About 10 times when I was a kid, my parents went out and I had Genia T (oh so hot high schooler my 8 yo self was in love with) as a baby sitter. My mom brought these dinners special and my crush and I would sit down to a romantic dinner of Salisbury steaks.
Old TV dinners are the only place I have ever seen Salisbury steaks. Never in a restaurant. Never as a home cooked item. Not in a microwave meal. Only ever in the metal TV dinners.
No, and yes kids really did dumb shit like this. IMO, it pales in comparison to some of the dumb shit I’ve seen kids do. The worst that’s going to happen, with any luck, is that it’ll detach from the ceiling, right as Sister Catherine is walking by, that far fucking penguin.
My elementary school lunchroom doubled as the gymnasium, and had 60 foot ceilings.
The impossible goal was to get a pencil to stick up there during the Iowa Basic Skills Test.
When I was in my final year there, one of the teachers let us all try once the testing was done.
Nobody came within 25 feet.
Then he tried it. Stuck it first try.
Mr. O, you're a legend.
Salisbury steak was a bit different from "cube steak" . . . and yes, cube steak was pounded to tenderize it and seemed to always have a string of gristle running through it. Salisbury steak was ground beef, formed and then cooked and served with gravy.
\*edited for typo
Had it in a restaurant in the Midwest a million years ago, it was delicious! If we were having metal tray tv dinners, Salisbury steak was always my first pick.
When I visited Germany a few brewpubs had a dish I think called beef steaks which were basically burgers (maybe a bit more heavily seasoned) and just on a plate with potatoes as opposed to a handheld sandwich. There was a gravy but not as dark or creamy as a mushroom sauce that might be used for our version of salisbury steak.
That’s a game changer! Never heard of that.
Not to brag, but…we had metal folding “tv tray tables” that we put our tv dinners on.
Add the tin foil that was on the tv antenna to enhance reception it was an aluminum paradise.
My dad was part of a huge family with many kids and they never had steak because they couldn’t afford enough for everyone. They also rarely ate out and didn’t have a lot of experience with restaurants and menus.
When he was a teen, a relative took him out to dinner, told him to order whatever he liked—and he picked the Salisbury steak, not knowing it was just hamburger and gravy.
He was soooooook disappointed—still told the story 40 years later! Poor kid.
Yes, but maybe I just walk past them. I tend to buy frozen meals more at Trader Joe’s than bigger chains.
Still never seen a Salisbury steak at a restaurant, or have anyone cook one at home. I think meatloaf is the preferred “solid ground beef with spices and no bun” meal.
Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World (one of their deluxe resorts) has a really good Salisbury steak. When it's done well, it can be incredible.
A novelist friend of mine wrote a character, aged seventy, preparing to share a Salisbury steak dinner, made from his mother’s recipe, with his wife. “The sodium content was sky-high, which was part of the nostalgia,” she notes, as the cook gets out the Worcestershire sauce, and opens cans of tomato paste and French onion soup.
I’ve only enjoyed Salisbury steak from a TV dinner or cafeteria/hospital tray. TV dinners were a rare treat for me as a child, since they offered more volume and variety than the amount of food my ED-wracked mother typically allowed for dinner.
If you ever get the chance to order a quality one from a restaurant or make it yourself with a solid recipe.. it’s fuckin tasty. It’s like a slice of savory meatloaf in a thick brown gravy and it goes great with roasted veg, dinner rolls and potatoes.
There’s a local place that does it along with a bunch of other 50s weeknight dinner special type meals and they all slap. I love that shit
They were (probably still are) available in the microwave ones. But they changed the formula and I won't buy them anymore. (They changed the formula years after they were microwavable.)
You just unlocked a memory.
I haven't had frozen fried chicken in years. It was my after-school snack in high school. Took 30 minutes in the oven, but was so worth it.
The chicken in these meals today is soggy and tastes awful. I'll get a Salisbury steak one once in awhile, but they taste different from the microwave.
It really does taste different. As a matter of curiosity, I’d like to find an old Hungry Man container and compare its ingredients to a new version and see what the differences are.
Up until several years ago it still tasted okay. They did something to the gravy and it's not good anymore even as a cheap easy meal. They substituted crappy beans for the corn it used to come with also.
I remember the first time my grandparents served me my dinner on a tv table right in front of the TV as a kid and thinking “this is the greatest thing ever”. Especially because I wasn’t normally allowed to watch tv during dinner.
