It Came, It Thawed, It Conquered

   I went out for dinner three nights in a row last week.  Even for me, it was excessive.  I could make excuses about how busy we were but the truth is that eating out is too convenient.

   I certainly did not acquire the habit from my parents.  Our family “went out” for dinner after funerals and sometimes on holidays.  Fancy eating for the Carroll’s was the Wedgewood Cafeteria in Montclair, New Jersey.  It must have been fancy because the chef wore a big hat as he cut off slabs of prime rib. In reality, the Wedgewood was probably closer to a Luby’s with linen tablecloths. 

   That doesn’t mean that mom cooked every night.  My father made the pizza and late edition newspaper run on most Friday nights. The big treat for us came when mom sent one of us to the store for that 1960’s gem – Swanson’s TV Dinners.  The standard order was two turkey and two fried chicken frozen dinners although my father occasionally broke tradition with the Swiss steak dinner.

   Forty minutes later (no microwaves yet), the Carroll’s were watching family television while eating scalding hot dinners on metal TV tables.

   The history of the TV dinner can be traced back to a trainload of 270 tons of leftover turkey. Swanson and Sons had undersold their Thanksgiving orders and were left with ten refrigerated cars full of turkey. The trains literally crossed back and forth across the US to keep the refrigeration units working.

   Gerald Thomas, a Swanson executive, spotted the trays used for airline food service and created the famous three-part metal tray with frozen food in 1954.  The first TV dinners (turkey of course) sold for 98 cents.  Swanson took a risk and produced 5,000 dinners. They ended up selling 25 million in the first year thanks to the clever tie-in with the most popular appliance in America – the television. Fried chicken was added in 1955 followed by Swiss steak, Mexican themed meals, macaroni and cheese and more.  Mean Joe Greene introduced the Hungry Man Meal in 1973 and the first microwave meals appeared in 1986.

   I recently conducted a slightly scientific survey of about 60 Rotary members showed that about half never ate TV dinners as a kid.  Those that did preferred the macaroni and cheese dinner with turkey placing a close second.  Swanson’s Web site states that turkey is still the most popular meal with fried chicken in second place. 

  Three Rotary members remembered watching Bonanza over a TV dinner many times and one presumably younger member tied TV dinners to the Mork and Mindy show.

   Like many childhood memories, my enjoyment of TV dinners should remain frozen in time.  My steady diet of Banquet pot pies in college effectively killed my love for frozen foods.

   While she may be mentioned in the company history, I do believe my mother had a hand in planning the meals. I couldn’t hide the vegetables because they rested in their own neat compartment.  The desserts remained scalding for about 20 minutes so you couldn’t eat them first and everything was soaked in butter; just like mom’s pre-cholesterol cooking.  As a final salute to mom, there were no dishes. 

   Take a frozen trip down memory lane by visiting www.swansonmeals.com.