T-L Photo/JOSIE BURKHART Around the World Gourmet owner Jennifer Kocher is ready to prepare Thanksgiving meals for people who want to order food so all they have to do on the holiday is heat and serve.

BELLAIRE — A big holiday feast is a treasured Thanksgiving tradition, but sometimes people want to avoid spending hours in the kitchen preparing the meal so they can instead spend time relaxing and enjoying the company of loved ones.

Local residents who would rather “heat and eat” instead of preparing elaborate ishes from scratch have a lot of options this year.

Kroger will have a variety of meals available, including a boneless turkey meal, a ham meal, a prime rib meal, a bone-in turkey meal and a bone-in ham meal. The meals are not cooked and hot and ready to eat, but they are ready to be put into the oven. Kroger will accept orders 48 hours before Thanksgiving Day, and people can pick them up on Thanksgiving before 5 p.m. To place an order, call 740-695-7164.

Riesbeck’s Food Market will have a holiday turkey dinner available to order as well. The dinner includes heat & serve turkey, Riesbeck’s homemade dressing, Riesbeck’s homemade gravy, King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls, cranberry relish, pumpkin pie and your choice of Riesbeck’s mashed potatoes or Riesbeck’s sweet potato casserole and a choice of buttered corn or green beans. Other options include an individual dinner, a prime rib dinner, a ham dinner and a small turkey dinner.

“There are people out there that either cannot afford to have a dinner be done or they do not have time for dinner to be done. Or in some cases, they don’t, like, want to spend money prepping for these meals,” said Zachary Sroka, an employee of the St. Clairsville Riesbeck’s deli department. “And we just like to provide different options for people.”

Riesbeck’s has locations in St. Clairsville, Bridgeport, Barnesville, Shadyside, Woodsfield, and several other communities across the region.

Ideal Provisions food truck is offering a prepared Thanksgiving meal that includes smoked turkey and ham, stuffing, garlic buttered mashed potatoes, lemon buttered green beans and corn and cranberry relish and a roll. People can call 740-238-1512 to order a meal.

Pre-prepared meals are also available from Around the World Gourmet, located at 112 Second Ave., Bellaire. Meals must be ordered by Nov. 23, and owner Jennifer Kocher will package the orders and customize them to the customer’s liking.

The dinners include sliced turkey or ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberry relish, deviled eggs, dinner rolls and green beans or corn. Pies are also available, including pumpkin, pecan, cherry and apple.

“You can be one person to order this food, or you can be a large group or a family,” Kocher said. “It doesn’t matter what size. We’ll package it in bulk for them.”

Gluten-free options are also available, including gluten-free pies and gluten free-cheddar baked biscuits. The pies are freshly made.

People can pick up their dinner between noon and 5 p.m. Nov. 27 at Around the World Gourmet. To place an order, call 740-676-6386.

Kocher has been offering takeout Thanksgiving dinners for four years now, and this year she is offering delivery for the first time in a 15-mile radius for a fee.

“It relieves some stress,” she said. “It takes some stress off of their plate, and they are able to visit more with family and friends during that time period. All they really have to do is heat and serve, and instead of slaving in the kitchen all day, they’re able to relax and have fun.”

Bob Evans is a restaurant where people can buy hot Thanksgiving dinners, including the premium celebration platter, holiday celebration platter and holiday hot family meal.

People can also order from Cracker Barrel for hot Thanksgiving meals for their families. Options include dinners such as the Thanksgiving heat n’ serve feast, Thanksgiving heat n’ serve family and holiday ham heat n’ serve feast.

Denny’s is another restaurant where people can find prepared Thanksgiving meals that will include turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, a second side, turkey gravy and cranberry sauce.

Walmart will also be selling prepared Thanksgiving ingredients, providing all of the essentials for a Thanksgiving meal.

People can look to Target to order Thanksgiving meals as well. The meals includes turkey, potatoes, green beans, mushroom soup, cranberry sauce, stuffing and turkey gravy.

Perkins Restaurant in Wheeling at 680 National Road will have its regular turkey dinners available on Thanksgiving day that people can order and pick up.

Sam’s Club has prepared food items that people only need to warm up. Hickory smoked whole turkey, dinner rolls, mac n’ cheese, brussel sprouts and sweet potato mash are prepared and ready to warm up and serve.