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AARP Online Community Memory Contest 2021 Week 3 of 3

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AARP Online Community Memory Contest 2021 Week 3 of 3

 
AARPTeri
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Periodic Contributor

Ah, the '60's, on grocery shopping day my mom would get me a Banquet TV Dinner, fried chicken w/mashed potatoes and peas, on an aluminum tray.  I think they were 49 cents, when not on sale.  Into the oven and in less than an hour you had dinner, how fast, how exciting,  and as a small child...this was ALL mine, no family style me this!  I can still recall the taste of all three items, however since I have never tasted anything like it since, I can only assume the taste came from massive amounts of salt, chemical preservatives and the cheap aluminum tray.  It was a real treat at the time, but I fear if you tried to produce the exact same product today...it would be banned in all 50 states and with good reason.  LOL

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HI. Yes I remember these. One memory stands out for me, is when I was in late grade school or early middle school. It was Thanksgiving in central PA. We had quite a snow storm a day or two before Thanksgiving, snow up to my waist. We did not have electricity, it was knocked out. We did not have a generator. My mother could not cook Thanksgiving dinner. She however did have some Swanson's turkey tv dinners. My parents lit a fire in the basement fireplace and she placed 3 turkey tv dinners in the fire to cook! Some of the aluminum foil food dish burnt of the outside, but thankfully the food was adequately heated and we had our Thanksgiving meal.

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Social Butterfly

@JaneL31149 Your mother was creative and resourceful!  Welcome to the on-line community!

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When I was growing up, my mother almost always cooked a complete dinner - meat, potatoes, and a vegetable.  The only exception was on the one Wednesday night a month when my father had a meeting of the professional organization he belonged to.  On that night, my brothers and I could select a TV dinner.  It was such a treat!  I always picked Salisbury Steak, which included corn and mashed potatoes.  I loved that Salisbury Steak!  I have not had a TV dinner in decades.  I often wonder if I tried that TV dinner now, would it be as delicious as I remember?  Rather than be terribly disappointed by trying one today, I think I'm just going to savor the wonderful memory of those long ago Salisbury Steak TV dinners!

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I love this question. TV dinners were a great big deal for us. Fast food places were not an option in our household. I even requested Taco Bell for a birthday. My mother almost had a cow. 
TV dinners were a special treat when mom and dad had date night. We would get to go to the store and pick our own out. It was exciting! I chose mine for the delicious dessert treat. I needed to remember this today. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

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I always looked forward to Dad's business trips because it meant "the girls" could have Swanson fried chicken dinners---  the ones with the tiny brownie included for dessert!

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Social Butterfly

@Reikiforhealth  It's true, it's all about the dessert!  Welcome larkspur to the on-line community!

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Being a child of the 60's Swanson TV dinners were common. Also, I was a boy that did not like my meal items touching and that aluminum foiled separations was perfect! In front of the black and white TV with those tin tray tables with the exquisite floral design tops BUT with a 1/2" lip edge (no spill)!

My favorite was the Fried Chicken. Why some folks liked that Salisbury Steak dinner shocks me. It tasted gross and smelled even worse-yuck! Worst vegetable was the crinkly green peas-oh but with the tab of butter-woo,woo. Not to mention the GOOP stuffing under the turkey dinner-really!

Never had a complaint about pot pies though especially if you overcooked the crust. That resolved the gooiness that others didn't like. I'd crunch it all together into one big slop pile-yumm!

And who didn't like the chunky apple dessert! Oh, those were the days.

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When I was young, I used to love TV dinners.  Oh, they were not as good as Mom's home cooking, but great for a special snack when she was busy.  I joined the USAF in 1974 and bought a TV dinner to use in the new-fangled microwave oven that was in the community room of the barracks.  At that time I had heard of microwaves but had never used or even seen one.  I started to put the metal tray inside and twist the dial to high when someone ran up to me to tell me that you can't put metal inside a microwave.  I can just imagine now, the sparking and smoking that would have happened if I had time to push the start button.  Soon after that of course, they started to put the meals in cardboard microwave safe trays, just for that reason.

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Regular Contributor

Oh gosh, as a teenager I remember not only eating the โ€œtv dinnerโ€ in front of the tv but having it on a tv tray! My favorite was the Turkey dinner. My father hated them & refused to eat them so I was always secretly happy when he had to work late & my Mom would let me have one. Nowadays I still have the occasional frozen dinner, but only after carefully checking the sodium, sugar, & fiber content firstโ€ฆ.Iโ€™m more likely to have the Lean Cuisine Mac & Cheese & add a packet of low sodium salmon to it.

