it on the blog.