The Delicious History of TV Dinners

Weird History Food is peeling back the foil on this history of TV Dinners. With its aluminum or microwaveable plate, with separate compartments for meat, vegetable, and dessert, the TV dinner has a special place in food history and culture in the belly of American memories.

#TVdinner #foodhistory #weirdhistoryfood

[frenchhens]

Only our neighbors down the street owned a television, so being invited to stay and watch TV while eating something called a TV Dinner was soooo exotic and exciting!

[punksintheback]

In Brazil only the very rich family could afford a microwave and my family wasn't one of these. I always wanted to eat a frozen meal, prepared with love and care. Then, when time came (as adult) I realized my mom's food was really much better.

[VenturiLife]

Maxson was a bit of a genius really. He knew how to make the product, who to market it to, and the accessories for them.

[RJB]

I remember having TV dinners using our TV trays watching a show or two. Some of the best memories growing up.

[kimcrews]

TV dinners were the best thing ever growing up in the 60s and 70s. My sister and I would choose the one we wanted based on the dessert. Eating them on our TV trays on the weekends was something we looked forward to as a treat.

[TooLooze]

The 1950s the trays were all 3 portion trays and much thicker. When my mother passed away in 1997, she still had a stack of them in her house. TV dinners were a special treat growing up.

[swicheroo]

We were a family of 10. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. So TV dinners were considered too expensive compared to the 5 course meals my mom whipped up from scratch. But I did feel they were a treat. And occasionally got my very own. Eating them made me feel like I was participating in a broader national conversation.

[him]

If you wanted to keep diving into frozen meals, it'd be neat to see the history of Kid Cuisine.

[algross]

Swanson Mexican TV dinners were my all time favorite. They’re long gone and I do miss them.

[mh]

Swanson, hands down, on a TV tray. Also miss the Swanson pot pies as well. They were the best.

[ahotdj]

I remember growing up, my mother would make TV dinners when she was tired from a long hard day at work. It made it so much easier and convenient for her. Of course there was no dirty dishes for us children to wash! Win-win. Ironically enough, I now take care of my mother (she is ill) and she loves the Hungryman dinners. I just made her one (turkey) for lunch!

[Katze]

The woman narrator doesn’t bother me, I just like the familiar tone of this guy

[michaelfoster]

The Mexican Style dinner with enchiladas, rice, and refried beans was my fav. That started to get hard to find by the end of the 90's before it seemed to disappear from the shelves.

[ourlifeinwyoming]

It was a big day when we had the old TVs dinners in foil. We talked about it the next day at school. They tasted better back then. They were very good meals and made allot of people happy.

[toomanybears_]

The plates those Le Menu dinners came on were the bomb. I mean indestructible. I never actually ate one but I had a friend who was addicted to them. He and his wife ate them almost every day and just threw out the plates. One day I asked them not to throw the plates out and save them for me so I acquired a dozen or so of them. 40 years later I still have several of them left and still use them every day, usually to feed the dogs chicken and rice which I warm in the microwave. Best disposable piece of kitchenware ever.

[hathorisis]

Swanson's Salisbury Steak frozen dinner will always be the best frozen dinner, because the
flavor could never duplicated.😁

[.Mviews]

The banquet chicken pot pie was my favorite as a kid. The crust never cooked properly so it would still be doughy but tasted delicious mixed with the filling 😊

[pam]

The little warm cherry desert in some of the old TV dinners 😋 was awesome

[cynthiatolman]

I've inherited a book on freezing foods from my mother that she used my entire childhood to blanche and freeze many different foods from vegetables, meat, fruit, everything you can think of. It was published by the Birds Eye Company, who didn't make TV dinners but were the premier company for frozen vegetables.

[robertkerr]

I was born in 1963 so I've eaten tons of swanson frozen TV dinners over the years. We had 4 tray tables in our home as we used to call them. Great 👍 for TV viewing and eating. Life without those tables would have been unimaginable to me.