The Rise and Fall of the TV Dinner - Cheddar Explains
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 พ.ย. 2019
- TV dinners have a surprising origin and at one point dominated American markets. But are we falling out of love with them as a country?
Further reading:
1. OnePoll
nypost.com/2019/07/23/the-maj...
2. Quartz
qz.com/187433/americas-60-yea...
3. WSJ
www.wsj.com/articles/frozen-d...
www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...
Subscribe to Cheddar on TH-cam: chdr.tv/subscribe
Connect with Cheddar!
On Facebook: chdr.tv/facebook
On Twitter: chdr.tv/twitter
On Instagram: chdr.tv/instagram
On Cheddar.com: chdr.tv/cheddar - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Personally I think the “frozen dinner” is declining because of the rise of delivery. Why reheat when you have UberEats and all?
For the same reason you might not be okay with buying products produced in a sweat shop.
These businesses thrive because they fuck over the people "working" for them. They're also terrible for the environment.
Ordering costs more.
Lol I’m literally eating Uber wats for the fourth time this week whilst reading this
@@seigeengine that apples to frozen dinners too tbh.
@@pestoriusj Not necessarily.
The 5% growth of frozen meal sales in 2019 was due entirely to my parents.
Leif Harmsen *my uncle
He buys the stuff in bulk and freezes it. Lasts him about 6 months
He freezes the frozen meals. You don't say?
Hungry man turkey dinner at dollar general, for 3 dollars, better than spending hundreds for Thanksgiving!
@@darthmusturd9526 That what I would do, If I have freezer storage unit .My grandaunt's garage freezer used for pretty much for stockpiling food stuff, whilst the kitchen fridge for storing the usual stuff.
And me😂😂😂
"They were worried about wasting food"
God I wish that were still true of companies today.
Oh it is! Nothing is wasted in any modern food manufacturing facility. The amazing variety of different products that are made from left over items is mostly a testimony to the pursuit of money rather than a perceived obligation towards being responsible. Absolutely nothing is simply thrown away. If I buy a whole chicken I'm going to get rid of the giblets, excess fat and skin while a chicken processing plant uses everything. Even chicken shit has enough nutrition to justify feeding it to pigs. So don't worry about parts being wasted, worry about fossils fuels being used as our major power source and excessive packaging or the fact that the world produces way too much plastic garbage and co2 emissions. Why are we destroying our environment? Besides greed our idiot politicians in the U.S.A. believe in the Christian God who is supposed to return and remake the Earth after destroying it. So they do not care how polluted the Earth becomes. The problem with this is that no God exists and so we must clean up our own messes or life here is going to struggle. Religion is the worst poison people make in the modern world.
Modern companies waste less food than anyone in the 50s. On meat items, palatable cuts like breast and ribs are cut as is and sold to grocery stores. Unpalatable cuts are ground up into meatballs and other processed meats. Organs that don’t go to grocery stores (intestines, brains, eyes) are added to pet foods (which is hugely nutritious for them). Bone marrow is also added to pet foods. Any leftover is given to farm animal feed. Even bones are used. We have mastered how to use every part of an animal. The creativity in how to use them helps companies grow profits, and results in less waste. This is part of the good of capitalisn
Not so much about wasting food per se as it is about losing the money.
@@glyn6185 yes or maybe just don't trust any of these bs
@@glyn6185 speak english
How many more years until they make them taste good?
Few hundred more
They are already good, just don’t buy the .99 cent ones and cook them in the oven instead of the microwave. Frozen food actually has texture and doesn’t go cold in 2 minutes that way.
Hold your tongue
half the reason.....or more , they taste so bad now is because they are microwaved and not cooked in a conventional oven.
my family cools hungry mans in the oven and they taste good, my favorite part is the mashed potatoes but dont stir them leave the hard part on top
They forgot to mention that at the time microwaves were the number one gift for married couples, that impacted the use of TV dinners
Ohh that’s cool
Very true....my parents never had a microwave during my youth.....had to use oven to heat foods
Do people even give married couples gifts anymore? Why did the Boomers kill that industry?
@@csmlyly5736 got married last year. People gave us a microwave, a couple of blenders, kitchen knive sets, wine glasses, pots & pans, kitchen towels, and many other helpful things 😄 I feel like if you get invited to a wedding you gotta take a gift even if it’s a small one, just as a thank you token at least, weddings are expensive!
@@csmlyly5736 Yes. It's usually not a package at the wedding though but bought from a registry or given ahead or after the wedding. A lot of people seem to prefer to give/receive cash though.
I don't watch TV anymore. I watch TH-cam while eating.
randomantic boy same
randomantic boy TH-cam Dinners should be the new TV Dinners but healthy
Same.
Same, right now
I watch TH-cam on a TV
I would like to thank this video for solving a long gamer mystery I have had for years. Why do you get aluminum from TV dinner trays in Fallout 4? I tend to think of TV dinners as things you microwave. But at their beginning, they were metal trays you baked. It all makes sense now!!!
You can still put TV dinners in a conventional oven. It also tastes better.
@@jonathantan2469 I think my grandma baked hers. Never tried it myself, But I believe you. Chicken nuggets and patties are always better from the oven then microwave.
You could wash the metal ones and make your own versions over and over again with left overs.
@@dawnelder9046 No way. That sounds awesome. Never would have thought they were that durable.
toaster ovens
IMO the decline is less to do with pricing and healthiness more to do with the quality of the food. There are some diamonds in the rough, but for the most part most frozen dinners are edible at best and just plan nasty at worst. Who wants to pay a load for something that sucks that is bad for you. Fast food is priced competitive enough that it's going to be what most people go for in the time sensitive convenience niche, especially with near omnipresent delivery services in most communities.