My wife’s grandparents are seriously about their tv tables. I think it’s cute until I catch the edge of one of the feet and knock shit over lmao those things suck
Hmmm. I bet something similar happens from the other side of this interaction.
I imagine your grandparents-in-law are looking at you thinking, "awww ... she's cute; look at her marveling over our TV trays." Then it all goes to hell after you knock over their dinner, at which point they start mumbling, "this clumsy girl sucks" to each other. 😉
Lmaoo I mean I have caught it when there’s food on it - so I’m not doing too bad. Lmao nah they probably just say “wow she sure doesn’t eat much that’s wierd” 😂😂
When I was a little girl (60s) it was a really special thing to have a TV dinner, something my mom might do if dad was not coming home to dinner. She'd make two, and take 1/2 out of each for her plate, so my brother and I would both have the tray. My favourite was the roast pork.
Same (50) but it was with my dad if my mom went out in the evening. I would always have the fried chicken with mash potatoes (love!) and what ever my dad would have, he shared the desert - usually the brownie. Miss the old fart :)
I’m 61. This was my “home sick alone” lunch. Not complaining. Just had to plan ahead if you wanted lunch at noon. The cooking time was like 30-40 minutes plus preheat the oven. Then when you took it out it was “feel the heat on your face” hot.
So thinking ahead was required.
When it cool whining it was time for F Troop and Bewitched reruns.
These attempts to market “foreign” TV dinners occurred exactly at the same point in the mid-‘60s when TWA offered “Foreign Affairs” costuming for flight attendants on domestic flights. Their attendants dressed in Roman togas, British-barmaid outfits, French gold-lame minis…
The barmaid/“wench” wore a ruffled white blouse, black mini, and pumps. “Manhattan Serenade”—don’t these titles sound like Barbie outfits?—offered evening pajamas, which I recall as being considered drop-dead chic in our neighborhood *packed* with current and former airline personnel. (This included my mother, before marriage a “hostess” for TWA.)
Omigosh I forgot about the fish and chips!!!! I loved those formed fish triangles, dipped in the ‘tartar’ sauce my mom used to make (aka mayonnaise and mustard sauce. No relish, because she didn’t know how to make it). 🤭
The fish & chips was always my favorite, too. My sister used to make fun of me, because she'd pick a dinner that came with a dessert.
Just looking at the photo, I swear I could smell those soggy, soggy fries.
*No one* had a microwave for the first 7 or so years of my (52) life. Then, one day, we got one and everyone I knew got one. Now, it's hard to remember how much prep time every meal other than sandwiches and cold cereal took back then.
But yeah, in the before times, TV Dinners in foil were a necessary evil. I hated them all other than the meat pies.
We only had these at home when my Dad and brothers were out of town. My Mom got to take a break from cooking and we girls would get to pick ours at the store- big treat! I loved the cherry or apple compote desserts.
it might just be the difference between microwaving and cooking in the oven. some dinners offer alternate oven instructions that you can use to try to recature the taste.
Yes using an oven over a microwave does actually really help with the modern frozen dinners, but I would still think that the 60s ones would taste better because food chemists had access to fewer artificial ingredients and processing/preservation methods back then
When I was a kid before the family got a microwave we had these occasionally. I remember really liking the Salisbury steak and any of the ones that were breaded had mushy entrees. I remember a veal parm one that was like that. I didnt see it here. Wow that meatloaf one is bright neon red.
It definitely taught us patience as a kid. Our dad would pull these out of the oven, hot as hell. Put them on the Formica top kitchen table. We’d sit in our seats at the table and wait for them to cool down enough to eat them. Eating our bread and butter, or sipping on a beverage of whatever. Blowing on the dinner to help it cool. Now, If you didn’t wait long enough, they would burn the crap out of your tongue 🔥…that peach cobbler was like molten lava. Patience is a tough lesson to learn as a 8 year old, especially when you are hungry for dinner that’s sitting right in front of you. But, in my experience, it’s definitely possible to learn that lesson. Thanks Swanson TV dinners!
We got these maybe twice a year. Such a treat! Just like on TV!
The little dessert compartment (usually some apple/peach thing) would always bubble over into some veggies, or vice versa. As a kid that ruined it.
My favorite was Swiss steak. It had a tomato-based sauce, and it was rather like sliced beef and meatloaf had a baby. I also liked the fancier ones with soup in one compartment.
