TV dinner

The TV dinner is an American invention developed by Gerry Thomas in 1954. It is a prepackaged meal which can be easily purchased frozen in a supermarket and heated at home. Originally, it came on an aluminum tray and was heated in an oven. Keeping up with the times, the tray is now made of microwaveable material.

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Gerry Thomas, the inventor, worked for Swanson foods in Omaha, Nebraska. He wanted to develop a way to use frozen turkey meat, which was leftover after Thanksgiving sales. Making use of aluminum serving dishes, which were also used at that time to serve aircraft dinners, he packaged leftover turkey with cornbread dressing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes. Each item was placed in its own compartment. The trays were useful: the entire dinner could be removed from the outer packaging as a unit; the aluminum tray could be heated directly in the oven without any extra baking dishes; and one could eat the meal directly out of the same tray.

American: :This page disambiguates the many uses of American. For an article about those various uses, please see Use of the word American....

Gerry Thomas: Gerry Thomas (1922 - ) is an American salesman who is traditionally credited with inventing the TV dinner while working for Swanson in 1954, even though he did not own a television himself. He used his experience with mess kits from his military service to develop a 3 compartment design, which was ...

1954: 1954 was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar....

TV dinner related Images and Photos (experimental)

TV Dinner Style Metal Serving Tray	TV Chef Rachel Ray Entertaing Friends at Sunday Dinner September 22 2006	90210 (TV)	Castle (TV)
Archer (TV)	Episodes (TV)	Shameless (TV)	Dinner Call
Dinner Time	Dinner Rush (DVD)	Dinner Table	Dinner Party I