If frozen dinners want to stay profitable and selling, they need to really increase in quality while also staying priced at 5$ or below per head. And for God's sake, if something doesn't work well frozen (eg:breads, some veggies, etc) stop adding it to meals.
This seems obvious except to Kraft, Hienz, Cambell, or Con-Agra.
Amy's brand is pretty delicious. Or maybe the 3 bites of food you get for $9 isn't enough to actually judge the flavor lol
In the ‘70’s when we were kids, it was a treat to get a “TV” dinner. It was summer and we were out of school and our grandmother would say hey how about a frozen dinner? We would be so excited! We ran to the corner store and each got to pick what we wanted. We would put it on mamaow’s “tab”. Yep! Corner store credit! We were on top of the world! My sister always got Mexican, my cousin meatloaf and me, chicken! Lol! Happy memories!!
Ruby Wingo so sweet! I am so glad you have these happy memories. It was also a treat for me to get them as well when I was little!
I was waiting for them to mention this.
Yeah, I always thought they were a special treat too! I usually got to have one when my parents were going out. It was a lot of fun to "cook" my own meal. Kids today couldn't imagine cooking a TV dinner in the OVEN for a whole HOUR!
Your 60....
sounds like a good time! Thanks for sharing
I just don’t understand how every frozen meal has like 40% of your daily sodium but still manages to be completely flavorless.
Well it's because it' salted before it's frozen. Now when you freeze it and store it a lot that flavour is going to get lost a lot. So just stick to stuff like meatballs and other frozen stuff. Not stuff like potatoes. You make that at home.
@Juancy also the altitude effects the flavor.
@@thegamelabgaming7556 yeah dude when I'm high food tastes like shit
@@Otgel bruh
Mr.Skittles technically you’re right
cooking has also become more popular as an activity in itself, the kitchen has become a social area as well as the living room
That's because nobody can afford a decent sized home anymore, hence living rooms and kitchens are often open plan. So many people sharing houses these days as well so keep bumping into each other in the kitchen.
Very thought-provoking video. I'm 69 now and I remember eating those "dinners". There are many controversies: convenience vs from scratch; expensive vs from scratch (cheaper); healthy vs junk food; frozen vs fresh, etc. This is a debate that continues, at least for me. I can no longer literally stand for hours in the kitchen, my legs give out on me. I cook for me and my wife only and I want to give us the best food I can but I need convenience, my body is breaking down on me. This brings in so many questions as to how do I conveniently make us the best food I can without spending all day in the kitchen? Thank you for this video. I watched it a second time with my wife. It is thought-provoking indeed.
Brother , stay strong , the technology needed for immortality is almost here
1950s : TV dinner
2019 : youtube dinner
Mbah Zahwa We LiVe iN a SoCiEtY
Alot of people watch youtube on a smart tv.....
Yep.
Smart TV meals
2030 : VR dinner
TV dinners didn't make people stop interacting with each other; they just gave people a _reason_ not to. The desire to not interact with others was already there.
People are the worst.
The thing about people is that most days they just don't have anything interesting to talk about. Think about it, how many days do you have something really interesting to say? When something happened differently at work or school? Most people probably ate dinner utterly bored on most days before eating in front of the tv was a thing.
@@ChaosDraguss buddy that's the depression talking. People have plenty of interesting things to say.
@@Joniness speak for your self lol
@@ragingnep I am lol
I loved them, especially Swanson's in the beginning. I ate a lot of these growing up and I didn't mind them at all. Later on, Hungry Man's with the bigger portions were even better.
Which did you like better the turkey or the "salisbury" steak?
Hungry man is shit. Not the food quality, but the size. The portion is a joke. But the brownie is sooo good. It's a shame they don't give you more..
@@superbmediacontentcreator fried chicken patty ftw
@@FordRangerClassics Mystery meat!
@@superbmediacontentcreator "It's no mystery; it's meat!"
A good mother always prepares home-cooked meals for her family!!
It's funner to imagine that that train is still going back and forth
@@Ethan-en2ij yes
*more fun
@@guacandchips425 bro thats not funner to say
The food would already have gone bad.
@@guacandchips425 funner*
*With the rise of internet and streaming in 20-30 years we will be watching "the rise and fall of TV" on youtube*
and then the fall and rise of youtube and then... yeah it's a neverending cycle!
Mei Mesaki tv has already fallen
Yes and no, considering live TV still has an audience because of the ability to broadcast programs at the very moment like sports and local news.
However, cable and satellite will see its inevitable demise as cheaper Live TV streaming services like Sling are taking over the market.
in the past 4 years the television has only been turned on 3 nights each year, for Eurovision in May, in 2019 we had visitors and skipped.
we no longer even have a television in the house, we would watch Eurovision on a screen via a projector and set top box.
Someday, robots will watch a video called "the rise and fall of humans "
*Because of frozen foods, I no longer need to wake up every morning and* _”make my strawberries from SCRATCH!”_ *-Such a timesaver! Thank you frozen foods!!* 😆❤️
Frozen fruits are great for smoothies. You don't have to use any ice, it is cheaper than fresh fruit, and you don't lose nutritional value. Frozen veggies are also really convenient since it only takes about 2 minutes to reheat frozen spinach or peas and throw them into whatever you prepare.
@@meredithwhite5790 Agreed. I buy most of my vegetables frozen because they don't go bad nearly as fast as fresh ones, they taste almost as good (at least compared to canned), are typically just as healthy (unless it's one of the specially flavored bags with extra unhealthy ingredients like salt or sugar added), and I can portion out what I need for each meal. Living by myself, that flexibility comes in handy so that I'm not making a whole casserole or some other family-sized main dish and eating it for a week (or until it goes bad, whichever comes first).
