TV Dinners

April 6, 1954 - According to some food historians, today was the day that the first TV dinner was introduced.

The story goes that a popular food company, Swanson & Sons, had overestimated the demand for turkeys at Thanksgiving. With 500,000 pounds of surplus turkey meat about to go bad, the company came up with a clever plan to sell pre-cooked meals on a tray shaped like a television screen. They marketed them as "TV dinners" and the rest is history.

In their first year, Swanson & Sons sold over 10 million TV dinners. The 98-cent meals included turkey, corn bread dressing, gravy, peas, and sweet potatoes.