Today in History: The First TV Dinner
In my long ago babysitting days, my favorite clients would always get me my favorite TV dinner, Salisbury steak, if I was babysitting over dinner hour.
The First TV Dinner
September 10, 1953
Sixty-eight years ago today, C.A. Swanson & Company introduced a mealtime innovation that turned cold turkey into cold hard cash. TV Dinners solved a predicament that arose in late 1952, when the brand found itself with 260 tons of unsold Thanksgiving turkeys. For months, the poultry surplus was frozen and stored in refrigerated railroad cars. However, the vehicles’ pressurized air only worked while the cars were running — so Swanson was shuttling turkeys between their Omaha, Nebraska headquarters and the East Coast. Inspired by how airlines served food on trays, the company decided to package the turkey in oven-ready aluminum for the home cook’s convenience.
The first Swanson TV Dinner debuted at supermarkets the following September, combining turkey, gravy, cornbread dressing, sweet potatoes, and peas into a 98-cent package that was ready to eat in under 30 minutes. Customers loved that the trays resembled the appliance everyone wanted — a television set — buying 10 million TV Dinners in 1954, and 25 million the following year. These sales figures aggravated competitors like Maxson Food Systems, Inc; Fisher Foods; and One-Eyed Eskimo, which had all previously launched similar products. Luckily for Swanson, Strato-Plates, FridgiDinners, and Frozen Dinners didn’t sound as fun to eat.
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