Once upon a time, a time our parents recalled well, a family would enjoy a nice dinner that mom had spent hours preparing, then afterwards gather around the radio for Fibber McGee and Molly, Amos and Andy, or the like.
The television changed all of that. The faster-moving jet age of the 50's demanded more of everyone's time just to keep up. Mom started working at her own job, in many cases, or she was involved with the PTA, the garden club, or other diversions. Dinner needed to be prepared more quickly. And that TV needed to be on by 5:00 to watch the evening news!
With that, in 1953 or 1954 (sources disagree), Swanson introduced us to the TV dinner, which could be heated in an oven, enjoyed in front of the idiot box, and tossed into the trash afterwards!
The ironic part about all of this was that families would eat their TV dinners and watch shows about the Cleavers, the Nelsons, and the Stones who would always enjoy dinner as a family around a regular table. Strange . . .
The idea supposedly occurred to Swanson exec Gerald Thomas, when the company had literally tons of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. The aluminum tray idea came from the ones used by airlines. TV dinners were an immediate success, and turkey dinners are still the most popular Swanson frozen dinner. Interestingly, Swanson stopped calling them TV dinners in 1962. However, the rest of the world continued doing so.
Swanson's original TV dinner featured turkey, corn bread dressing and gravy, buttered peas and sweet potatoes. It cost 98 cents and came in a box that looked like a TV. It was sold frozen, but freezers were rare in 1954 homes, so they were usually consumed the same day they were bought.
However, years earlier, in 1945, a company called Maxson Food Systems created a self-contained meal consisting of meat, a vegetable, and mashed potatoes, each housed in its own separate compartment on a plastic plate. But Maxson's product was only sold to airlines for inflight meals. If you'll recall, they actually HAD inflight meals once. ;-)
Though they toyed with the idea of selling the pre-packaged meals to the general public, it never happened. Hence, Swanson gets the honors for inventing the TV dinner.
You may or may not have noticed, but the aluminum trays we grew up with are not around anymore. As microwave ovens became more affordable and began proliferating, it was recognized that the metal trays needed to be upgraded. Swanson ditched them in favor of microwavable plastic ones in 1986.
Today, the idea of heating a frozen TV dinner in a conventional oven seems strange. But we Boomer kids can recall a time when mom didn't feel like cooking, and dinner came in the form of a blazing hot aluminum tray that required the removal of a metallic foil cover before it could be consumed. And the whole thing fit perfectly on a portable tray in front of the couch.
Comments (11)
I loved TV dinners, but why? They always tasted crappy. Didn't they?
Posted by Rhea | July 10, 2007 10:54 AM
Posted on July 10, 2007 10:54
A bit more about the Swanson TV Dinner and a photo.
Posted by Mike | July 11, 2007 4:32 AM
Posted on July 11, 2007 04:32
Oops, the link didn't work; click "Mike" below.
Posted by Mike | July 11, 2007 4:37 AM
Posted on July 11, 2007 04:37
Cool stuff, Mike. I learn something new every time I visit your site. And Rhea, I remember the Mexican variety of TV dinners were the best. I couldn't handle stuff like Salisbury steaks. What the heck is a Salisbury, anyway??
Posted by Ron Enderland | July 11, 2007 9:56 AM
Posted on July 11, 2007 09:56
I know this about the "Salisbury" steak: hearing that it was on the school menu provoked no Pavlovian response from me.
Posted by Mike | July 11, 2007 1:01 PM
Posted on July 11, 2007 13:01
How about the army's
rough equivalent of
TV dinners(MRE's - meals
ready to eat)? Only one thing worse than a bona fide TV dinner. Instead
of salisbury steak that tasted like horsehide,
dried-up mashed potato
paste, and corn with the consistency of glass beads, MRE were
borderline inedible...
a week of MRE's would make one willingly dumpster dive behind the local taco hell looking for dried-up
chimichanga remnants
amongst bird droppings
and used tampons...bon appitite folks! LOL
Posted by scott | July 12, 2007 7:02 AM
Posted on July 12, 2007 07:02
There's really no disagreement on when the TV dinner was invented: it was 1954. http://www.honoraryunsubscribe.com/gerry_thomas.html notes that Thomas came up with the idea to dispose of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving of 1943 (which of course is in late November), and they geared up and packaged the dinners for sale starting in 1954.
That site also has a photo of the original box, which indeed "looks like" a TV.
Posted by Barry | July 13, 2007 2:12 PM
Posted on July 13, 2007 14:12
Oops! Typo! It's pretty FUNNY to think they waited 10 years to package up that turkey, but it was a typo: that was Thanksgiving of 1953, not 1943....
Posted by Barry | July 13, 2007 2:14 PM
Posted on July 13, 2007 14:14
TV Dinners! I remember well in the 60s! Swanson dinners! And thank goodness for the hungry man dinners that still wouldn't fill my filling in my molars! I remember the meals being ok, but not all that great! The salisbury steak was good! I liked the potatoes! The fried chicken was horrible! I didn't like the fruit item! Burned my mouth many a time with hot food from the metal trays! I also remember the Banquet meat entree's. Turkey and sliced beef! And ate those TV dinners on those TV trays! Maybe a koolaid or a fizzie in water to go with it!
Posted by Rivers End | January 1, 2009 10:59 PM
Posted on January 1, 2009 22:59
TV dinners tasted like crap, still love them! It's like school food your hungry so you eat it. Besides when would mom serve pot roast in front of the TV on TV trays?
I'm 57 and it still has not happened!
Posted by David Chapman | June 13, 2009 10:06 AM
Posted on June 13, 2009 10:06
Well, I do think that eating at the TV only makes sense, even as people eat at the theater or some movie houses. And watching TV together was nice in the 60s and 70s. I recall a thanksgiving where we all watched Willy Wonka together. That was one of our most memorable thanksgivings. It was an enjoyable movie.
But there were also the times when I had to put up with 60 Minutes which my parents would watch. I almost had to miss a Kansas City Chiefs vs. Raiders, a classic back then. The horrors! Today, we all have TVs and so many viewing options . . . maybe. We got about 80 choices and sometimes I still find nothing. But how of us back in 1970, would not have loved the many more options. But was it good? There would be a lot to consider there. I won’t do it, here.
But while eating with entertainment is cool, really TV dinners rot. But I want to point out that in the mid 60s, TV dinners were likely much better, much less processed than later. Now the potato does not even taste like potato. Who knows what is in the gravy. Processed in the extreme. Many canned foods were of a better quality in the 60s. Along the way, companies sought to cheapen and make more profitable. They did, at the expense of good food and our health, too.
Our world today places no value on health, tasted, or quality. We are completely obsessed with profit and production, at any and all costs. Hey, you don’t suppose that is why its not the good old days anymore, do you? Just wondering? ;-)
Posted by Scott Irv | June 14, 2009 3:53 PM
Posted on June 14, 2009 15:53