They are honestly amazing for smoothies, has made me eat lot more fruits and raspberroes as example I don't think really lose flavour and then you can mix in some fresh fruits too.
@@meredithwhite5790 Not to mention that freezing preserves the nutrients and you're far less likely to waste food if you only want a bit at a time and it's happily frozen.
How does one make a strawberry? Don't they grow on a tree or something? Perhaps you meant to say, "I don't need to climb a ladder and pick strawberries." Then again, I may be wrong and you know a recipe for making ripe Strawberries!?! Please tell! I already bought some straw and I got flour and corn meal, we purchased some nutmeg and red paint and glue. Oh and sugar of course!! Should I preheat the microwave?
My family and I definitely used frozen food as a supplement to a dinner rather than the full meal. Especially now that I live on my own, keeping a few bags of frozen vegetables in freezer is a must. Still healthy, versatile and you can use it when you’re ready. Cuts down on food waste.
i'm convinced my family is the only thing keeping the frozen meal market afloat
my dad is unemployed You should look in our basement freezer.
@@sydneyjustin1446 tell your father to get on my mother's level.
we literally have a shed devoted to frozen foods.
my family is with you here lol, i could live on frozen spaghetti meals
College students too
same i eat them religiously
They failed to mention that with the invention of the microwave it made these thing soooo fast to cook unlike the 45 minutes it took to cook the ones in the aluminum foil packages.
For all that, they could've made a full cooked meal that would've taken almost half the time.
@@tiajoseph7309 but they could toss it in the oven, set a timer, and go do literally anything else while dinner cooked.
Well at least in the oven it turns out better.
It really depends what you're cooking and how whether it's better in the oven or microwave.
Generally though, longer cooking time/higher temperature = worse nutritionally.
I bet the oven cooked ones tasted decent! Because you get a sear on them and actual crispy bits.
The microwave ones are just - here, I'd slam this in the microwave for 5 minutes and eat it because...why?
Back in the 1970s when I was a kid, it was so much fun watching television at night while eating a TV dinner. Today, I prepare my own dinners. Walmart sells the Disposable Aluminum 4 Compartment T.V Dinner Trays with Lid. You get ten for $17. I keep my chest freezer full of them and eat them year-round.
That was my mother, in 1954, pushing that Hoover across the kitchen floor...all fancied up in hose and heels and cocktail dress. The Hi-Fi was on playing dance party favourites. My father would be home soon to make the martinis that he and my mum would drink along with a few of the neighbours that might drop in.
Where did you live? A sixties US syndicated TV sitcom?
@@cyberpunk3052 Obviously....you do not read well....cyber world problem....I wrote, 'that was my mother in 1954'....1954, the fifties. Sitcom? It was a fabricated reality. Pushing the Hoover, dressed for an upcoming cocktail party. Mambo music on the Hi-Fi....1954.
Who needs t.v. dinner when you can have the t.v. for dinner
yum
c R 0 N C h Y
Holographic meatloaf my favorite!!!
Hohohohofuck
Modern Problems require modern solutions
I never thought I would be watching a documentary on frozen foods.
"Informative video"
It's so fascinating seeing this perspective on it. In the UK we have whole supermarkets dedicated to frozen and fresh ready meals (notably Iceland and Marks & Spencer, with every supermarket offering their own range in some form). These are typically, but not always, made for the microwave and they're pretty palatable.
They're still seen by many as cheap and unhealthy, yet despite that they're still popular and there are many "luxury" or "deluxe" ranges available. Plus you can buy them with microwavable vegetables that count towards you intake (Morrisons have one that's 2 of your 5 a day). But they're also seen as a bedroom meal eaten by students, or served on a plate with side dishes (usually chips, let's be honest).
I'm curious to know how other countries have theirs and how different they are to TV Dinners. Do they have similar ready meals? How are they eaten? Do they empty them out from the trays and eat them on plates?
I had my first frozen pizza last week. My parents bought one along with chicken nuggets and fried camembert for dinner. I guess they wanted a quick pizza but Domino’s is kinda bad. The pizza was actually pretty good and I had my second one last night.
I mean the British are not known for having discerning taste so it's no wonder you found them palatable, I wonder if the Italians or the Japanese would say the same? Probably not.
@@m2heavyindustries378 on the contrary, I believe British people have quite strong taste buds. That’s why British people prefer “bland” food. Because to British people it’s very flavourful.
@@rachelcookie321 "I had my first frozen pizza last week." what the fuck this is weird to me. i've never met ANYONE who hasn't eaten frozen pizzas their entire lives. thats just normal food
@@araybeezy1653 frozen pizza is expensive and according to my parents it tastes bad. It was cheaper to just buy dominoes and apparently it tastes better also.
You guys remember Kid Cuisine? I do and I will never forget it.
The pudding that would have that weird film over it
Nuggies were my choice.
honestly I’d buy more frozen meals if they weren’t so expensive. the low quality is not worth high cost.
For real. I used to live in America, the shit-tier stuff costs like 2-3$ but decent frozen meals like Annie's or Amy's cost like 4-5$ Why bother when you can get excellent take out for a couple bucks more? In Sweden it's also like 2 or 3 dollars more for an excellent takeout meal compared to frozen.
Why is nobody talking about cooking? Seriously, make some good food on your free day, either freeze it if needed or just store in the fridge and eat within a few days. Much much cheaper and probably much healthier.
@HotWheelsFamilyGuy420 feat Diaper That is in fact the reason because it's just cheaper and easier to prepare for poorer families.