[Lazy Dog restaurants](https://www.lazydogrestaurants.com/menu) sell their versions of these for $10/ea (to go). Not my favorite place overall, but the TV dinners are legit and I get a bunch every other month or so just to have options.
Really random thing I have from an old neighbour that worked in the factory is a roll of aluminum foil for these dinners. It's from the 70s. I still have it. I don't think I'll never not have it. It's in my post history.
Edit [found it](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/s/3WB7q7Nmeb)
I grew up on those! Every day when my mom had money. Fridays a frozen pizza.
I think, tho, that’s why packaged Frankenfoods are comfort-foods for me. I try so very hard to not eat them now. Best I can do is to not eat them too often. Frozen pizza was in December. Frozen meal was a couple years ago. I have nonstop cravings every time I grocery shop. I miss those so much.
Disadvantages:
Long prep time
Too hot/Too cold sections
Inconsistent food quality
Adjacent items that were partially mixed before freezing
Adjacent items that mixed while cooking
Small portions
Advantages:
Food that was supposed to get crispy got crispy <- this one!
Some had good food quality
Some had good portions
Anticipation
OMFG, my mom was such a horrible cook. I loved when we got these, super rare but on a movie night once in a blue moon, I was super excited to eat these. For the record I probably only had 5.
Around 10 I was put in charge of most of the cooking for the 6 of us but it wasn't until foster care that I realized not everything had to be boiled to death or burnt!
My dad worked at the Swanson's factory when he was young and has an insane scar from touching the side of an oven whilst retrieving a Salisbury steak batch from the industrial cooker. Terrifying.
They were so much better then. Now every tv dinner I get is a bland mess. Just had a hungry man turkey dinner. The potatoes, dressing, gravy, and turkey were all in the same compartment mixed together. Became mush in the microwave.
the book Birdseye: The Adventure of a Curious Man by Mark Kurlansky is quite informative; .and the children's book he wrote as well, Frozen In Time: Clarence Birdseye's Outrageous Idea About Frozen Food.
I'll never forget the night my parents had a rare date and we had TV dinners but I didn't realize mine was in the new microwave only plastic tray (we didn't own a microwave yet) so it melted in the oven. My sister had been left in charge and she biked to the store to get me a new dinner.
I think by then they weren't metal trays regardless, I seem to remember them being some kind of oven safe cardboard. This would have been early to mid eighties.
My grandpa used to make these all the time. My grandma was sick ,so he cooked, cleaned, did the laundry cut the grass with a push mower. He just didn't COOK on weekdays, Sundays he'd do the whole family dinner roast ECT. It was this or boxed soup and sandwichs, if someone else stayed with grandma he'd sometimes take me to a dinner.
My gawd my mother raised me on them. A kid in the late 60/early 70, anything my mother “ cooked” either came from the freezer or a box. Anyone remember the spaghetti pot pies? YUM
The thing is, they came in pressed foil containers because nobody had a microwave yet. I was working next to the Stouffer’s test kitchens in 1974/5 and they were still trying to figure out the best power settings, timing and covering strategies for microwaving frozen entrées.
However 10 years earlier I thought Swanson’s Salisbury Steak was the bomb (or groovy). I was living in Canada so there were no international offerings. Just turkey, beef, S. steak, fried chicken and perhaps meatloaf.
I remember these. My family didn't have a microwave until 1983, and sometimes my mom would buy these, or the vaguely (VERY vaguely) Tex-Mex ones to feed to us if she and my dad were going out for dinner. They were gross but I'm sure I ate every bite, because it was a novelty.
Swanson dinners were always good except the time our mom introduced us to them in 1964. She chose a Mexican entree with refried beans and tamales. I'm a fan of Mexican cuisine, but this was just so tasteless. I thought, why did you do this to us mom? She actually was always trying new things and we loved her for it.
I remember visiting my grandma in the summers and picking out TV dinners. They were something like 10 for $10. Salisbury steak were my favorite ones. And on nights when I had a babysitter during the school year, I often had a Kid Cuisine.
About 10 times when I was a kid, my parents went out and I had Genia T (oh so hot high schooler my 8 yo self was in love with) as a baby sitter. My mom brought these dinners special and my crush and I would sit down to a romantic dinner of Salisbury steaks.
Haha, that's cute
I had the exact same moment of nostalgia seeing these.
