| Did you ever wonder why they're called TV dinners? | | | | that are a cut above the norm. These are mostly |
| The truth is, it doesn't have anything to do with your | | | | dinners made for people who are health conscious. |
| television set. It was just a phrase that was coined by | | | | One of the best and most popular of these is Healthy |
| a guy by the name of Swanson who is basically given | | | | Choice. The ingredients on these dinners are actually |
| credit for inventing this idea. Another truth is, the | | | | not too bad. They still don't taste much better than the |
| science of heating and freezing food was discovered | | | | other commercial dinners and in some ways taste |
| long before Swanson. But that's another story.In a | | | | even worse, but they are certainly much better for |
| nutshell, the reason TV dinners were made was | | | | you.There is certainly a large variety of the types of |
| because food had a bad tendency to spoil quickly if it | | | | dinners you can get. Unlike the early days where you |
| wasn't cooked and eaten right away. We didn't have | | | | were pretty much limited to fried chicken, roast beef |
| all the preservatives that we do today in order to slow | | | | and turkey, today there are dinners for practically |
| this process down. So by freezing the food after | | | | every type of meal from pasta to Chinese.I guess the |
| cooking, it slowed down the spoiling process. Today, | | | | question you have to ask is, "Why do we eat these |
| this is a pretty common food that we can find in the | | | | things if they're so bad tasting and so bad for you?" |
| frozen section in our supermarkets.And while the | | | | Well, the answer to that is pretty simple. In today's fast |
| Swanson TV dinners are still there, over 50 years | | | | paced society, especially with both the husband and |
| later, there are other brands that have come into the | | | | wife working, people don't have the time to prepare a |
| market and give Swanson quite a run for their money | | | | normal dinner, at least not always. TV dinners, |
| in terms of price and quality, not that TV dinners are | | | | especially with the invention of the microwave, allow a |
| anything you'd want to serve at a fancy banquet. In | | | | family to have a quick meal without all the fuss. How |
| comparison to most other foods, TV dinners taste | | | | quick? Some of these dinners can be made in as little |
| rather bland. That's why many of the manufacturers | | | | as 7 to 10 minutes. The ones that are more involved, |
| have to load them up with sodium in order to give | | | | like the "Hungry Man Dinners" take a little longer. And |
| them some flavor. Just take a look at the label of | | | | of course all this depends upon the power of your |
| ingredients to see what's up with these nutritional | | | | microwave. Instructions are on the box so it's pretty |
| nightmares.In fairness, there have been some TV | | | | hard to mess these up.Good or bad, TV dinners are |
| dinners that have come out over the past few years | | | | pretty much here to stay. |