Who invented the TV dinner? It’s in dispute. In one account, first publicized in 1996, retired Swanson executive Gerry Thomas 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 members of the Swanson family and former Swanson employees. They credit the Swanson brothers with the invention.
What is not in dispute is the fact that the launch of Swanson TV Dinners in 1954 fulfilled two post-war trends: the lure of time-saving modern appliances and the fascination with a growing innovation, the television.
Several smaller companies had conceived of frozen dinners earlier, but Swanson was the first to achieve success. The first Swanson-brand TV Dinner was produced in the United States and consisted of a turkey, cornbread dressing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes packaged in a tray like those used at the time for airline food service. The trays proved to be useful; the entire dinner could be removed from the outer packaging as a unit; the aluminum tray could be heated directly in the oven without any extra dishes; and one could eat the meal from the same tray.
The product was cooked for 25 minutes at 425 °F and fit nicely on a TV tray table. The original TV Dinner sold for $.98, and had a production estimate of 5,000 dinners for the first year. But demand far exceeded Swanson’s’ expectations, and more than 10 million of the dinners were sold during the first year of production. In addition, product selection was expanded to include Salisbury steak, meatloaf, and fried chicken.
THE NAME
Some believe the name TV dinner came from the shape of the tray it was served on. The main entrée was in a larger compartment on one side of the tray and the vegetables and side dishes lined up in smaller compartments on the other side. The arrangement was similar to that of the front panels of a 1950s television set: a screen on the left and speaker and controls on the right. Other theories are based on the fact that early packaging featured the image of a TV set. Another was that many families would eat the dinners in front of a TV set.
Swanson removed the name “TV Dinner,” from the packaging in the 1960s. The Campbell Soup Company replaced the aluminum trays of Swanson frozen TV dinners with plastic, microwave-safe trays in 1986. That same year, the original aluminum Swanson TV Dinner tray was inducted into the Smithsonian Institute, sealing TV Dinners’ place in American cultural history. In 1999, Swanson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
OTHER MILESTONES
■ 1960 – Swanson added desserts (such as apple cobbler and brownies) to a new four-compartment tray
■ 1969 – The first TV breakfasts were marketed (pancakes and sausage were the favorites).
■ 1973 – The first Swanson Hungry-Man dinners were marketed. These were larger portions of its regular dinner products. The
American football player “Mean” Joe Greene was its spokesman. Pinnacle Foods Corporation, owner of Swanson products since 2001, celebrated 50 years of Swanson TV Dinners in 2004. Today’s frozen dinners are distant cousins to the turkey TV dinners of the 1950s, offering such gourmet choices as butternut squash ravioli, lemongrass coconut chicken, and beef tips Portobello. Research conducted by the Nutrition Business Journal shows sales of natural and organic frozen dinners and other frozen convenience foods have seen steady growth (between 10 to 14 percent a year) since 1997.
In 2001, consumers spent $380 million on them. Some companies offer specialty frozen foods for people with food allergies, including gluten-free options, restricted sodium intake, as well as meals for vegetarians and vegans. And, of course, there are low-fat and low-calorie frozen entrees available too.
A representative aluminum tray was placed in the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 to commemorate the trays impact on American culture. Celebrity figures from Howdy Doody to President Eisenhower touted the dinners.
Phil Robertson, Editor