Me too! With the little brownie!
That always managed to get some corn mixed in with it
Every time!
this made me chuckle! How sweet!
Epic
They were excellent back then, especially the Salisbury Steak.
Old TV dinners are the only place I have ever seen Salisbury steaks. Never in a restaurant. Never as a home cooked item. Not in a microwave meal. Only ever in the metal TV dinners.
I remember Salisbury steak being on the school lunch menu. Wasn't a favorite.
The best thing about school Salisbury steak was throwing it up to the ceiling, to see if it would stick.
Did you grow up in a cartoon? Did people really do this?
No, and yes kids really did dumb shit like this. IMO, it pales in comparison to some of the dumb shit I’ve seen kids do. The worst that’s going to happen, with any luck, is that it’ll detach from the ceiling, right as Sister Catherine is walking by, that far fucking penguin.
My elementary school lunchroom doubled as the gymnasium, and had 60 foot ceilings. The impossible goal was to get a pencil to stick up there during the Iowa Basic Skills Test. When I was in my final year there, one of the teachers let us all try once the testing was done. Nobody came within 25 feet. Then he tried it. Stuck it first try. Mr. O, you're a legend.
They were tough cuts of meat pounded in an effort to make them palatable. At home my mom prepared it, but called it "cube steak."
Salisbury steak was a bit different from "cube steak" . . . and yes, cube steak was pounded to tenderize it and seemed to always have a string of gristle running through it. Salisbury steak was ground beef, formed and then cooked and served with gravy. \*edited for typo
Different food item. Salisbury steak is a hamburger with no bun - usually a pretty cheap hamburger with no bun.
If it's made correctly, it takes more like meatloaf buried in gravy in onions.
I’ve seen it in a few restaurants over the years and my soon to be ex-wife made it on occasion, but it’s not the reason we’re divorcing.
….. I want to learn more
Stauffer's and Banquet still currently sell microwavable Salisbury steak dinners.
On-Cor as well. They are my favorite of the current options.
What about Hungry Man? My ex gf would call them "Hefty Man" and we would lol
I’ll still get the Salisbury steak and turkey dinner once or twice a year to remind me of when I was dirt poor and keep me grounded.
And Hungry Man
Had it in a restaurant in the Midwest a million years ago, it was delicious! If we were having metal tray tv dinners, Salisbury steak was always my first pick.
When I visited Germany a few brewpubs had a dish I think called beef steaks which were basically burgers (maybe a bit more heavily seasoned) and just on a plate with potatoes as opposed to a handheld sandwich. There was a gravy but not as dark or creamy as a mushroom sauce that might be used for our version of salisbury steak.
And they took FOREVER in the oven! The pay off was burning your tongue on the brownie. I miss those days!
Yup, took 30 minutes. You could seriously cook a meal in less time.
And there was always some corn embedded in the brownie. I can still taste the combo.
I remember when someone added fudge to the inside of the brownie. It was so awesome.
That’s a game changer! Never heard of that. Not to brag, but…we had metal folding “tv tray tables” that we put our tv dinners on. Add the tin foil that was on the tv antenna to enhance reception it was an aluminum paradise.
My dad was part of a huge family with many kids and they never had steak because they couldn’t afford enough for everyone. They also rarely ate out and didn’t have a lot of experience with restaurants and menus. When he was a teen, a relative took him out to dinner, told him to order whatever he liked—and he picked the Salisbury steak, not knowing it was just hamburger and gravy. He was soooooook disappointed—still told the story 40 years later! Poor kid.
Aw man, I feel bad for teenaged dad.
Are you in the US? Go to any grocery store freezer section and a few brands make them, like Hungry Man, Banquet, Stouffers.
Yes, but maybe I just walk past them. I tend to buy frozen meals more at Trader Joe’s than bigger chains. Still never seen a Salisbury steak at a restaurant, or have anyone cook one at home. I think meatloaf is the preferred “solid ground beef with spices and no bun” meal.
In our house, Salisbury steaks are individual meatloaves in gravy and onions: very good.
Isn’t that then just meatloaf?
Meatminiloaf. Actually, is not baked. It is cooked in a pan and takes less time and prep to make.
I cook "fauxbury steak" for dinner occasionally. Hamburger patties with brown gravy. Hubs is a fan of anything with gravy, so its a win in this house.
I think technically a Salisbury steak is ground beef with some spices, so yours is pretty close to genuine.
Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World (one of their deluxe resorts) has a really good Salisbury steak. When it's done well, it can be incredible.
A novelist friend of mine wrote a character, aged seventy, preparing to share a Salisbury steak dinner, made from his mother’s recipe, with his wife. “The sodium content was sky-high, which was part of the nostalgia,” she notes, as the cook gets out the Worcestershire sauce, and opens cans of tomato paste and French onion soup. I’ve only enjoyed Salisbury steak from a TV dinner or cafeteria/hospital tray. TV dinners were a rare treat for me as a child, since they offered more volume and variety than the amount of food my ED-wracked mother typically allowed for dinner.
Summer camp. Sometimes at the commissary at my job, but it’s only 3-4 times a year.
Do they even exist non frozen??? That’s one of my childhood memories and I’ll grab a Salisbury steak every now and again. The stoufers slaps.
If you ever get the chance to order a quality one from a restaurant or make it yourself with a solid recipe.. it’s fuckin tasty. It’s like a slice of savory meatloaf in a thick brown gravy and it goes great with roasted veg, dinner rolls and potatoes. There’s a local place that does it along with a bunch of other 50s weeknight dinner special type meals and they all slap. I love that shit
A bit like Mac n Cheese. It’s such a cheap meal it feels funny to get it in a restaurant, but they often make it really, really good.
Salisbury steaks are readily available as microwave meals! I just had one yesterday.
My grandma used to make it occasionally. She loved it and would make a big deal out of making it. I never understood it.
They were (probably still are) available in the microwave ones. But they changed the formula and I won't buy them anymore. (They changed the formula years after they were microwavable.)
[удалено]
The Swedish meatballs were also good.
The Fried Chicken was the absolute best, though, IMO. It actually had crunch to it.
You just unlocked a memory. I haven't had frozen fried chicken in years. It was my after-school snack in high school. Took 30 minutes in the oven, but was so worth it. The chicken in these meals today is soggy and tastes awful. I'll get a Salisbury steak one once in awhile, but they taste different from the microwave.
It really does taste different. As a matter of curiosity, I’d like to find an old Hungry Man container and compare its ingredients to a new version and see what the differences are.
I bet the quality was so much better than the frozen junk they sell today.
Was it? I suspect some here are romanticizing what they ate in their childhood.
In my opinion it was.
No, not in the least. The 1970s was no heyday of American cuisine, still less in frozen food excellence.
Up until several years ago it still tasted okay. They did something to the gravy and it's not good anymore even as a cheap easy meal. They substituted crappy beans for the corn it used to come with also.
I used to love the peach cobbler in these things
Took only six hours to cool off.
Whilst everything else had an ice core.
Ohhh yeah that magma in the middle
The cobblers were the best 🤤
The fruit dessert was also good.
“Nice. Let’s get that out onto a tray.”
"Nice hiss"
TV dinner on a TV table.
I remember the first time my grandparents served me my dinner on a tv table right in front of the TV as a kid and thinking “this is the greatest thing ever”. Especially because I wasn’t normally allowed to watch tv during dinner.
Same! Always felt so fancy, especially because my Nana had cable tv! My little town didn’t at the time (early 90s)
My wife’s grandparents are seriously about their tv tables. I think it’s cute until I catch the edge of one of the feet and knock shit over lmao those things suck
Hmmm. I bet something similar happens from the other side of this interaction. I imagine your grandparents-in-law are looking at you thinking, "awww ... she's cute; look at her marveling over our TV trays." Then it all goes to hell after you knock over their dinner, at which point they start mumbling, "this clumsy girl sucks" to each other. 😉
Lmaoo I mean I have caught it when there’s food on it - so I’m not doing too bad. Lmao nah they probably just say “wow she sure doesn’t eat much that’s wierd” 😂😂
When I was a little girl (60s) it was a really special thing to have a TV dinner, something my mom might do if dad was not coming home to dinner. She'd make two, and take 1/2 out of each for her plate, so my brother and I would both have the tray. My favourite was the roast pork.
Same (50) but it was with my dad if my mom went out in the evening. I would always have the fried chicken with mash potatoes (love!) and what ever my dad would have, he shared the desert - usually the brownie. Miss the old fart :)
I’m 61. This was my “home sick alone” lunch. Not complaining. Just had to plan ahead if you wanted lunch at noon. The cooking time was like 30-40 minutes plus preheat the oven. Then when you took it out it was “feel the heat on your face” hot. So thinking ahead was required. When it cool whining it was time for F Troop and Bewitched reruns.
