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A frozen meal, also called a TV dinner (Canada and US), prepackaged meal, ready-made meal, ready meal (UK), frozen dinner, or microwave meal, is a meal portioned for an individual. A frozen meal in the United States and Canada usually consists of a type of meat, fish, or pasta for the main course, and sometimes vegetables, potatoes, and/or a dessert. Some frozen meals feature Indian cuisine, Chinese meal, Mexican cuisine, and other foods of international customs.
The term TV dinner, which has become common, was first used as part of a brand of packaged meals developed in 1953 by the company Swanson. The original TV Dinner came in an aluminum tray and was heated in an oven. In the US and Canada, the term is synonymous with any packaged meal or dish ("dinner") purchased frozen in a supermarket and heated at home. In 1986, the Campbell Soup Company introduced the microwave-safe tray. Consequently, today, most frozen food trays are made of a microwaveable and disposable material, usually plastic or coated cardboard.
The name "TV dinner" was coined by Gerry Thomas, often considered its inventor. In an interview long after the product's introduction, Thomas noted how were "magic" status symbols, and he thought the name "TV dinner" could attach the attributes of a popular medium to a convenient food item. Another source postulates that the box of the TV dinner was made to look like a television, and that TV trays (folding tray table furniture) soon appeared on the market.
Much has changed since the first TV dinners were marketed. For instance, a wider variety of main courses – such as fried chicken, spaghetti, Salisbury steak and Mexican cuisine combinations – have been introduced. Competitors such as Banquet Foods and Morton began offering prepackaged frozen dinners, too. Other changes include:
Modern-day frozen dinners tend to come in microwave-safe containers. Product lines also tend to offer a larger variety of dinner types. These dinners, also known as microwave meals, can be purchased at most supermarkets. They are stored frozen. To prepare them, the plastic cover is removed or vented, and the meal is heated in a microwave oven for a few minutes. They are convenient since they essentially require no preparation time other than the heating, although some frozen dinners may require the preparer to briefly carry out an intermediate step (such as stirring midway through the heating cycle) to ensure adequate heating and uniform consistency of component items. In the United Kingdom, prepared frozen meals first became widely available in the late 1970s. Since then they have steadily grown in popularity with the increased ownership of home freezers and microwave ovens. Demographic trends such as the growth of smaller households have also influenced the sale of this and other types of convenience food. In 2003, the United Kingdom spent £5 million a day on ready meals, and was the largest consumer in Europe.
Unfrozen pre-cooked ready meals, which are merely chilled and require less time to reheat, are also popular and are sold by most supermarkets. Chilled ready meals are intended for immediate reheating and consumption. Although most can be frozen by the consumer after purchase, they can either be heated from frozen or may have to be fully defrosted before reheating.
Many different varieties of frozen and chilled ready meals are now generally available in the UK, including "gourmet" recipes, Organic food and vegetarian dishes, traditional British and foreign cuisine, and smaller children's meals.
Betty Cronin, a bacteriologist employed at C. A. Swanson and Sons, has also been credited with important contributions to the invention. She was involved in the technical design of dinner items that could be frozen then re-heated successfully.
Swanson's concept was not original. In 1944, William L. Maxson's frozen dinners were being served by the military and on airplanes. Other prepackaged meals were also marketed before Swanson's TV Dinner. In 1948, plain frozen and were joined by what were then called 'dinner plates' with a main course, potato, and vegetable. In 1952, the first frozen dinners on oven-ready aluminum trays were introduced by Quaker State Foods under the One-Eyed Eskimo label, and by 1954 the company sold 2 million such dinners annually. Quaker State Foods was joined by other companies including Philadelphia-based Frigi-Dinner, which offered such fare as beef stew with maize and , veal goulash with peas and potatoes, and chicken chow mein with egg rolls and fried rice. Swanson, a large producer of canned and frozen poultry in Omaha, Nebraska, was able to promote the widespread sales and adaptation of frozen dinner by using its nationally recognized brand name with an extensive national marketing campaign nicknamed "Operation Smash" and the clever advertising name of "TV Dinner," which tapped into the public's excitement around the television.
The food undergoes a process of cryogenic freezing with liquid nitrogen. After the food is placed on the conveyor belt, it is sprayed with liquid nitrogen that boils on contact with the freezing food. This method of flash-freezing fresh foods is used to retain natural quality of the food. When the food is chilled through cryogenic freezing, small ice crystals are formed throughout the food that, in theory, can preserve the food indefinitely if stored safely. Cryogenic freezing is widely used as it is a method for rapid freezing, requires almost no dehydration, excludes oxygen thus decreasing oxidative spoilage, and causes less damage to individual freezing pieces. Due to the fact that the cost of operating cryogenic freezing is high, it is commonly used for high value food products such as TV dinners, which is a $4.5 billion industry a year that is continuing to grow with the constant introduction of new technology.
Following this, the dinners are either covered with aluminum foil or paper, and the product is tightly packed with a partial vacuum created to ensure no evaporation takes place that can cause the food to dry out. Then the packaged dinners are placed in a refrigerated storage facility, transported by refrigerated truck, and stored in the grocer's freezer. TV dinners prepared with the aforementioned steps—that is, frozen and packaged properly—can remain in near-perfect condition for a long time, so long as they are stored at during shipping and storage.
In recent years there has been a push by a number of independent manufacturers and retailers to make meals that are low in salt and fat and free of artificial additives. In the UK, most British supermarkets also produce their own "healthy eating" brands. Nearly all chilled or frozen ready meals sold in the UK are now clearly labeled with the salt, sugar and fat content and the recommended daily intake. Concern about obesity and government publicity initiatives such as those by the Food Standards Agency and the National Health Service have encouraged manufacturers to reduce the levels of salt and fat in ready prepared food.
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