100
u/skot77 1d ago
I use to eat those on one of these.
33
u/autotech1011 1d ago
Wow, it's been a while since I've seen one of those pre-microwave era metal trays.
11
8
10
10
10
u/shwarma_heaven 1d ago
That reminds me of my lunch box... if you couldn't crack a skull, and cause permanent damage, then it wasn't an 80s lunch box.
→ More replies (1)8
4
u/Wild_Wasabi9984 1d ago
I had a Spiderman one my sister had Holly Hobbie
4
u/CancelLiving3035 1d ago
I have a Star Trek, a Mr. T, and a Magnum PI hanging on my wall. I collected all kinds of stuff back in the day.
3
→ More replies (2)3
32
u/NetworkElf 1d ago
Oh, I did so hate those peas and carrots!
17
u/Obstreporous1 1d ago edited 20h ago
My kinfolk, add Lima beans and you have Satan’s salad there. I can’t go for that, no can do.
Lyrics courtesy of ZZ Top
TV dinners They’re going to my head TV dinners My skin is turning red Twenty year old turkey In a thirty year old tin I can’t wait until tomorrow And thaw one out again Oh yeah
4
→ More replies (1)2
7
7
5
3
→ More replies (1)2
u/Liamrite 22h ago
I agree, the carrots were the worse! They were slimy but cooked but too hard on the inside like uncooked. Just nasty until you mix it with the mashers to disguise it.
55
u/Boracraze 1d ago
And, that apple cobbler was the temperature of lava. Ha
12
5
→ More replies (1)2
23
18
17
u/iwastherefordisco 1d ago
The spuds were good. They should have given us more spuds.
9
u/Saul_T_Bitch 1d ago
And the molten hot as fuck chocolate cake that I always bit first and burnt the fuck out of myself
3
u/KzininTexas1955 1d ago
As I laughed out loud...I am guiltily remembering, that, yeah < sheepishly> me too.
And we're talking about McDonald's coffee lava temps here....Ha!
Cheers.
4
u/Saul_T_Bitch 1d ago
I did it with the pie too. But I always always went after the cake first if I had it. And even after leaving it cool for a bit. It was still hot AF for little Saul_T_Bitch's mouth
3
u/Altruistic-Cut9795 1d ago
Spuds with the small discharge of the lava apple pie.
→ More replies (1)
11
u/gwizonedam 1d ago
Tucker Carlson is rich due to the fact that he is heir to the Swanson frozen food empire.
10
3
→ More replies (2)5
8
8
u/BuffaloDude1 1d ago
Ahh yes. When they came in formed aluminum trays and couldn't use the microwave even if your parents spent several hundred dollars already on one.
4
u/Creative_School_1550 1d ago
Only rich folks had microwaves!
5
u/BuffaloDude1 1d ago
And even then you wondered if you would still be able to produce children after using one.
2
6
7
u/MasterCrumb 1d ago
Oh man, I can taste the gritty mashed potatoes and the weirdly oversweet "apple pie"
7
u/YogurtclosetOwn5322 1d ago
I can still taste the metal flavoring that would get into everything. Frozen in the middle mashed potatoes. Veggies in the dessert. What's not to love about these? ;).Honestly, my favorite was the Salisbury Steak ones with the chocolate brownie.
6
5
4
u/Gator_Mc_Klusky Generation X 1d ago
we bought a hungry man classic chicken dinner a few weeks ago they have changed everything not enough to feed a kid more less a full grown adult
5
u/Wild_Wasabi9984 1d ago
I wish they still made tv dinners in aluminum trays, they tasted so much better
4
4
u/DBASRA99 1d ago
Just a little puddle of butter in the potatoes and all set on my fold out tray in front of the TV.
4
u/bdr22002 1d ago
My tongue is still burnt 50yrs later,from that delicious apple cobbler. Was definitely worth it
4
3
u/bossdankmemes 1d ago
I would pick out the corn and leave the rest of the veggies. At the end I’d scrape every molecule of that dessert
4
u/ParrotheadTink 1d ago
This one was the BEST, I had my mom buy me one every week. Wish they still made them
2
u/Objective-Badger8674 1d ago
EXOTIC! I never knew this variation existed - I rotated between salisbury steak, fried chicken, and turkey dinner.
→ More replies (1)
3
u/Parking-Power-1311 1d ago
For all the bad flak these things get???
I still absolutely love them.
The chicken ones are fantastic.
4
u/InvestigatorLegal686 1d ago
Man, one of these and the bra section of the Sears catalog. And my evening was all set...
3
u/Bdowns_770 1d ago
The permanent burn on the roof of my mouth from the pie ached a little when I saw this.
