Frozen meal

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A German TV dinner (currywurst with fries) that has been heated Ready to eat microwave food (TV dinner) Currywurst with French fries.JPG
A German TV dinner (currywurst with fries) that has been heated

A frozen meal (also called TV dinner in Canada and US), prepackaged meal, ready-made meal, [1] ready meal (UK), frozen dinner, and microwave 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, [2] Chinese, Mexican, and other foods of international customs. [3]

Contents

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 C.A. Swanson & Sons [4] . 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. [5] In 1986, the Campbell Soup Company introduced the microwave-safe tray. [6] Consequently, today, most frozen food trays are made of a microwaveable and disposable material, usually plastic or coated cardboard.

History

A frozen Swanson "Hungry-Man Country Fried Chicken" TV dinner 2020-02-27 00 31 49 A Hungry-Man Country Fried Chicken TV dinner before being heated in the Franklin Farm section of Oak Hill, Fairfax County, Virginia.jpg
A frozen Swanson "Hungry-Man Country Fried Chicken" TV dinner

Several smaller companies had conceived of frozen dinners earlier (see Invention section below), but the first to achieve widespread and lasting success was Swanson. The first Swanson-brand TV Dinner was produced in the United States and consisted of a Thanksgiving meal of turkey, cornbread stuffing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes [7] packaged in a tray like those used at the time for airline food service. Each item was placed in its own compartment. The trays proved to be useful: the entire dinner could be removed from the outer packaging as a unit, the tray with its aluminum foil covering could be heated directly in the oven without any extra dishes, and one could eat the meal directly from the tray. The product was cooked for 25 minutes at 425 °F (218 °C) and fit onto a TV tray table. The original TV Dinner sold for 98 cents, [8] and had a first production run of 5,000 dinners. [9]

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 televisions were "magic" status symbols, and he thought the name "TV dinner" could attach the attributes of a popular medium to a convenient food item. [10] 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. [11]

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 combinations – have been introduced. Competitors such as Banquet 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 mashed potatoes midway through the heating cycle) to ensure adequate heating and uniform consistency of component items.[ citation needed ]

A British spaghetti carbonara ready meal after being microwaved Spaghetti carbonara ready meal.JPG
A British spaghetti carbonara ready meal after being microwaved

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. [14] In 2003, the United Kingdom spent £5 million a day on ready meals, and was the largest consumer in Europe. [15]

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.[ citation needed ]

Many different varieties of frozen and chilled ready meals are now generally available in the UK, including "gourmet" recipes, organic and vegetarian dishes, traditional British and foreign cuisine, and smaller children's meals.[ citation needed ]

Invention

The identity of the TV Dinner's inventor has been disputed. In one account, first publicized in 1996, [16] retired Swanson executive Gerry Thomas said he conceived the idea after the company found itself with a huge surplus of frozen turkeys because of poor Thanksgiving sales. Thomas' version of events has been challenged by the Los Angeles Times, [17] members of the Swanson family [18] and former Swanson employees. [19] They credit the Swanson brothers with the invention.

Betty Cronin, a bacteriologist employed at C. A. Swanson and Sons, has also been credited with important contributions to the invention. [20] 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. [21] Other prepackaged meals were also marketed before Swanson's TV Dinner. In 1948, plain frozen fruits and vegetables 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. [22] Quaker State Foods was joined by other companies including Philadelphia-based Frigi-Dinner, [23] which offered such fare as beef stew with corn and peas, 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 new device. [24]

Manufacturing

The production process of frozen meals is highly automated and undergoes three major steps. Those steps are food preparation, tray loading, and freezing. During food preparation, vegetables and fruits are usually placed on a movable belt and washed, then are placed into a container to be steamed or boiled for 1–3 minutes. This process is referred to as blanching, and is used as a method to destroy enzymes in the food that can cause chemical changes negatively affecting overall flavor and color of the fruit and vegetables. As for meats, prior to cooking, they are trimmed of fat and cut into proper sizes. The fish is usually cleaned and cut into fillets, and poultry is usually washed thoroughly and dressed. Meats are then seasoned, placed on trays, and are cooked in an oven for a predetermined amount of time. After all the food is ready to be packaged, it is sent to the filling lines. The food is placed in its compartments as the trays pass under numerous filling machines; to ensure that every packaged dinner gets an equal amount of food, the filling devices are strictly regulated. [25]

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. [25]

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 −18 °C (0 °F) during shipping and storage. [25]

Health concerns

Frozen meals are often heavily processed with extra salt and fat to make foods last longer. [26] In addition, stabilizing the product for a long period typically means that companies will use partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for some items (typically dessert). Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are high in trans fats and are shown to adversely affect cardiovascular health. [27] The dinners are almost always significantly less nutritious [ citation needed ] than fresh food and are formulated to remain edible after long periods of storage, thus often requiring preservatives such as butylated hydroxytoluene. There is, however, some variability between brands. [28]

In recent years[ when? ] 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.[ citation needed ] 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 [29] [ better source needed ] and the National Health Service [30] [ better source needed ] have encouraged manufacturers to reduce the levels of salt and fat in ready prepared food.