And they don’t have enough food
@HotWheelsFamilyGuy420 feat Diaper well, this might Europe vs USA thing, but I still believe that cooking is cheaper. I get that fresh vegetables and meat can be expensive, but if you buy it on a discount or in larger quantity, it can be quite cheap. I think it truly comes to education.
“Eating in front of the TV is more enjoyable than eating with family members.”
Well yeah. Have dinner watching Parks and Recreation or listening to whining, complaining, bickering, criticism or side eye jabs. I see the appeal.
This is basically why I'm a proponent of the idea that family isn't about blood (or, uh... child-guardian associative familial distribution or however you want to put that).
Yeah, but the more time you spend with your family, the better you know each other and the better you get along generally.
Yeah, assuming you don't know them well enough you want to relocate the cutlery into their cranial cavity.
@@mrroams5812 LMFAO NO 😂😂😂😂😂
@@mrroams5812 I beg to differ
The reality too, is that they essentially took all of their favorite meals off the market around 2013 or so. Case in point, Mary Callenders herb roasted chicken, one of their most popular meals. They used to have something like 15 varieties including the above. Now it's around 8. Same goes for Hungry Man, used to be 12, now it's down to about 7. They downgraded on the quality as well, you're lucky if you can get recognizable chicken parts in their fried chicken line. Banquet is the only one still carrying most of their line, due to the lower prices, but the portion sizes have shrunk, and again, other than what you can get in the bag, no fried chicken.
And yeah, I remember even through the 70s and early 80s, before microwave ovens became ubiquitous, they still had aluminum foil trays, still had the larger assortment, but I think the health concerns regarding the amount of sodium in all the above brands is what largely contributed to their demise, as well as the sudden prevalence of fast food probably contributed to that. Why wait 5 minutes per meal in a microwave or 45 minutes in a conventional oven, when you could spend 5 minutes in a drive thru to feed the whole family? This especially has an impact considering how in many cases of two parent families (or even couples) needing two incomes to keep afloat, there's not a lot of time to spend on prepping dinner.
Have you ever had the misfortune of eating a "complete" frozen meal? They were kind o good for $1 but the prices lately, the same salt bowl is like $3-$4
Brian, your analysis is good. But I’d like to challenge the idea that with the pressures of work and needing 2 incomes there isn’t time to cook. It’s a choice. I cook daily as a single working parent and it’s true, I don’t have time for a lot of leisure stuff , but I’m happy with my choices because for me home cooked food is more important. Cooking time can also be used to listen to podcasts or FaceTime with friend and family. And for sure some days the cooking is something fast and easy. But bottom line it’s like all habits. If you prioritize it, you’ll have time for it. No judgement. If cooking doesn’t work for someone, what ever works best for them is best.
7:17 What do you mean unchanged. How about moving from foil packed oven cooked to plastic packed microwave cooked. Most people today don't even know they were originally cooked in the stove and took upwards of a half hour .
You had to peel the foil back from the dessert before putting the tray in the oven.
I'm 60, born in the last few months of the 1950s, and I gotta say, as a kid in the 60s I LOVED TV dinner night. Did it taste like shit? Sure it did. But somehow it was still special and a treat.
Me too. Meatloaf, that sad little patty with that tomato-y topping was my favorite. And I still will eat one of those cheese enchilada if I find one. Which is kinda funny, because Mexican food is my favorite, and I know what it SHOULD taste like 😄
58 here, yep. None of those TV dinner entrees was anything special. Though as we were kids, that extra sodium didn't faze us. The extra greasy favorless fried chicken, the slices of turkey that could have just as well been shoe leather for all the taste they conveyed. The watery, flavorless mashed potatoes....
Those weren't the days...
I don't know Frank, but I was born in 1955, my mom would not have the things in the house. And we never ate in front of the TV. There are things my mom did that I truly miss, like the stuffed breast of veal. I have not eaten that since mom died in 1976, you don't even see that cut of meat at the butcher's anymore. I tell you one thing the Sauce you can buy for pasta, all in all, is fairly decent, I make my own but from time to time I will buy it when I don't have the time or didn't plan ahead. It sounds like your childhood like mine was pretty damn good.
Ok boomer
Why did I think the old TV dinner tasted better???
I think the decline also is that more people cook now, not just the woman anymore. Cooking is fun and creative.
No it just switched over to men. My girlfriend "hates" cooking.
I think people just expect tasty food now. And with so many options to get tasty food conveniently- even cooking is much quicker with pre-prepared ingredients (you can buy pre-cut veggies if you don't want to waste your time or buy a pre-made pasta sauce), better equipment and quick and easy recipe catalogues online- why would you buy some frozen mush for the same price?
I think it’s mostly due to the Recession and rising prices. That being said, I have a vague feeling people have much less freezer space nowadays in general.
People decided that if they want something done they will cook it themselves because things tend to be healthier and cheaper that way.
@@MsJubjubbird Frozen vegetables are a lot healthier than ones bought in the produce section. They are picked and frozen very quickly so the vitamins don't deplete like they would in non frozen foods. Cooked frozen peppers and broccoli don't seem much different than fresh ones to me and I have issues with food textures. It saves a lot of money and food wastage for me.
The quality of food back in the 60s when I grew up with these vs. now, it’s like comparing high school JV football to the NFL. What we had was really good
For middle class kids growing up in the mid-1960's, the frozen TV dinner was what the family got when Mom had an especially busy day and didn't have the time to make a proper dinner. Each so-called meal was put in a superheated oven for at least an hour, and I was always amazed at just how HOT the aluminum foil cooking trays were when they finally came out of the oven. Oh what fun it was to take the lid off the tray to reveal the bubbling, gloppy 'food' that was inside! These 'meals' were so complete that some of them included a hot dessert---and I do mean a HOT dessert! I once had one of the dinners that had a brownie for the dessert, and when I took the lid off, the brownie was on fire! It burned up before I could eat it!
