In which year was the term TV dinner first used?

A TV dinner (also called prepackaged meal, ready-made meal, ready meal, frozen dinner, frozen meal and microwave meal) is a packaged frozen meal that usually comes portioned for an individual, but may also be a single dish intended to be shared. It requires very little preparation and may contain a number of separate elements that comprise a single-serving meal.

A TV dinner in the United States usually consists of a type of meat for the main course, and sometimes vegetables, potatoes, and/or a dessert. The main dish can also be pasta or fish. In European TV dinners, Indian and Chinese meals are common.

The term TV dinner was first used as part of a brand of packaged meals developed in 1953 by the company C.A. Swanson & Sons (the name in full was TV Brand Frozen Dinner). The original TV Dinner came in an aluminum tray and was heated in an oven. In the United States, the term is synonymous with any prepackaged meal or dish ("dinner") purchased frozen in a supermarket and heated at home.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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18 Comments

billyboy915

Swanson TV dinners supposedly came about, according to retired Swanson executive Gerry Thomas, who said he conceived the idea after the company found itself with a huge surplus of frozen turkeys because of poor Thanksgiving sales. Thomas' version of events has been challenged by the Los Angeles Times, members of the Swanson family, and former Swanson employees. They credit the Swanson brothers with the invention.

dmarkc

And they've been "improving" them ever since.

cgrhm

I ate a lot of them growing up in the 70's. My mother hated cooking and food shopping so even on Thanksgiving I could find myself eating a turkey frozen dinner. I thought they were disgusting, but better than fried bologna sandwiches.

Omar Mung

It was a great novelty to watch TV and to eat food at the same time!

marilynmitri

My mom was was a limited cook. When TV dinners first came out, she was probably the first one on the block to buy them. We kids ate a lot of them over time. There was more food in them back then. Now they're overpriced and tasteless and so stingy they leave you hungry.

Cheryl Love

They were a lot better many years ago, around early 60s. Today, I wouldn’t touch them.

yankeedog

dmarkc, lol that's funny and true !!

Laura Herendeen

We used to have them once in a while back when I was a kid in the 70’s. The chicken was my favorite. They were much better back then, than they are today. Now you pop them in the microwave, and they just look sad, all shriveled up, with hot and cold spots even with a turntable. They don’t taste as good either. 🙁🫤

M Renz

We had TV dinners once. We had begged my mom to buy them. We had them for a Saturday lunch. They were horrible. We never asked for them again. My mom was a great cook.

Stephen W. Gerrard

I remembered them from the '50s, so one choice from that decade made it easy!

Bob Gorby

Unused meals from then taste as good now as they did then.

janellejaworski

Oh yum I love TV dinners especially lean cuisines that I like.

earlepg

I remembered seeing the Swanson tv dinners in tv ads well before 1960. I certainly ate my share of them between June 1964 through June 1971, when I was lucky enough to marry a good cook.