Frozen Dinners
A TV dinner (also called a frozen dinner, freezer meal, microwave meal, or ready meal) is a prepackaged frozen or chilled meal which usually comes in an individual package. It requires very little preparation and contains all the elements for a single-serving meal.
The term TV dinner is a genericized trademark originally used for a brand of packaged meal developed in 1953 for C.A. Swanson & Sons (The name in full was TV Brand Frozen Dinner). In the United States the term is now synonymous with any prepackaged dinner purchased frozen in a supermarket and heated at home, though Swanson stopped using the name “TV Dinner” in 1962.
The original TV Dinner came in an aluminum tray and was heated in an oven. Most frozen food trays are now made of microwaveable material, usually plastic.
A TV dinner usually consisted of a cut of meat, usually beef or chicken, with a vegetable, such as peas, corn or a potato and sometimes a dessert, such as a brownie or apple cobbler. The entrée could also be pasta or a common type of fish, such as Atlantic cod. Rice could also be a common side item.
The freezing process tends to degrade the taste of food and the meals are thus heavily processed with extra salt and fat to compensate. In addition, stabilizing the product for a long period typically means that companies will use partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for some (typically dessert) items, which are high in trans fats that can adversely affect cardiovascular health. The dinners are almost always significantly less nutritious than fresh food, and are formulated to remain edible after long periods of storage, thus often requiring preservatives such as BHT. There is, however, some variability between brands.
Nowadays, the frozen isles in the grocery store/supermarket are large but if you are going to eat some of this ‘food’ you need to also ingest your essential minerals and vitamin supplements with MIN!
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