The first TV dinner consisted of turkey, gravy, corn bread dressing, whipped sweet potatoes and peas and sold for 89 cents.
You can put frozen TV dinners in the fridge if you're gonna cook and eat them within a day or two.
However if you're not cooking or eating the frozen TV dinners within a few days the must be kept frozen to prevent spoilage.
I keep my frozen dinners in the freezer but I remove the ones I'm gonna cook within the next day and place it in the refrigerator overnight to thaw it out.
The frozen TV dinner can be cooked from frozen but they cook more evenly when thawed.
You can still buy TV dinners although the TV dinners are not sold under the name TV dinners anymore.
TV dinners are just sold as frozen dinners in cardboard boxes and plastic trays inside those boxes.
The frozen dinners and Hungry Man Dinners are the same thing as the TV dinners that used to be sold.
TV dinners are called TV dinners as they are meant to eat when sitting around the TV or watching TV.
The TV dinner is a frozen meal that you're supposed to quickly prepare in the microwave and then sit down to watch TV while you eat the TV dinner.
Although you can eat TV dinners without watching TV.
The name "TV dinner" was coined by Gerry Thomas, its inventor.
At the time it was introduced, televisions were status symbols and a growing medium.
Thomas thought the name "TV Dinner" sounded like the product was made for convenience (which it was), and the Swanson executives agreed.
The TV Dinner branding was eventually discontinued, but the meals live on today under the “Hungry Man” label.
And instead of those original aluminum trays, the dinners are made with microwavable plates.
However you can also buy other brands of TV dinners in plastic trays that are the same as TV dinners but without the TV dinner name.
Frozen meals can be notoriously high in sodium and saturated fat.
“The worst frozen meals have more than 700 grams of sodium and more than 4 to 5 grams of saturated fat,” says Taylor.
It's best to limit the sodium in your frozen meals to 600 milligrams or less, and the saturated fat to 3 grams or less.
And today, the aluminum TV-dinner plate has been replaced with a plastic one so it can be popped into a microwave oven.
According to the CDC, more than 70% of the sodium we consume comes from processed and prepared foods like frozen meals.
Eating too much sodium can increase your blood pressure, leaving you at an increased risk of stroke and/or heart disease.
One of the benefits of frozen dinners is that because they're portion-controlled, you can save a lot of calories compared to ordering take-out which is often higher in calories than a frozen meal.