Without chopping, karate would revert to a muted shadow of its former self, while cooking becomes all fun and no knife accidents. Let someone else risk his or her forefingers with today’s Groupon: for $40, you get a three-entree meal session at Alaska Dinner Factory (an $80 value).

Locally owned and operated, Alaska Dinner Factory removes the labor-intensive planning, shopping, chopping, and cleaning from crafting freshly prepared meals. After donning stylishly sanitary headwear, gloves, and a shirt-saving apron, the stainless steel kitchen stations present their ingredients and assembly instructions. Developed by a chef and home economist, menu items include beef bourguignon, kung pao chicken, and mango-lime glazed shrimp kebabs. Traveling from station to station, dinner-constructors build each entree to their liking by removing ingredients they’ve de-friended or adding extra sauce. To the rhythm of a little music, the provided freezer-safe plastic bags or aluminum foil pans become three dinner entrees. Once assembled, each main course stands at the ready to feed 4–6 adults and prominently displays its cooking directions as a badge of honor.

Each recipe prepared in the factory adheres to FDA guidelines and responds well to cryogenic beauty sleep without additional preservatives. For transporting the meals, Alaska Dinner Factory recommends bringing in a cooler, a laundry basket, or a box.