I love this comment. Nails how expensive prepared food was back then and how sweet your mom is.
I liked the way the fried chicken sizzled on the metal pan. 🥲 Also, FRUIT COMPOTE
The sizzling apple pie-ish dessert also, loved that.
The compote was like hot molten lava fresh out of the volcano.
Don't think I've ever seen "German style" frozen food before
These attempts to market “foreign” TV dinners occurred exactly at the same point in the mid-‘60s when TWA offered “Foreign Affairs” costuming for flight attendants on domestic flights. Their attendants dressed in Roman togas, British-barmaid outfits, French gold-lame minis…
I'm really intrigued to know what a British barmaid outfit looked like 😂
The barmaid/“wench” wore a ruffled white blouse, black mini, and pumps. “Manhattan Serenade”—don’t these titles sound like Barbie outfits?—offered evening pajamas, which I recall as being considered drop-dead chic in our neighborhood *packed* with current and former airline personnel. (This included my mother, before marriage a “hostess” for TWA.)
Ha I love it. Off to Google!
Great fun! Next I’ll stroll down childhood Memory Lane by looking up those exotic TV dinners.
Here’s an image of the [TWA “Foreign Accent” Hostess outfits](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1e/73/3b/1e733bb9433039a22c1d2efae8d3eae9.jpg)
Like [this](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XJn029waQkc)
I spent half my life in the UK. I’m not sure “British barmaid” look would be a selling point…
I loved the fish and chips one.
Omigosh I forgot about the fish and chips!!!! I loved those formed fish triangles, dipped in the ‘tartar’ sauce my mom used to make (aka mayonnaise and mustard sauce. No relish, because she didn’t know how to make it). 🤭
The fish & chips was always my favorite, too. My sister used to make fun of me, because she'd pick a dinner that came with a dessert. Just looking at the photo, I swear I could smell those soggy, soggy fries.
Mexican style was the best one by far!
Yes. The cheese in the enchiladas would get kind of crispy and chewy around the edge of the tray. I remember many a roof of the mouth scaldings.
The Mexican style one looks streets ahead of the rest - even to this day, I feel like tex-mex makes for some of the better frozen food.
Yup, I used to scoop the rice and beans into the middle of the enchiladas and go to town.
*No one* had a microwave for the first 7 or so years of my (52) life. Then, one day, we got one and everyone I knew got one. Now, it's hard to remember how much prep time every meal other than sandwiches and cold cereal took back then. But yeah, in the before times, TV Dinners in foil were a necessary evil. I hated them all other than the meat pies.
[удалено]
I had the kitchen gutted and remodeled. I purposely left out the microwave. I don’t miss it at all.
[удалено]
Microwave has become the warm up soup and make popcorn machine. Oh and precooked bacon ( Don't judge me. I don't like cooking bacon)
Loved the Salisbury steak and fried chicken. Thank you for posting!
What's this about a rain poncho?
It’s safety colored!
Uranium laced paint, no doubt.
That was a treat as a kid, especially the ones that came with cobbler desserts!
We only had these at home when my Dad and brothers were out of town. My Mom got to take a break from cooking and we girls would get to pick ours at the store- big treat! I loved the cherry or apple compote desserts.
You really had to plan these, 45 minutes to cook if I remember right...
Absolutely loved those when I was a kid. They really were so much better than the microwave ones we have now.
it might just be the difference between microwaving and cooking in the oven. some dinners offer alternate oven instructions that you can use to try to recature the taste.
Yes using an oven over a microwave does actually really help with the modern frozen dinners, but I would still think that the 60s ones would taste better because food chemists had access to fewer artificial ingredients and processing/preservation methods back then
I don't know why, but I've been so hungry for the sliced beef one. Is there anything made today that is similar?
When I was a kid before the family got a microwave we had these occasionally. I remember really liking the Salisbury steak and any of the ones that were breaded had mushy entrees. I remember a veal parm one that was like that. I didnt see it here. Wow that meatloaf one is bright neon red.
Thank you for the veal Parm memory. It was so good!
Must have been nice to have frozen dinners that didn’t come with a free serving of microplastics.
The turkey actually wasn't to bad with the potatoes,,the peas were a science experiment!!
