Growing up in an Italian family meant home cooked dinners on the table every night. Mom would spend most of the afternoon in the kitchen preparing great dishes. Meatballs, sauce and made from scratch raviolis. No jars of sauce graced those cabinets.
I was fortunate enough to have 2 very close friends growing up. One 2 doors down and the other 2 doors up. I remember being 2 doors up around meal time one afternoon. When asked to stay, I accepted. Whatever was in the oven smelled good to me so when we took our seats at the table I was intrigued with these silver trays with little compartments filled with food.
There was fried chicken, a vegetable medley, mashed potatoes and yes, even dessert!! Well I just thought this was the best thing. No table to set, no dishes to wash,(both chores which were delegated to me at home) and it was yummy.
When i returned home Mom asked…”how was dinner?” “Mom, it was delicious, we need to get some of these little packaged meals when we go shopping this week.”
Must have been the wrong thing to say…she stopped what she was doing and exclaimed…TV Dinners…Not In This House!!!
Now some 30 plus years later, as i stroll the frozen food aisle, I still stop and eye the Swanson’s dinners but realize that what I was most fascinated with was the trays they were served in.
On a trip to Stonewall Kitchen, lo and behold there sat the modern version of those TV dinner style plates. Heavy duty ceramic in pastel green, blue and white. Dishwasher, microwave and oven safe. Now I have my own TV dinners (with homemade food of course) and I swear it just tastes better!!
I can totally relate. The woman who raised me was a from-scratch-a-holic. It stuck with me – there are no “from a box” meals in my house.
It’s a shame, though. Many of the TV Dinner companies now provide instructions for microwaving their “cafeteria” food. The trays are made of plastic.