How TV Dinners Changed The Way America Cooked, Forever

Nothing quite conveys America's need for quick culinary convenience like a TV dinner — turkey and gravy with mashed potatoes and peas, all neatly portioned in an easy oven-ready tray. The TV dinner of the 1950s and 60s has changed a lot in the decades since. Today, frozen foods are now a booming category in supermarkets, a category that TV dinners helped to launch. Frozen foods were among the fastest-growing grocery category during the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing in $72.2 billion in retail sales in 2022, nearly a 34% increase compared to 2019. Chapters: 0:00 — Introduction 01:07 — The TV dinner origin story 04:33 — The need for speed 06:41 — What’s next? Produced by: Kate Sammer Supervising Producer: Jeff Morganteen Graphics by: Alex Wood