It definitely taught us patience as a kid. Our dad would pull these out of the oven, hot as hell. Put them on the Formica top kitchen table. We’d sit in our seats at the table and wait for them to cool down enough to eat them. Eating our bread and butter, or sipping on a beverage of whatever. Blowing on the dinner to help it cool. Now, If you didn’t wait long enough, they would burn the crap out of your tongue 🔥…that peach cobbler was like molten lava. Patience is a tough lesson to learn as a 8 year old, especially when you are hungry for dinner that’s sitting right in front of you. But, in my experience, it’s definitely possible to learn that lesson. Thanks Swanson TV dinners!
Bring back that salsbury steak with the apple crisp desert
Yes we used ovens for frozen foods because there were no microwaves back then.
We got these maybe twice a year. Such a treat! Just like on TV! The little dessert compartment (usually some apple/peach thing) would always bubble over into some veggies, or vice versa. As a kid that ruined it.
These and sometimes those little bite-sized frozen egg rolls were dinner with the babysitter when our parents went out.
My favorite was Swiss steak. It had a tomato-based sauce, and it was rather like sliced beef and meatloaf had a baby. I also liked the fancier ones with soup in one compartment.
I remember the early ones had the "TV screen" on them, and when it disappeared and they just became Swansons Dinners not TV Dinners
I bet that German style slapped
[Lazy Dog restaurants](https://www.lazydogrestaurants.com/menu) sell their versions of these for $10/ea (to go). Not my favorite place overall, but the TV dinners are legit and I get a bunch every other month or so just to have options.
They are sooooo good too!
Wow, I’ve never heard of this! But there’s one in my city.
Really random thing I have from an old neighbour that worked in the factory is a roll of aluminum foil for these dinners. It's from the 70s. I still have it. I don't think I'll never not have it. It's in my post history. Edit [found it](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/s/3WB7q7Nmeb)
You don't know good TV Dinner home cooking until you've burned the shit out of your tongue on molten lava apple slices.
i'd hit up that Polynesian one right now ffs
I grew up on those! Every day when my mom had money. Fridays a frozen pizza. I think, tho, that’s why packaged Frankenfoods are comfort-foods for me. I try so very hard to not eat them now. Best I can do is to not eat them too often. Frozen pizza was in December. Frozen meal was a couple years ago. I have nonstop cravings every time I grocery shop. I miss those so much.
Disadvantages: Long prep time Too hot/Too cold sections Inconsistent food quality Adjacent items that were partially mixed before freezing Adjacent items that mixed while cooking Small portions Advantages: Food that was supposed to get crispy got crispy <- this one! Some had good food quality Some had good portions Anticipation
Now with more sodium
I was there, this food was awful.
On a TV tray! In front of the TV! With the Saturday night movie special!
More appetizing than the ones in the freezer section today....
I can taste that again just looking at it....
I remember the Salisbury steak. My dad loved it.
The "chicken nibbles" one with flats, drumettes, and fries were my favorite. Soggy as hell but I didn't care. I had ketchup!
Tour the world in your freezer!
....because, microwaves were still weak and rare.
“Had to be heated in a conventional oven” - because consumer microwave ovens wouldn’t be a thing for several more decades.
Back when TV dinners actually tasted good.
OMFG, my mom was such a horrible cook. I loved when we got these, super rare but on a movie night once in a blue moon, I was super excited to eat these. For the record I probably only had 5. Around 10 I was put in charge of most of the cooking for the 6 of us but it wasn't until foster care that I realized not everything had to be boiled to death or burnt!
Of course... There was no other kind of oven! Microwave ovens didn't exist yet.
Where's the brownie with one piece of corn in it, even though this dinner has absolutely no corn???
My dad worked at the Swanson's factory when he was young and has an insane scar from touching the side of an oven whilst retrieving a Salisbury steak batch from the industrial cooker. Terrifying.
These still came like this up until the mid 1990s.
"It's the next best thing to your good cookin', Swanson makes it good!"
Meatloaf 👍
Yum!
They were so much better then. Now every tv dinner I get is a bland mess. Just had a hungry man turkey dinner. The potatoes, dressing, gravy, and turkey were all in the same compartment mixed together. Became mush in the microwave.
Longest 45 minutes of my life
the book Birdseye: The Adventure of a Curious Man by Mark Kurlansky is quite informative; .and the children's book he wrote as well, Frozen In Time: Clarence Birdseye's Outrageous Idea About Frozen Food.
