TV dinners are not something that brings to mind gourmet cuisine when the name is mentioned, and this is usually justified. The name TV Dinner used to be a trademark for a pre-packaged meal by C.A. Swanson & Sons in the fifties, with the full name being TV Brand Frozen Dinner, but it has since become a more general name. Swanson are recognised as creating the first successful dinner of this type, but there were precursors.
A TV dinner is a pre-packaged meal where everything needed to make a complete meal is in one package, which is then heated up in the microwave or the oven. The dinners themselves may be frozen or chilled. The first TV dinner was a Thanksgiving meal of turkey, peas, sweet potatoes and cornbread dressing. The shape of the tray the first one was apparently in the shape of a television, hence the name, not because they were designed to be eaten in front of a television, although that is usually the case.
TV dinners are easy meals, requiring only the ability to put them in the relevant cooking appliance to make them. They can even be, and often are, eaten out of the packet, reducing the amount of washing up available. TV dinners and pre-packaged meals are rarely that healthy, usually being processed with extra salt and fat being added to make them taste better. It is possible to make better ones of course.
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