Makes a video about TV dinner
Doesn't mention how the microwave affected the market
*big brain*
Wasn't the oven the common form of cooking tv dinners such as the commercialization of microwaves wasn't popularized at that time?
its not the first time that this channel drop the ball, I imagine that the writers are some 20s people, that think that in the past they have microwaves, so they dont event mention
Yeah that foil plate didn't come out so well, maybe my microwave is defective.
@@benji_kenji3526 yes, hence the aluminium packaging
EVERYTIME I use a TV table+ Tv dinner I feel just like the Family in Matilda 😅
Lmao SAME
So funny
Me too
Me too!!! I thought I was the only one!!
same
I was born in 1969, and went to elementary school in the 70s in a very small rural school. The ancient lady who did the lunches called these "Satellite lunches," the only person I ever heard calling them that. I brown bagged it almost every day I ever went to school, so it was a moot point. Growing up in the rural south, many mothers didn't want to deal with these as cooking meals was a real source of pride for many. I don't recall us having these very often, and can only recall the turkey slice with some kind of fruit pie in one corner. I wouldn't eat the rest as I've always been a picky eater
TV dinners were never very big here, but I remember my mom giving me one when I was young and her feeling guilty about not having made dinner herself and me not minding at all, since it tasted just fine.
I really wish they would do a limited edition anniversary TV dinner that looks like it did when the products first came out
It'd be a bad idea. Original TV meals were meant to be baked, not microwaved. Their trays were made out of tin instead of cardboard. I imagine many people would just slide that tray into a microwave without a 2nd thought, and sparks would ensue.
@@TheXev thats just natural selection, many frozen foods come in aluminum packets.
Your pfp looks great.
They would cheap it out like everything else I loved as a youngin and it more than likely would be disappointing
I agree.
When I’m hungry and have nothing around to eat, I just go to sleep and it’s all better.
What I'm trying to do rn
Stay strong my brothers
And the your going to be healthy.
Oh we're poor POOR. You get sleep for dinner
Sleep is very filling.
I’ve been on a “healthy choice”, “lean cuisine” rut for my work lunches. It has veggies, easy and quicker than ramen
Well it depends how you cook the vegetables.
Our family saved the aluminum trays to make our own TV dinners. After Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, we'd set up an assembly line and fill those trays up. It was great to be able to have another Thanksgiving dinner in March instead of just eating leftovers for a week.
My mom was such a bad cook, that we loved them.
Jesusfkn christ dude 💀💀💀💀
Same! 😊
Same and my mom also agreed!
I am such a bad cook that I love them, LOL
I'm a competent enough of a cook I'll only have them if I'm lazy beyond all reason
I live in the Netherlands, my grandparents had the first TV in the town, they had a lot of visitors
I’m sure 😂
@@renohasbigtits ok
My grandmother won the first colored television in a bowling tournament in 1955 in Toledo ohio. Her story was that people just couldn't believe what they were seeing on TV
Yea I'd bet they would lol
CrispyTurtle wow that’s cool, I’m from Cleveland lol
Honestly a decline in popularity would be pretty good in my opinion. I work at a store and the older clientele buy so many of these and I can't help but think about how damaging it is to older people to have such a large part of their diet be so low quality and unhealthy.
You'll "get it" when YOU get old! It's a smaller amount of food, you don't have to spend time cooking anymore and very few people care about "eating healthy" - as in fast food/delivery...
Theyre already old my g. No use worrying about diet at that age lol
@@KameKame27 lmao 😔
And the SALT! NOBODY should eat that much salt, and kidney disease odds go up as you get older.
They probably cant cook anymore. Or its hard to open containers or hold pans.
Thanks for sharing this. I appreciate the reference to research at the end of a quite interesting video. Frozen foods may predate me, but it's a modern convenience I never take for granted. People living just a century ago would marvel at the notion of being able to enjoy strawberries and other summer fruit in January. They would be floored by the notion of being able to easily cook a complete dinner 5 minutes after removing it from the freezer.
It still delights me that frozen breakfast sandwiches, soft pretzels and the like exist. Thank goodness for the workers who make this all possible. :)
I like my soft pretzels with cinnamon
Just last week I tried to explain to my GenZ kids what a "TV dinner" was, and that it was a huge treat when Mom served them. Then it struck me how freaking stupid we were, because I'd kill to have my mom's meatloaf, mashed potatoes and bread pudding tonight.
I’d forgotten how much of a treat a TV dinner was. It tasted so different than home made and you got a dessert 😀 But as time went by it was a convenience for laziness and not a treat and finally it just turned into junk. Now you can get fresh food delivered to your door so the TV dinner died.
OK BOOMER
This just a joke so don’t get mad, ok.
Za Cheese, not offended, lol. I was born at the cutoff and went to college in the 80s, so I actually identify most with GenX which makes me a "slacker." Regardless, I'm pretty freaking old.
ok xoomer
Okay Boomer
Legend has it that the train is still going back and forth
the boyfriend to his girlfriend, yes... train, no...
Mr. Telang, you’ve got a series there! Netflix on line one!
I was in my negatives when TV dinners were existent. All of my grandparents were alive amid that time, but they were not in the USA. TV dinner meals were popular as part of vintage purely American culture.
When a TH-cam video is called “the rise and fall” you know it’ll be good
"The rise and fall?" There was never a fall, not a significant one at least. And the end of the video admits that they're getting popular again... Still an interesting video though.
