National TV Dinner Day is observed annually on September 10th. In 1953, C.A. Swanson & Sons was about to forever changed the prepackaged meal business. Introducing the TV Dinner revolutionized frozen food.
In 1962, Swanson stopped using the name “TV Dinner”. However, in the United States, the term remains synonymous with any prepackaged dinner purchased frozen from a store and heated at home.
The first Swanson TV Dinner consisted of a Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cornbread dressing, peas and sweet potatoes. The original tray was made of aluminum and each food item had separate compartments. The dinner had to be heated in the oven and took about 25 minutes to cook. Today most frozen food trays are made of microwaveable safe material.
The original product sold for 98 cents and the production estimate for the first year was 5,000 dinners. To their surprise, Swanson far exceeded that amount and in the first year, sold more than 10 million of them.
Much has changed since the original TV Dinner, and they also remain a popular choice for a fast and convenient meal and fun to eat in front of the TV!
HOW TO OBSERVE
Get out a TV dinner, pop it in the microwave or oven, and enjoy! Use #NationalTVDinnerDay to post on social media.