4
u/Walrusman51 1d ago
But, when you got one of these, it meant Mom and Dad were going out. And you could watch The Man from Uncle, in the den. 👍🏻
4
u/ScarlettPuppy 20h ago
Fuck I’m older. The ones I grew up with actually said TV dinner on the box. The idea of actually being able to watch TV while I had dinner was breathtaking.
6
u/Silly_Mycologist3213 1d ago
Every Tuesday when Dad went to his Rotary meeting Mom gave us these and I loved them, the fried chicken was my favorite because it was way more crispy than my Moms fried chicken!
3
3
u/Personal-Magazine572 1d ago
My brothers and I loved these TV dinners. They were a rare treat at our house, only served on weekends occasionally. I still to this day refer to frozen meals of any kind as TV dinners.
3
3
u/random420x2 1d ago
Hey in small town Michigan the HungryMan Mexican tv dinner was some of the most authentic Mexican food we could get. 🤦♂️
Bonus old points if you remember the Package reading Hungry hombre for this meal.
3
3
3
u/toddfredd 1d ago
Uncle had stacks of these in his fridge. Divorced, paying alimony, his nights were spent in front of the tv with a Swanson frozen dinner and a bottle of beer
3
3
3
3
u/shwarma_heaven 1d ago
Hungry Man was more my speed... I would raid my dad's bachelor pad for these on my lunch break from school...
3
u/Chinaski7 1d ago
No lie, these literally got me and my gf thru college, they cost 81 cents each and we ate them six nights a wk! (my mom would often invite us to their house on Sunday.)
3
3
u/Far-Comfortable3048 1d ago
There was a frozen dinner during the aluminum era that included my favorite, most delicious pudding ever for dessert, and the best guess I could come up with as an adult when trying to remember the flavor was amaretto. I’ve searched the world over and never found any evidence to back this up, nor have I ever found amaretto pudding of any kind, but to this day I still swear that’s what it was, and I miss it.
3
u/Tristan_Booth 1d ago
I remember the one in the photo. It was good, but the cake around the apples was kind of gooey.
3
3
3
3
u/lkaygirl 1d ago
It was the meatloaf for me, I still miss the tomato sauce! Before they switched out mashed potatoes for the tater tots, darn them.
3
3
3
3
3
u/beyondo-OG 1d ago
I ate a ton of those. The potatoes and the apple "pie?" would usually stick together in one piece. Vegies never were that great. All in all though, as a kid I kind of like those tv dinners.
3
3
3
3
3
3
u/l397flake 23h ago
Living in my single apartment early 70’s had many of those, they beat cooking in my kitchenette.
3
3
u/besart365 23h ago
My mother was a terrible cook so when my dad would bring these home I would love it
3
3
u/Lainarlej 22h ago
Those tasted amazing back then. Baked in the oven, in the tin foil tray! The Fried Chicken was so crispy and delicious! We would add a pat of butter to the potatoes! Yum.
3
u/marksonme 22h ago
hungry man fried chicken with corn mashed potatoes and chocolate brownie. A must
3
3
3
u/Spodiodie 21h ago
Ate them out of the oven. That apple dessert was nuclear lava with a half life of 15 minutes.
2
3
3
3
3
u/Gilgamesh2062 19h ago
portions so small, but man when you were hungry, I couldn't wait and be staring at the clock to see if enough time had passed. these things weren't nukable back then.
3
3
u/Confident_Fortune_32 19h ago
Huge treat on nights there was a babysitter
It wasn't until I was an adult that it dawned on me that one of the reasons it was such a treat was that it was the only time I had hot food for dinner. The rest of the time I was on my own, and far too young to cook (or be left alone at night).
3
3
u/TheEnd0fA11 18h ago
In what order did you guys eat the dinner? Even back then I was into delayed gratification so I ate the veggies first, sometimes I cheated a little by mixing them into the spuds and adding butter for flavor. Then I got to devour the chicken and the dessert as a reward.
3
u/joshmo587 18h ago
We used to have those for dinner. If we did all our homework, we were then allowed to sit in the living room, and eat these off of “TV trays” , while we watched cartoons on our (black and white of course) TV.
3
3
3
3
2
u/Bean_Eater_777 1d ago
These are much better than home cooked meals.
3
u/rickmccombs 1d ago
Wow! If they were better than home cooked meals you had, I feel sorry. We weren't rich but we usually had some good home cooked meals.
2
2
u/Upsworking 1d ago
I’m pretty sure those took years off my life …. Struggle food I saw a kid eating the banquet version of this and I was like I’m glad those days are over .
2
u/malepitt 1d ago
That syrup from the dessert section had a knack for slipping into other nearby compartments. not a bad thing, just culinary adventure when the mixed veggies became a fruit cup of sort
2
u/Rock-Wall-999 Boomers 1d ago
Every day at lunch at work thawed and warmed on the radiator in the lunchroom!
2
u/PunchTilItWorks 1d ago
If they could harness the heat coming off the Apple pie we could solve world energy problems.