They never went out of popularty the working class in america live off of them cause they are a fast and cheap way to have food for a week.
I think the fall may refer to the tray thingy
Thos food really helpme even now (live with your girlfriend both us got a horrible job)
Michael Judge Especially for rural americans, who can’t just get grubhub
It’s only in the title to stay consistent with the series, but it’s more like the fall and revival or fall and adaptation
I'm telling you. Those 5% are these starving College Students
Those are a splurge compared to ramen noodles 😂😪
@@Ashley-el4wf And ramen noodles are expensive compared to actual basic dietary staples.
WooWeeLiveStreams Marie Calendar’s are like $2.90 so not bad. I buy like 6 at a time for the week when at school
@@zacharysweeney4720 Hmm they're not bad, .Banquets i literally have no taste for, but even if i have good cooking i remember my first 1-2 years in college randomly getting cravings for Michellina's ground Salsberry steaks and Hamburger chili macs every once in a while. While im not sure what it is, broth, tvp or something they're the only frozen food company i know to get the frozen meats right and their meat really pops full of rich meaty flavor as if laden with broth. In a good way. Really wish they'd share the secret to it and maybe look into making their own michellina Meatballs and salisbery stakes standalones lol.
Bastion The Michellina’s entrees are regularly on sale for $1 at my local grocery store. I like those a lot.
This is fascinating. I love cooking and the history of food. Thank you!
I still like these...and they bring back memories lol
For $4 bucks you get 12 pieces of corn, a rubbery piece of beef or a soggy breaded piece of chicken, watery see through mashed potatoes and a slot where the "brownie" is supposed to be but no one ever eats it because it ends up hard as a rock. lol Absolute classics though lol
Tyler Crain 🤣🤣🤣
For 10 bucks, you can get enough corn, chicken fillets, potatoes, and brownie mix to feed you for a week...
@@RemixedVoice can't eat none of it cuz of my wheat allergy.
@@RemixedVoice for just a quarter a day you can feed a starving child in a far away land.....
@@RemixedVoice Spoken like a person who knows the value of a dollar.
Wow, so Airlines actually had real food back in the day?!
VZ_ 342 the last time I flew all they served was earbuds
The food use to be cooked on board however due to the increased popularity of air travel airlines had to switch to pre heated meals.
They do now? Airplane food is actually really good in most cases. Yeah and I fly 4-6 times a year. Sure people fly weekly but I think I have a say.
@Black Chandelier Mirage may i ask which?
Emirates has some good food, I fly with Emirates often.
First time watching this channel. The quality is amazing. Keep it up!
Love your channel congrats in advance on 1 mil subs!!
Frozen produce solves a lot of issues with waste.
How so ?
@@swindle3561 one way is because many local farmers throw away products that they dont sell. Flash freezing gives them a chance to make more money and waste less seasonally viable products
@@whitealliance9540 ooooh okay I gotchu, makes sense
@@swindle3561 it's pretty much a good form of food preservation without using a ton of salt or sugar or excess spices. personally I'd take something that had freezer burn over something sickly sweet or too salty for me.
Plus you can freeze dry them
I can still taste those aluminium trays from the sixties.
Likely the most palatable part of the meal.
ok boomer
So let me get this straight, you ate the trays instead of the food because the food is that bad?
@thewanderandhiscomp ...what?
@thewanderandhiscomp did you ever try it?
I remember it took a long time for those to cook. I would take it out of the oven, starving, it looked ready, but was still frozen on the inside (I was a kid). The desert was good.
Some of y'all can be quite negative on the TV dinners but the one thing I will say the evolution of the TV dinners I will be internally grateful because they kept me full on a lot of days
They've changed the Hungry-man dinners
Don't taste the same
They don’t make em like that used too
Yeah, they cheaped out
@INERT They do make a line of frozen dinners for really fat people. They are called Marie Callender’s Meal to Share (multi-serve meals). They are design for families so you need a huge apatite to be able to eat one by yourself.
Might as well rename them starving man
Yes, and Campbell's Chunky soups started tasting just as bad at about the same time. Was it the elimination of MSG.
I think when TV dinners first came out they were genuinely trying to replicate a good home cooked meal, like if mom took her leftovers and froze them. Now they are processed gloop that are insanely high in sodium and ingredients that you would never find in a housewives kitchen. To make them more palatable yet affordable they add a ton of reconstituted food products, hydrogenated oils, glycerides, trans-fats, additives like TBHQ and BHT, MSG and the aforementioned sodium at over 50% of the recommended daily sodium intake. Disgusting and a sure recipe for heart disease. 😝
MSG isn't nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It's basically concentrated salt. A little MSG can often give the same flavor with _less_ sodium than the usual amount of table salt.
Sodium, as it’s listed, isn’t basically salt. It is salt. And honestly they should just call it that because, If it was actually sodium, well... your gonna have a bad time
Ok boomer
leacorner if being a boomer means caring about my health, then I am ok with that 😌
msg isnt bad in the slightest
Lockers in the school, TV Dinners, Prom Dances, Treehouses.
Things a lot of us only saw on TV/Movies and never IRL.
Yes it was a treat! I bought my last one in the eighties. Package on front said it was microwavable too. It was alright. Directions inside said to thaw out each individual food item and then place in a microwave dish. Wish I still had at least that crazy box! Lol!
I vaguely recall there being a time when you would remove something like the desert and heat it for a shorter time after the rest of the meal was partially cooked. Good thing they got over that problem with the discovery that brownies take longer to cook while fruit fillings can cook forever without any real issue.
