"Gregory Morrow" > wrote in
message link.net...
>
>
> The first teevee dinner would today cost (adjusted for inflation per the
> inflation calculator below) $6.52...pretty rich vittles!
>
> [ http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ ]
>
>
> http://www.tvacres.com/food_menus.htm
>
> "TV Dinners - The first commercially successful TV dinner was introduced
by
> L.A. Swanson Food Company in 1953. For the cost of $1.00, the 12 ounce TV
> dinner included sliced turkey, gravy, buttered peas, whipped sweet
potatoes,
> and cranberry sauce. The carton's front cover displayed a picture of a TV
> set. With the microwave oven becoming so commonplace in the 1980s,
> manufacturers of instant dinners began replacing the classic aluminum
metal
> trays with those made of plastic, cardboard, and Styrofoam materials.
> Actually the first frozen dinners were made for the US Navy in 1944. The
> process of quick freezing food was invented in 1911 by Clarence Birdseye,
a
> former government surveyor. His discovery was inspired by watching the
> Eskimos in Labrador preserve their food by freezing the food in the arctic
> air."


That inflation calculator only goes up to 2002.

Try this one from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis:
http://minneapolisfed.org/research/data/us/calc/

The equivalent price in today's dollars would be $7.01.

Interesting post. I do remember the introduction of Swanson's Turkey TV
dinner. The varieties that followed were not so tasty.