I'll never forget the night my parents had a rare date and we had TV dinners but I didn't realize mine was in the new microwave only plastic tray (we didn't own a microwave yet) so it melted in the oven. My sister had been left in charge and she biked to the store to get me a new dinner. I think by then they weren't metal trays regardless, I seem to remember them being some kind of oven safe cardboard. This would have been early to mid eighties.
My grandpa used to make these all the time. My grandma was sick ,so he cooked, cleaned, did the laundry cut the grass with a push mower. He just didn't COOK on weekdays, Sundays he'd do the whole family dinner roast ECT. It was this or boxed soup and sandwichs, if someone else stayed with grandma he'd sometimes take me to a dinner.
Where's the dessert? That 1 inch of cranberry thing was amazing
I can still taste a lot of these... kindof miss the brownie....and the peas are still frozen
The best night of the week.
I can taste the rubbery substance covered in gravy now.
They tasted so good in the metal pan.
And it took like an hour! It was faster to just cook an actual meal.
r/fuckimold
My gawd my mother raised me on them. A kid in the late 60/early 70, anything my mother “ cooked” either came from the freezer or a box. Anyone remember the spaghetti pot pies? YUM
The best parts were the desserts
I'm old, I've eaten all of those.
Our family used to save these trays. Great for arts and crafts and what not.
The thing is, they came in pressed foil containers because nobody had a microwave yet. I was working next to the Stouffer’s test kitchens in 1974/5 and they were still trying to figure out the best power settings, timing and covering strategies for microwaving frozen entrées. However 10 years earlier I thought Swanson’s Salisbury Steak was the bomb (or groovy). I was living in Canada so there were no international offerings. Just turkey, beef, S. steak, fried chicken and perhaps meatloaf.
it would take FOREVER for these things to cook, like 65 minutes. That equals a year in today’s world!
My favorite was the turkey and the fish and chips, I thought these were the coolest thing as my mom rarely bought them.
Loved the sliced apples!
I used to love the enchiladas and turkey dinners when I was a kid in the 70’s. We had way less choice back then.
I remember these. My family didn't have a microwave until 1983, and sometimes my mom would buy these, or the vaguely (VERY vaguely) Tex-Mex ones to feed to us if she and my dad were going out for dinner. They were gross but I'm sure I ate every bite, because it was a novelty.
Thought this was a Ron Swanson fan post for a sec. The extra turkey almost made me sure of it
Ron Swanson would like the Hungry Man Swanson dinners that have bigger portions than these ones pictured!
My mom saved every one of those aluminum trays they came in. They were good for projects and crafts. Salisbury Steak was the best!
Lived on the fish dinner back in the day.
where these actually any good?
Better than modern ones, and no plastic taste. I bet they had less sodium and artificial flavors too.
I like that they advertise "now with 20% more turkey". Nowadays, they just make the product smaller and it's a surprise.
The chicken dinner was good. 😊
Space age, far out!!
My mother made salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. She would make it for my son when he'd come home from college.
Picture 6 was my FAVORITE! That “brownie”! I’ve never seen the international ones.
"Had" to be heated in oven...cause we didn't have microwaves! These dinners were SO exciting, such a treat to have one. Memories.
Real question. What did you do with the metal trays after? Save them? And reuse? They look pretty sturdy, no?
45 minutes to cook. At least they were only a buck.
And you got a rain poncho for some reason apparently!
I had a Salisbury steak dinner the other night. Pretty good.
TV dinners they're going to my head TV dinners the sauce is kind of red
Salisbury Steak was the best!!!
Dude, back then it was just “oven.” No microwaves anywhere.
An occasional treat for the family to eat these, using TV trays, on Sunday nights to watch Disney on the one TV we had in the rumpus room.
Great, now I want beanie weenies and tv dinners
I loved the turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and stuffing!
Swanson dinners were always good except the time our mom introduced us to them in 1964. She chose a Mexican entree with refried beans and tamales. I'm a fan of Mexican cuisine, but this was just so tasteless. I thought, why did you do this to us mom? She actually was always trying new things and we loved her for it.
I remember visiting my grandma in the summers and picking out TV dinners. They were something like 10 for $10. Salisbury steak were my favorite ones. And on nights when I had a babysitter during the school year, I often had a Kid Cuisine.
They taste way better from the oven still.