The title should be “The rise and slight dip of the TV dinner”
The rise, plateau, slight dip, and slight increase of the TV dinner
The rise, slight dip, renaming, and stagnation of TV Dinner
As a German, i must say that the „German Style“ TV Dinnner looks revolting
What was different about “German style” TV dinner?
@@rivaraptor4277 The background music.....
The Very Edgy Yoshi i think it‘s some kind of pork chops with red cabbage and „Spätzle“ (basically MacNCheese) with some sweet pickled plum jam and what looks to me like an egg yolke. I don‘t know but it looks super disgusting, like a perverted version of the home cooked food you are used to from childhood
Was u hoping for a big sausage?
Zajin13 SPÄTZLE IS NOT MAC&CHEESE!
Every Cheddar narrator is so slappable.
Fried chicken and mashed potatoes TV dinner in the 1960s - yum! Ate a lot of them, and loved them.
I think frozen meals have died "the death of a thousand cuts", i.e.: by striving to keep the cost down, manufacturers have been successively cutting corners and we're at a point where the taste simply is no longer there.
Even though, in the EU, manufacturers can get away with a lot less than US-based ones, I have, previously, seriously looked into frozen meals as a way to ease pressure on myself in terms of work commitments and being a caretaker. Both are moot at this point, but I found none of them were any good. Other than some ok concepts for copycat recipes, I found even the ones from premium brands to be largely useless.
Sorry but what do you mean by manufacturers getting away with a lot less in the EU?
@@cescovan the EU has more stringent laws and stuff about what's allowed in food than the US.
@@cescovan Ingredients, additives and entire processes which are commonplace in US food production are banned in the EU, because they are deemed unhealthy, used to mask poor quality ingredients or produce foods which contain too many empty calories.
They can also not fudge nutritional information by using unrealistic portion sizes and are limited in terms of claims they're allowed to make on the packaging with regard to origin or nature of the food.
Not to mention tighter regulations with regard to rearing livestock.
I haven't eaten a TV dinner in a half century or more, but way back when, they sucked, qualitywise, so I'm having trouble with the idea that "the taste simply is no longer there." It never was.
Slow cooker and a freezer. Done. Lol
"team effort" yeah sure. Another way of saying someone that wasn't high enough up the ladder had the idea and they can't have him or her take credit and possibly financial compensation for it.
Who hurt you
This does not seem to meet your names policy the world
TheKhal um. No.
@@--..__
Clearly a _"superior"._
Which translates to "absolute scumbag".
@@--..__ who lobotomized you?
Frozen Dinners were a Special Treat in Our Family…When Dad worked “Night Watch” as a Volunteer Fireman we would spend time at the Fire Department and have Dinner with Him…Usually a Frozen Dinner….It was a Very Special and Wonderful Family together Time….My Brother and I miss Mom and Dad every Day……
When I was a kid in the 1960's, the TV dinner was something that my mother and I had on Friday nights when my father called to say that he would be home late that night.
Ah, I remember in the 80's settling down at my grandma's house on a Sunday morning eating a turkey TV dinner and watching All Star Wrestling. They gave you a ton of food back then and it tasted good - much better than the tasteless turkey with the watery gravy that they give you today. I'm almost tempted to try making my own TV dinners from scratch and putting them in metal trays to bake in the oven...
Ha, ha, ha... I think you were just smaller and simply remember it as more food! It's why when you go back to places you went when young everything seems so small.
@@superbmediacontentcreator shrinkflation is real
Do it! That sounds awesome
@@zacharygiles2984 indeed true! It’s sad it’s true, honestly..
I think you've accidentally discovered meal prep! lol. I do that as often as I can, and I'll do like a chicken parm, or salisbury steak, or meatloaf. But on a smaller scale, for example, use breast cutlets rather than a whole breast, or small bread tins for the meatloaf. It works surprisingly well, and you can get silicone or pyrex reusable dishes with partitions so you can bake them.
Very innovative. It's easy to take things like the Swanson's TV dinner concept for granted today. Japan has their cup noodles. America has TV dinners. Products people enjoy.
And the "fancy" upscale version now of subscription meal kits. All the completeness of a TV dinner _plus_ all the work too! ;)
@@PongoXBongo The shade!
Blue Apron wants your location. You just exposed them!
They also produce mountains of frivolous packaging waste, and are actually pretty pricey for what you get.
Cup of noodles are disgusting. I prefer the packaged ramen.
I’m eating my dinner alone while watching this
I love having these when I occasionally get one
Call it "TH-cam Dinner" and you'll be the first quadreillionare
You better file a trademark for that name. LOL
Except this product came out when TV was new and now TH-cam is already archaic
Or Netflix and nitrates
Make it barbecue-themed. Netflix ’n’ Grill™.
TH-cam is already copyrighted by Google. Good luck doing that without being sued lol
I dont eat them just because I can think of like 10 other things I can make for less than $4...
I don't see anything proper you could make for under 5 bucks, except for packaged noodles but that's not real food.
Or buy. You can get two slices for 4 dollars.
@@taserrr Omelette maybe. How many eggs do you get for a dollar? whisk three eggs with a fork and put it in the pan woila!:)
@@taserrr Proper is a vague term. One meal that could be made cheaper was simply a can of Chunky soup mixed with boiled rice. This could give a hearty serving of food for $1.50 at one point because the quantity of rice and soup meant you got six meals from cheap ingredients. The sheer reduction of price made this a go to for several people. Myself included. (Not the healthiest but cheap.)
@@in3audio932 That's not a proper meal lol. I mean like an actual hot meal that has what you need for the day. Like spaghetti bolognaise or something
I never had a TV dinner or microwave meal as a kid but I remember I saw TV dinner’s in Matilda and I was jealous they got to eat dinner in front of the TV.
