{"id":7061377,"date":"2026-09-19T20:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/grill-beats-the-frozen-tray\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T20:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:23:13","slug":"grill-beats-the-frozen-tray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7061377","title":{"rendered":"Grill Beats the Frozen Tray"},"content":{"rendered":"


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People often ask me if I grew up cooking in the kitchen. But I didn\u2019t, and I don\u2019t have some back story about generational recipes that were passed down. <\/p>\n

In fact, being on Pitmasters on Food Network<\/a> was a little challenging, because everyone else was sharing such meaningful dishes. When I was a kid, soul-warming dishes included Tuna Helper Tuna Tetrazzini<\/a>, a salisbury steak<\/a> TV dinner and the occasional homemade spaghetti.<\/a> <\/p>\n

So it\u2019s only fitting that Sept. 10, National TV Dinner Day seems pretty cool to me. <\/p>\n

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\"pitmasters.\" <\/picture><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\"TV\"TV <\/picture><\/figure>\n

My favorite TV dinners in the 80s<\/h2>\n

According to the Smithsonian<\/a>, TV dinners originated in 1953 when Swanson\u2019s launched turkey-surplus trays. They were packaged in aluminum compartments that you could put in the oven to reheat. <\/p>\n

In the \u201980s when we added a microwave to our kitchen, the TV dinner process became much faster. My favorite was the one with salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and a chocolate brownie. It came with veggies too, but as a kid, that\u2019s not the part I loved. <\/p>\n

I liked the turkey TV dinner for the turkey, stuffing and potatoes, but the peas were always mushy and the apple-cranberry compote was kind of gross. <\/p>\n

Whichever one came with the cherry cobbler was also a winner, but just for the dessert. I don\u2019t even remember what the other compartments had in them. I just dove straight in for the lava hot cherries. <\/p>\n

The future of TV dinners hasn\u2019t happened yet<\/h2>\n

TV dinners and microwave meals have definitely advanced over the years. One of the coolest changes has been the introduction of so many different cuisines. But the future isn\u2019t what we were promised. <\/p>\n

In 1989 when enjoyed our TV dinners while watching Back to the Future on a VHS tape we rented from Blockbuster, Marty\u2019s mom popped a futuristic pizza into the \u201chydrator.\u201d When she pulled it out, it looked like it came straight from Pizza Hut. <\/p>\n

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