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tray</span> Shallow platform designed for carrying things

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Gerry Thomas was a Canadian who moved to the US to become a salesman. He is sometimes credited with inventing prepackaged meals in 1952. Thomas, who worked for the Swanson food company in America in the 1950s and went public with his account decades later, said he designed the company's famous three-compartment aluminum tray after seeing a similar tray used by Pan Am Airways. He also said he coined the name "TV Dinner" for such meals, brainstormed the idea of having the packaging resemble a TV set, and contributed the recipe for the cornbread stuffing. Thomas later said he was uncomfortable with being called the "father" of the TV dinner, because he felt he just built upon existing ideas.

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References

  1. ↑ "Could a top chef stomach ready-made meals?". the Guardian. 12 June 2005.
  2. ↑ "Breaking Trend: Indian Gourmet | Prepared Foods". www.preparedfoods.com.
  3. ↑ Shrivastava, Anusha (20 June 2003). "As busy immigrants reach for taste of home, frozen food sales take off". Newspapers.com. The Naples Daily News. p. 1E. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  4. ↑ Smithsonian, Smithsonian Magazine (December 14, 2018). "A Brief History of the TV Dinner" . Retrieved December 5, 2024.
  5. ↑ "TV dinner". Merriam-Webster.
  6. ↑ Magazine, Smithsonian; Biakolo, Courtney Sexton,Kovie. "A Brief History of the TV Dinner". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ↑ "FAQs". Swanson Foods. Archived from the original on September 8, 2006.
  8. ↑ "The rise and rise of the ready meal: So what's for TV dinner tonight?". The Independent. 13 July 2005. Archived from the original on Oct 14, 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  9. ↑ Bauer, Bob (5 September 1994). "The Tv dinner hits its prime". Supermarket News. Archived from the original on Oct 14, 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  10. ↑ miscellus2 (25 April 2010). "Invention and view of the original TV dinner". Archived from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
  11. ↑ Smith, Andrew F. (May 2007). The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN   978-0-19-530796-2 . Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  12. ↑ Sales Management (Volume 103 ed.). Dartnell Corporation. 1969. p. 94.
  13. ↑ "US Patent for Dual ovenable frozen food tray/cookware formed from a lainate containing a polymer that is crystallizable at use temperature Patent (Patent # 4,737,389 issued April 12, 1988) - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com.
  14. ↑ "Frozen Ready Meals - UK - March 2006". Mintel International Group Ltd. March 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
  15. ↑ "UK meals 'ready' for growth". William Reed Business Media SAS. 2003-11-21. Retrieved 2006-12-31.
  16. ↑ McMorris, Robert (1996-05-10). "Gobbler Glut Spurs Dinners" . Omaha World-Herald .
  17. ↑ Rivenburg, Roy (2005-07-31). "False tales of turkey on a tray". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2014-05-06.
  18. ↑ Rivenburg, Roy (November 23, 2003). "A landmark idea, yes, but whose?". Los Angeles Times . p. E1. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020.
  19. ↑ "Who "invented" the TV dinner?". Library of Congress . Retrieved 2014-10-09.
  20. ↑ Bartlett, Kay (26 June 1994). "The Year The TV Dinner Knocked America Cold". Seattle Times. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
  21. ↑ Ross, Harold; Maloney, Russell (1945-08-04). "Defrosted Dinners" . The New Yorker . p. 11. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
  22. ↑ Kohler, Roy (6 March 1955). "Assembly Line Dinners". Newspapers.com. The Pittsburgh Press. p. 8. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  23. ↑ "La Baw Brings Frigi-Dinners To Shore Housewives, Firms". Newspapers.com. Asbury Park Press. 9 Nov 1952. p. 10. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
  24. ↑ Shapiro, Laura (2004), Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America, New York: Penguin Books, ISBN   014303491X, OCLC   52471805
  25. 1 2 3 "How tv dinner is made - manufacture, making, history, used, processing, components, structure, product, History, Design". www.madehow.com.
  26. ↑ Lampert, Phil (2007-04-04). "6 things you need to know about frozen dinners: Tips for shopping wisely for the best — and healthiest — convenient meals". NBC Today Show . Archived from the original on 2012-09-22. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
  27. ↑ Willett, W.C. & Ascherio, A. (May 1994). "Trans Fatty Acids: Are the Effects Only Marginal?". American Journal of Public Health . 84 (5): 722–724. doi:10.2105/ajph.84.5.722. PMC   1615057 . PMID   8179036.
  28. ↑ "Choose your ready-meal carefully". BBC . 2004-05-28. Retrieved 2014-05-06.
  29. ↑ "Food Standards Agency – Eat well, be well – Healthy diet". Eatwell.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2010-01-18. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  30. ↑ "How to understand food labels". NHS.uk. 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
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