I grew up during the 1960's eating Swanson TV dinners and still eat them today along with other brands. Great taste and convenience is still a winner. Great video guys.
Describing k rations as being "considered palletable" is a very accurate way to describe them
Meh, K-rations were inferior to today's MREs, which in turn are inferior to civilian retail tinned/sealed food, but it was a major step upward from the hardtack, jerkey, and dried vegetables that were army field rations before the 20th century.
I liked C-rats better.
@@Name-ps9fx so....you prefer cans over boxes...?
Blake Pringle
K rats were boxed, but it’s not particularly enjoyable. C rations were in cans, but think “Dinty Moore” beef stew, peaches (with juice), pound cake, and peanut butter or jam...in 4 cans. Many different menus....compare that to the powdered eggs and crackers of the K rats:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-ration
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-ration
After a month of MREs, I just felt gross and really unhealthy, I lost so much weight because I'd go down to eating just 1 a day that I became a casualty, and finally got real food again. If you use the mre heaters, it leaves nasty residue on the outside of the bags and can make you sick if you can't wash your hands
Who needs TV dinners when you can just have water for dinner?
That's really sad
Justin Y. Ur mom
Freeze your boiled water so you can use it for later
Hi
Shut up justin
I have fond memories of TV dinners after the stock market crash, I was just 8. My dad had to move for work, and I stayed with him. I remember every night when he got home from work, we'd eat a TV dinner (on a TV dinner table tray!), manwhich, or a frozen pizza, while we watched our shows together.
It really was iconic branding on Swanson’s part. I’m 40 and my parents always called a frozen meal a “TV Dinner,” even in the 80’s when I grew up. My dad still does. Swanson didn’t even call them “TV Dinners” by that point and my parents weren’t even born yet in ‘54, but the name remains.
So apparently they stopped calling them "TV dinners" in the early 1960s, but I remember them being called that still in the 1980s.
Jonathan Lentz ZZ Top had a song about them in the mid ‘80. It’s a term that people who grew up with them continued to use long after Swanson stopped.
My parents and my siblings as well as my self all still call them tv dinners
I swear I remember them being called that in the 90s still
It's a frozen dinner in 2020!!!!!!
Correct. While I'm not in America and have never eaten Tv-Dinners, I got to know them playing this computer game called "Labyrinth" in 1986.
Since they were microwave meals, I even thought that 'Tv' didn't stand for television but as slang for microwave.
Only if they tasted better and less pricey, I would still buy them.
I saw Banquet meals on sale for $1 the other day. I’d check them out. Spaghetti and Meatballs or the BBQ Chicken would probably be my favorite.
I still buy and eat them regularly lol
Plus over the years a lot of brands are cheapening the quality of their products (even if they once were delicious) just to save some bucks!
@@fanfaretloudest so true now the Marie callenders are starting to decline in. taste and value.
I am from Spain, and here it would be unthinkable. Here we cook everyday the food we are going to eat and waching TV during dinner is almost seen as tabú.
I still crave a specific TV dinner I recall having as a kid in the 80’s. Don’t know anything about it other than it was a TV dinner and I loved it
Wife: "I'm late .... "
Husband "But dinner wont be eh? Heh heh"
Wife "No dude im pregnant"
Husband "Oh.......um.....ok......you got dinner too right ?"
Wife: "Sure let me finish up pushing this baby out so we can have a fresh meal."
Pregnant women still can move around and do things, you know that, right?
@@laobok It's a joke, you know that right?
Chad Lobster r/cursedcomments
Husband: In the hospital with some gnarly injuries, but should be recovered and released in time for the divorce papers.
Wierdly enough, these were considered luxury dinners where I lived in my childhood. Strangeley enough, eating these was a special occaision in my area.
I'm eating in front of the TV right now watching this lol
Rarely did we get one of those TV Dinners. It was a special treat when we got them.
They need to release a product called “TH-cam Dinner” 🥘 🍴
Ok zoomer
Ok zoomer
Ok zoomer
Ok zoomer
That would sale!
Personally, I think the downfall of the frozen TV Dinner was due in part to their decision to start using plastic trays than foil ones... That and the glue they use to seal the food in with the top film.... Also; the price is way to high... For me; I would want a double-sized hungry man at the same price they are wanting for a regular hungry man..
They had to adapt. You can put metal in the microwave, so plastic it became.
Tv dinners are still sold daily so I'm confused about the fall part.
@@kristingallo2158, yes TV dinners are still sold today, but not in the quantities that they used to be sold.
When I was a kid, my mother used to serve TV dinners on Wednesdays, every week. It was s treat. The family loved it.
Today, it is all I can do to choke down a TV dinner. To me, the TV dinners taste more like the package that they come in, then the meat and potatoes that they are supposed to be. Same with the "pot pies". I used to love Banquet Beef Pot Pies. Now, it all I can do to choke one down (and I have to be very hungry to do that).
Yes, TV dinners and pot pies are still sold. But no where near what they used to.
@@tarnishedknight730 I agree they fully suck now.
@@tarnishedknight730 idk how much it is that they've changed so much as it's been that you changed.
Personally, there are a lot of things I loved in childhood -like chicken nuggets, fish sticks, and candy corn- that I absolutely cannot stand as an adult.
I grew up on a farm, so I never really got into the whole TV dinner thing as a kid. In the military though, I stocked my barracks fridge and freezer full of the things. Cheap, and tasted better than the galley. Man, how times have changed...I was paying $1.50 per hungry man meal, and 50 cents per regular. And that was back in the early 2000s!
My brother and I used to ask for these as kids and loved to eat and watch 📺