What is a TV dinner?

TV dinner is pre -cooked, frozen dinner made for one person. The term TV dinner dates back to Swanson Company Frozen Dinner , which first debuted in 1953. Although TV became a generic term after Swanson stopped using the name in 1962, today's television dinner is usually called frozen dinners or frozen food. Most of these individual frozen meals are a microwave, although some can be re -heated in a conventional oven.

The original frozen Swanson dinner from 1953 TV frozen dinner came in an aluminum foil with three sections. The main area contained sliced ​​turkey with corn bread and two smaller partitions held frozen peas and sweet potatoes. Later, there were TV dinners with main dishes such as Salisbury steak and fried chicken. The fourth dessert section was not part of the SWANSON television dinner until 1960 and the oldest desserts were aboutVocular cobbles and biscuits.

Swanson intelligently sold their TV brand of brand to the new target market - TV observer. Swanson's early packaging even represented a picture of a television ensemble. Television as a new entertainment medium began to expand treatedly in the early fifties in the United States, as the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) began to provide licenses to broadcast many communities. In 1955, half of all American houses had a television ensemble. The comfortable pre -cooked SWANSONA TV dinner allowed people to act warm food together without anyone having to miss his favorite TV show.

Although Swanson ceased to use TV Brand Frozen Dinner in 1962, the company created variations of its pre -cooked dinners to keep up with consumer demand. For example, in 1973 Swanson introduced Hungry Man frozen dinner. This meal had larger portions and targeted the free and divorced men with minimal cooking and great appetite who wanted a comfortable and satisfactory warm food when they returned home from work.

Many people today bring pre -cooked frozen dinners to a microwave to prepare in a lunch room at work or school. Lower fat versions are popular with people who are trying to lose weight because portions are controlled. TV dinners today are unlikely to be in the pipeline, although some are still. Many frozen dinners are now one meals such as lasagna, pasta with vegetables, pizza, meat cakes and macarones and cheese.