TV Dinner

By Justin Chiu

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How it started?What was the first TV Dinner like? How it improved our lives?ConclusionBibliography

How it started?

• In 1954, Swanson had 270 tons of unsold turkey from thanksgiving. The executive of Swanson’s was Gerry Thomas. He stored all the turkey in ten railroad cars. He had no idea what to do with the turkeys. He needs a way to get rid of all the frozen turkeys. He bought aluminum trays and had his workers to stuff turkey in them. He knew that he needed to put something else in the trays with the turkey. He put with the turkey assorted vegetables and potatoes.

What was The First TV Dinner like?

• Gerry Thomas invented the first frozen dinner (TV dinner) in 1954. Thomas worked for Swanson in Omaha, Nebraska. By using the modern inventions of the time, he wanted to find a quick to cook his frozen dinners. Using the aluminum tray, people could easily put the frozen dinner in their oven to heat. Overtime, the TV dinner became a very popular meal of the time. TV dinners consisted of turkey, frozen peas, and potatoes and a dessert. Later, Swanson started coming up with new things to put in their TV dinners. Such as, fried chicken, Salisbury steak, and meatloaf. The tray could be used in the oven. It was estimated that five thousand frozen dinners were sold its first year. In 1962, Swanson changed the name of the frozen dinner to the TV dinner. Later, in 1986 Swanson replaced the aluminum tray with plastic microwaveable tray.

How it improved our lives?

• The TV dinner became a success, many people watched TV with their TV dinners. The TV dinner was faster and easier than cooking a full meal. People went to the supermarket to purchase their dinners. The first TV dinner was sold for ninety-eight cents. The TV dinner helped improve many people’s lives. They could cook their dinner fast and buy it at a cheap price.

Conclusion

• In conclusion, Gerry Thomas changed people’s lives with his creation of the TV dinner. The TV dinner consisted of everything for the meal. It included turkey, peas, and potatoes. Later on Swanson had added choices to their TV dinners. Now people had more of a choice when choosing their TV dinner. The TV dinner had to be cooked in an oven at the time, with the aluminum tray. In 1968, Swanson replaced the aluminum tray with a microwaveable tray because of the invention of the microwave.

Bibliography

History of the TV Dinnerhttp://inventors.about.com/od/inventionsalphabet/a/tv_dinner.htm 2/18/05Mary Dixon Lebeau, TV dinner is still cookin', updated November 10, 2004http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1110/p11s01-lifo.html 2/18/05TV Dinnershttp://www.foodreference.com/html/arttvdinners.html 2/18/05Swanson’s TV Dinners http://www.fiftiesweb.com/pop/tv-dinner.htm 2/18/05TV Dinnerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_dinner 2/18/05Ultimate TV Dinnerhttp://www.creativechocolatesofvt.com/images/TVDinner.jpg 2/28/05Fried Chicken TV Dinnerhttp://tulsatvmemories.com/imag1999/tvdinner.jpg 2/28/05Salisbury Steak TV Dinner http://www.winickdesign.com/image/photos/tv_dinner.jpg 2/28/05Fried Chicken TV Dinner with forkhttp://iseita.cocolog-nifty.com/iseita_photoworks/photo/P1040855.JPG 2/28/05

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