Dream Dinners, an innovative concept in meal preparation, opens July 13 in La Mesa with a celebration from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Franchisees Crystal Clifford and Cinda Todd will explain to customers — from working moms to college students, newlyweds and single fathers — how to move the dinner assembly out of their kitchens and into a specially equipped retail outlet.

The store staff shops for and preps ingredients for healthy, homemade dinners that can be frozen and cooked any time. Customers preview a monthly menu online at dreamdinners.com and select 12 dinners from a menu of 14 entrées. Then they register to attend a meal assembly session.

The process takes two hours and averages between $210 and $220 per session (depending on location), or about $3 per serving. The opening celebration, at 5208 Jackson Drive, No. 116, includes an East County Chamber ribbon cutting and raffle.