TV dinners, pre-cooked frozen meals for one person, were first introduced by Swanson in 1953. They were marketed to TV watchers and became popular for their convenience. Today, they are generally referred to as frozen dinners or meals and come in a variety of one-dish options.
A TV dinner is a pre-cooked frozen dinner prepared for one person. The term TV dinner dates back to the Swanson Company’s Frozen Dinner TV brand, which first debuted in 1953. Although TV dinner became a generic American term after Swanson stopped using the name in 1962, TV dinners from today they are generally referred to as frozen dinners or meals. Most of these individual frozen meals are microwaveable, although some can be reheated in a conventional oven.
Swanson’s original 1953 TV brand Frozen Dinner arrived in a foil tray with three sections. The main area held sliced turkey with cornbread gravy and the two smaller compartments held frozen peas and sweet potatoes. Televised dinners followed with main courses such as Salisbury steak and fried chicken. The fourth dessert section was not part of Swanson’s televised dinners until 1960 and the first desserts were fruit cobblers and brownies.
Swanson has smartly marketed its Frozen Dinner TV brand to a new target market: the TV watcher. Swanson’s first packs even featured a picture of a television. Television as a new entertainment medium began to expand dramatically in the United States in the early 1950s as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began granting broadcasting licenses to many communities. In 1955, half of all American homes had a television. Swanson’s convenient pre-cooked TV dinner allowed people to eat a hot meal together without anyone having to miss their favorite TV show.
Although Swanson stopped using the Frozen Dinner TV name in 1962, the company produced variations of their precooked dinners to keep up with consumer demand. For example, Swanson introduced The Hungry Man’s frozen dinner in 1973. This meal had larger portions and targeted single and divorced men with minimal cooking skills and large appetites who wanted a convenient, satisfying hot meal when they got home from work. .
Many people today bring pre-cooked microwaved frozen dinners to prepare in a lunch room at work or school. The low-fat versions are popular with people trying to lose weight while portion sizes are controlled. Today a TV dinner is unlikely to be in a sectioned tray, though some still are. Many frozen dinners are now one-dish meals such as lasagna, pasta with vegetables, pizza, meat pies, and macaroni and cheese.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
