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."


"Mother: [At the dinner table] "Guess well have to send daddy to the store
every time.

Father: Huh?

Mother: This turkey is delicious and the slices are bigger. Why you brought
home the best frozen dinner we ever had.

Father: Well, I guess I cant take all the credit. You see when I was down at
the store today. [Flashback to store] "So darn many frozen dinners."

Store Clerk: Trust Swanson that what most folks do. They're the ones. No
comparison."

Father: [Cut to dinner table] So, I took Swanson

Mother: So from know on we'll always take Swanson.

Announcer: Yes, trust Swanson every time. There's is the turkey that's so
tender and juicy with bigger slices on corn bread dressing. Swanson dinners
just taste better and who else gives you 11 kinds to choose from. That's why
so many folks...

Store Clerk: Trust Swanson. They're the ones.

Announcer: They are, indeed. No comparison."

--Text from a 1953 Swanson TV Dinner Commercial

"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.

Sam D. wrote:

> 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/


Thanks, I need a new one that goes up to present day :-)

--
Best
Greg

>The first teevee dinner would today cost (adjusted for inflation per the
>inflation calculator below) $6.52...pretty rich vittles!
>

WOW ... I remember TV Dinner nights ... we were SO excited to peel off that
foil top and dig in.
I even remember my mom having a card party and serving TV dinners ... everyone
loved them hehe, or at least said they did lol

~Kat


"The early bird gets the worm, the second mouse gets the cheese."

Gregory Morrow wrote:

> 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."
>
[snip]

I wonder what was in those first meals? Most of the ones now have
a huge laundry list of chemicals, which make them very unappealing
(to me).

--
Jean B.

"Jean B." > wrote in message
...

> I wonder what was in those first meals? Most of the ones now have
> a huge laundry list of chemicals, which make them very unappealing


It's my guess that they were pretty much free from chemical additives.

Gregory Morrow wrote:
> 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.

This is very funny! Mom told me late last year she bought some Swanson's TV
dinners for her and Dad. She got the Salisbury Steak & Gravy and Dad had
the Fried Chicken. Each came with a meager portion of some fercocktah
(thanks for the term, Sheldon!) dehydrated rehydrated mashed potatoes.
Dad's meal had corn while Mom's had peas. Neither one came with a dessert -
remember back in the day when TV dinners came with a little bit of cobbler
or baked apples or something like that? She said the meals were just
*awful*. Of course, I suspect she nuked them. Can't see much improvement
if she had baked them, though.

As a kid I can recall being absolutely thrilled when we got to eat our first
TV dinners. In *front* of the TV, on TV trays! (I remember those funny
gold toned folding stands and the metal trays with starbursts on them- snap
on, snap off.) IIRC Mom and Dad were going out so this was a quick easy way
to feed us kids and get us to shut up for a time. Wish I could remember
what was on television at the time; I know it was well after the Beatles
debuted on Ed Sullivan, but we may well have been watching Sullivan (we have
a "really big shew") at the time.

Thanks for the fun memory, Greg!

Jill