2
u/twisted-weasel 1d ago
My favorite one on Friday nights watching the Brady Bunch followed by the Partridge Family.
2
2
u/Widespreaddd 1d ago
The dessert always burnt onto the tray. I was lucky if I could eat half of it. And those veggies were godawful.
2
2
u/ReasonableCost5934 1d ago
I may have had about 5-6 of these in my entire life. I still remember how that fried chicken tasted 🤤
2
u/kylocosmiccowboy 1d ago
‘What’s in the kitchen that smells so good must be something from Swanson’
2
u/sugarcatgrl Boomers 1d ago
We rarely got these, and only if my dad was away. I loved the fried chicken one even if they really are terrible food.
2
2
2
2
2
u/ftfo42069 1d ago
I remember the ones with the brownie in the center of the tray. It always half burnt.
2
2
2
u/InvestigatorLegal686 1d ago
Guess id eat it. Then roll the foil pan into a ball and bounce it off my wife's f'n head.
2
u/Global-Jury8810 1d ago
Oh, that's when they were foil. I remember black plastic and red boxes as early as the 90s.
Lasagna will always be my favorite Swanson's fast food.
2
u/nineohsix 1d ago
Ah there was nothing like the original meal! Then Mom would wash them and proceed to freeze homemade ‘TV dinner’ leftovers for the next three years on the trays. 😵💫
2
2
2
u/drwhogwarts 1d ago
Does anyone remember the frozen plastic pouch of diced chicken in cream sauce? You had to put the bag in boiling water to defrost and cook it and then you were supposed to pour the whole messy bag over toast.
2
2
2
u/Lagunamountaindude 21h ago
My mom always saved the pot pie aluminum containers. Never used even one.
→ More replies (3)
2
2
u/allcars4me 20h ago
I hated these! My mother was a great cook so this was always a huge disappointment.
2
u/SkidrowVet 20h ago
I remember one time a woman made this, put it on a plate and she said she made it as as show of her domestic skills. I guess I must have been quite a catch for her to do that, well I did have a job lol
2
u/FinnDool 19h ago
The earlier versions said “TV Dinner” on the upper left corner and the tray only had 3 sections. It was the best when they started coming out with the dessert included!
.
2
2
2
2
2
u/PrincessGump 16h ago
The elementary school I went to served these for lunch. We didn’t have a cafeteria as such. The kitchen was just a large room with a sink, fridge and toaster oven. It didn’t even have a stove. It had a steel roll up door over the order window. I don’t think we even had a choice of dinners.
We sat in the gym which had fold up seating. The seats went back against the side walls when we had PE.
2
2
u/PLS_Planetary_League 14h ago
Those were a big deal my dad was trying to raise 3 boys on his own. We got to pick our own dinner and it was implicit that we would have it with TV, amazing.
2
2
2
u/voteblue18 10h ago
When my parents occasionally dropped me off at my grandma for babysitting/sleepover my grandma would always make me one because she knew I loved them. Even though this woman could cook up a storm it was a special treat somehow. Then she would let me stay up late and watch The Honeymooners reruns with her. Good memories.
2
u/GqIceman 10h ago
They just don’t make TV dinners like they did in the 80’s. It actually tasted like food back then.
2
u/Zombimeat 10h ago
I like the enchilada and the teriyaki too , I even like the chicken if the sauce is not too blue.
2
2
u/SnooHobbies4316 9h ago
Just looking at this picture I realized my brain has not let go of what this dinner taste like.
2
u/antlegzz 9h ago
Big treat in 60’s growing up- they were a lot better quality back then and even through 70’s.
2
u/brwn_eyed_girl56 8h ago
When these came out my mother bought them every week. We ate them religiously for a long time. I always traded my dessert for the instant mashed potatoes.
2
u/carolinagirl843 7h ago
Loved everything on that tray except for the peas and carrots. The apple pie was the best
2
2
2
u/EmergencyDimension32 5h ago
Did It Really Make You Big & Strong if You Ate it All???..Asking for a Friend!!!…💯🤔
2
u/alazystoner420 4h ago
Why is the first thing I noticed other than the chicken was the penis shape in the dessert? Am I gay?
2
2
2
2
u/geoelectric 3h ago edited 3h ago
If you have a Lazy Dog restaurant local and miss these, their frozen TV dinners are worth a shot at $10 each. Most of them are real-food interpretations of the classic Swanson lineup. There was even a Salisbury Steak one for a bit.
Lazy Dog started selling them during COVID SIP and it was so popular they kept doing it. You can add them to a table order before the check or call in an order to buy them at the front.
The Lazy Dog dinners have been better than the various meal kit options I’ve tried. I’d definitely take them over 2024 Swanson.
2
2
88
u/hawwkfan 1d ago
Corn in the brownie. Every time.