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You’re free to stay out as late as you want and free of the nagging reminders to make your bed or wash the dishes in the sink.

That sweet sense of freedom is exhilarating. That is, until your stomach starts to rumble.

Plates of perfectly cooked steak and potatoes don’t just pop up in front of you anymore. You’re the one who has to do the work in the kitchen.

So you scour the grocery store shelves and fill your cart with packets of ramen noodles and dinosaur nuggets, swearing that you’re going to actually make dinner this week instead of spending an absurd amount of money on DoorDash orders.

Thankfully, Chef Arash Foroozan is your answer to changing up your dinner routine.

The worries and stress that come with planning dinners will wash away as soon as you step foot inside the mini market, where the freezers are stacked with fresh, flavorful and nutritious frozen meals made by Foroozan himself.

Foroozan and his wife, Nooshin Rouhani Foroozan, are not only the team behind up in Oro Valley, but now they have opened their new mini market, located at ., where anyone can stop by and choose a meal that has quality flavors you won’t find at a grocery store.

Before moving to Tucson, Foroozan and his wife lived in Dubai, where he worked as an engineer, designing and building spas, restaurants and hotels. As the family cook, Foroozan had dreams of turning his passion for food into his own restaurant, but he didn’t pursue the idea until they moved to Tucson in 2017.

“We were thinking, since we’re going to start from scratch anyways, why not try to open a restaurant?� Foroozan said.

Just Kabab, at ., opened in February 2019. Over the years, the Middle Eastern restaurant began to gain a following thanks to Foroozan’s delicious meals.

Then, the pandemic hit.

With an increase in to-go orders, Foroozan began thinking: what if they made frozen meals to-go? He began experimenting with recipes and packaging designs, trying to create the perfect microwaveable dishes.

All of Foroozan’s research paid off, and the meals were a hit. Customers were flocking to Just Kabab to grab dinners for their freezers.

Nooshin Rouhani remembers a mom walking in one day with a cooler in tow, stocking up on frozen meals to send off with her child to college at ASU.

“So many people were requesting that we open another branch of the restaurant,� Foroozan said. “Instead of opening another restaurant, we decided to scale up the frozen meal business, and make it more formal and organized.�

With the idea for Taste of Passion in mind, the next step was finding the right spot. When they saw the ground floor of the Oliv Apartments near University Boulevard was open, it was like fate.

After years of hard work, the couple was finally able to soft-open the Taste of Passion mini market in August.

Walking inside is like stepping foot into a frozen wonderland. Aisles and aisles of freezers are stocked with all kinds of delicious frozen options. You’ll find everything from lamb yogurt kabobs and butter chicken to seafood paella and Philippine chicken adobo. The store shelves are filled with other items made by other local vendors.

Variety and quality were two of the biggest factors when it came to creating Taste of Passion. Since Foroozan is allergic is preservatives and MSG, he makes sure all his meals are free of them. He also offers gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan options.

Foroozan is responsible for making and creating the recipes for each and every one of the varieties of frozen meals, of which there are over 75. Middle Eastern, Filipino, African and Italian are just a few of the international cuisine styles Foroozan has mastered.

“We are not going to stop until we reach more than 100 varieties of meals,� Foroozan said.

Foroozan cooks each of the meals fresh, then packages and freezes them immediately. He often hears that the frozen meals taste just as good as the ones he makes in-house at Just Kabab.

I decided to pick up a fan favorite, the Filipino-style spaghetti. This is such a hit that Foroozan said once they were out of stock of it over at Just Kabab, and it almost brought a woman to tears when she realized she couldn’t get her go-to meal.

I popped the meal into the microwave, and in six minutes, I had a bowl of spaghetti with a savory yet sweeter-style sauce. I was in awe of how flavorful it was. This isn’t Lean Cuisine; you’re getting a good portion of restaurant-quality food.

“When he cooks each one of these, it’s the love and passion he puts into it that makes it delicious,� Nooshin Foroozan said of her husband. “He’s in here at five in the morning, starting to prep for it and I tell everyone, he gets up and he has a smile on his face every single day.�

The next time you feel like reaching for an easy meal, ditch the cup of noodles and instead enjoy a flavorful, delicious meal from Taste of Passion that doesn’t leave you with a mountain of dishes afterwards.

Starting Sept. 1, they will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.