Who “invented” the TV dinner?

Several individuals developed the TV dinner.
Like many creations, the story of the development of the TV dinner is not straightforward. Many people and companies played a role in the development of the concept of a complete meal that needed only to be reheated before eating. The invention of the TV dinner has been attributed to at least three different sources, primarily Gerry Thomas, the Swanson Brothers, and Maxson Food Systems, Inc.

Maxson Food Systems, Inc. manufactured the earliest complete frozen meal in 1945. Maxson manufactured “Strato-Plates” – complete meals that were reheated on the plane for military and civilian airplane passengers. The meals consisted of a basic three-part equation of meat, vegetable and potato, each housed in its own separate compartment on a plastic plate. However, due to financial reasons and the death of their founder, Maxson frozen meals never went to the retail market. Some feel that Maxson’s product does not qualify as a true TV dinner, since it was consumed on an airplane rather than in the consumer’s home.

Following in the footsteps of Maxson Foods Systems was Jack Fisher's FridgiDinners. In the late 1940's FridgiDinners sold frozen dinners to bars and taverns. Frozen dinners did not take off, however, until the Bernstein brothers came on the scene.

In 1949, Albert and Meyer Bernstein organized Frozen Dinners, Inc., which packaged frozen dinners on aluminum trays with three compartments. They sold them under the One-Eyed Eskimo label, and only to markets in the Pittsburgh area. By 1950, the company had produced over 400,000 frozen dinners. Demand continuted to grow, and in 1952 the Bernstein brothers formed the Quaker State Food Corporation. They expanded distribution to markets east of the Mississippi. By 1954, Quaker State Foods had produced and sold over 2,500,000 frozen dinners!
The concept really took hold in 1954 when Swanson’s frozen meals appeared. Swanson was a well-known brand that consumers recognized, and Swanson launched a massive advertising campaign for their product. They also coined the phrase TV Dinner, which helped to transform their frozen meals into a cultural icon.

But this is where different stories begin to emerge. Until recently, the most widely credited individual inventor of the TV dinner was Gerry Thomas, a salesman for C.A. Swanson & Son in 1953. For example, the American Frozen Food Institute honored him in their "Frozen Food Hall of Fame" as the inventor of the TV dinner. However, his role as the inventor is now being disputed.

Conversely, Betty Cronin, a bacteriologist who was also working for the Swanson brothers at that time, asserts that it was the Swanson brothers themselves, Gilbert and Clarke Swanson, who came up with the concept of the TV dinner, while their marketing and advertising teams developed the name and design of the product. Cronin also worked on the project, taking on the technical challenge of composing a dinner in which all the ingredients took the same amount of time to cook, also called synchronization.

So who really invented the TV dinner? It depends on your definition. One thing is for sure, though: the first company to use the name and successfully market the TV Dinner was Swanson.

My Text

Weren’t T.V. Dinners great? As a kid I had my fair share of them. The Chicken was good, but I liked the Salisbury Steak. The veggies and mashed potato’s were OK, but the desserts were tasty and not enough of it.

BUT… they were nothing like “mom’s cookin’ ”. Her fried Chicken was “to die for” as they say today. I’m not sure if you could call it “Salisbury Steak, but when she pounded out the Round Steak and threw in salt and pepper and some other spices, of course known only by her, it was mighty tasty. With potatoes and carrots it was quite a meal.

Mom knew us and wetted our taste buds from early childhood. She knew what was good for us, because she knew us best. She knew how to get us through illnesses, without going to the doctor. She had those “home remedies” that were handed down from her mother and her mother-in-law, and back and back and back. The chicken soup, the tea and crackers were part of the regimen for wellness, if you were sick.

No, we didn’t have steak or chicken every night. We had beans with cornbread and beans with beans, we weren’t rich. Mom had taken a job in a factory, and dad came back from war. As a child, and not knowing all the “family factors”, I guess we needed the dual income. You see, my dad was a drunk, he did not want to be called an “alcoholic” because he said, “Alcoholic’s had to go to meetings and drunks didn’t”. So, he drank up a large part of his income and mom had to work to finish paying the other bills and feed us kids.

Thus enters the T.V. Dinner…. They were quick and easy. Out of the freezer and into the oven and within 15 minutes you had the full meal. It also became popular to watch the evening news while eating these dinners. There was no conversation because adults wanted to hear what was going on around the world, and of course the kids had to be quiet. T.V. dinners were only part of the families decline. And as they say on T.V, “Stay tuned for “Part Two of Our Mystery Series”.


T.V. Dinners Part Two

Please let me say right up front, that I do not blame the decline and fall of the family unit on T.V. Dinners. There are many, many factors that attribute to the issue and I will only discuss a few.

The break down of the family is the man’s fault. He has not taken his rightful place as head and leader of the family and led them to Christ. It is the woman’s fault in not supporting and encouraging the husband to do so. It was Adam’s fault for not setting the guidelines more clearly with Eve. It is Eve’s fault for not listening to her husband.

Ephesians Chapter 4 verses 11-16 : And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

It’s the apostles, it’s the prophets, it’s the evangelists, and it’s the pastors and teachers who are at fault for the demise and downfall of the family. It’s the dad’s and mom’s fault for the downfall of the family. In essence, it’s the church that has been directly responsible for the breakdown of the family. You see, the church is “the people”. The church is not the building; it is where the church (people) meets. But it is the responsibility of the people to “make things work”.

How do we know what we are to do? We ourselves are ultimately responsible for knowing Him, Jesus. It is the role of the pastor-teacher to help us grow and understand, so that we can “feed ourselves”, so that we can feed others, so they can grow and feed others, etc, etc, etc.

How does all of this connect, T.V. Dinners and the body of Christ? It’s simple to a somewhat warped mind like mine.

In the past few decades, I’ve seen a trend taking place all over the United States. It has intensified in the past few years. That being, some churches having success in an area of church functioning and prayer has gone into it for their church. What do we need and how do we go about it. Some might call it a “business model”, plan the work and work the plan. Then another church will hear of it and bring that model to their church. It seems to be working for them and they tell a friend or a sister church to use it also, etc, etc, etc, thus the T.V. Dinner. I’ll just warm it up and serve it, “It’s just like momma use to make”. Or was it?

The problem I see with this is, the Pastor is not truly in touch with his people. The Lord is my Shepherd…. As a Shepherd, He knows His sheep and calls them by name. He binds up their wounds and anoints them with oil. He will sometimes carry them on His shoulders to keep them close and learn to know His voice and His smell, so when around other shepherds they will not stray. The real shepherd will not serve you a T.V. Dinner, something that another has taught his flock, he will teach you “according to the proper working of each individual part”. The real shepherd will not care about what is going on across town or across the country because he knows his sheep and what they need.

There’s enough fault and guilt to go around. Just concentrate on you own. T.V. Dinner, anyone?

Following the Shepherd,
Ron
reskewsquad@blogspot.com