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What a fool I was to eat this unhealthy type of food! Wish I knew then, what I know now about processed, unhealthy food

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Periodic Contributor

"That's OK.  I'm still full from the salisbury steak."

 

"Oh, that wasn't steak. That was tapioca pudding."

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Newbie

the mac and cheese

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As an only child of a Mother student (BA of Education, UWM Mil. WI 1973) & working Mother (Post Office in earlier years then a student teacher @ St. Casmirs (sp?) Catholic Church teaching 4th grade circa 1969 as part of my Mother's education, I was left to scratch up a meal as best as possible so LOTS of tv dinners were enlisted. My fave was the 'Mexican Fiesta' & my mouth-watering morsel choice in that Mex dinner were the teeny tiny flour tortilla tacos, next the refried beans, then the rice & I tolerated what I recall was some kind of ?enchilada? Anyway, it was SO GOOD that I cannot recall any dessert as part of the Mexican Fiesta dinner but it was my fave despite the forgotten dessert that appeared in all other Swanson Frozen tv dinners of my youth.

Veal parmagiana (I'm Italian on my Father's side so all of the Italian meals were also treats for me. . . . . .  I gotta go eat a pot pie now as I have full sized tv dinners. . . . . .    ;-D  Susie Catherine in SD, CA

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Love this narrative ๐Ÿ˜‰

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My favorite was the  desserts

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My mother was an awesome cook and she made delicious meals every night. I was very surprised when she decided to go back to college nights and bought a supply of tv dinners for my brother and I to pop into the oven. They could not compare to my mom's meals, but the novelty of them made it okay. My favorite was Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. The desserts were the best part . . . except sometimes the gravy would have spilled into the section for the dessert and the combination of flavors was not pleasant. Fortunately, I learned to cook from my mom and tv dinners are not on the menu here. 

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Social Butterfly

Memories?  Heck, Iโ€™m still eating them!

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Conversationalist

My Mom said โ€œ We are having pot pies for dinner, itโ€™s something new but letโ€™s all try itโ€! My dad like home cooked meals from scratch, it had a tasty vibe to it but he said โ€œ Okay, letโ€™s try it!โ€

So, my Mom put one for each of us, since there were varieties, chicken, and beef. Ohhhhhh, it smelled so good. The aroma filled our house and even in the garage where my Dad was fixing his car. Man, did it smell good. A pie, what could go wrong with a pie?! Finally, she started to take the pies out. Couldnโ€™t really see whatโ€™s inside but it smelled so delicious!

my Dad came in and washed up, he said it smelled good too! We all sat down said grace, and there in front of us was our very own pot pie. My Dad bit into his , which was beef, said it was very tasty. My Mom bit into hers and she said it was so delicious, she had chicken. I looked to my older brother and he said it tasted like beef stew but so much better, plus thereโ€™s a crust on top. I looked at my younger brother and he was gobbling it up, but then he eats everything. I bent down and smelled it, it smells good, so I put my spoon it and tasted it, ahhhhhhhhhh, it has vegetables, this is not a pie, I yelled. My Mom told me this is a pot pie and itโ€™s made with vegetables and meat. Why, did they bring us this food, it was horrible, the crust tasted like a wad of paper. The vegetables had a weird taste to it. My brother needed up eating mine. 
No pot pies for me!

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Regular Contributor

I loved T.V. dinners when I was younger. My Mom and I both had the same favorite. Banquet made the best pork dinner and we both really enjoyed it. When she came to live with my husband and myself I was able to find them for a while. Just hearing T.V. dinners brings great memories of my Mom back. Thank you. 

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Fried Chicken is the best one, still have one sometimes

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Periodic Contributor

Oh, ho, ho, I remember one Thanksgiving another girlfriend and I were both without "family" and so we decided to cook the traditional meal for just us. Yeah. That idea lasted two minutes and we rushed to the grocery store and picked up two TV dinners and a nice bottle of red wine. Then we thoroughly enjoyed no mussin', no fussin' for once. The food seemed delicious and it was so great when we finished and threw the tins out! We laughed and laughed and thought we were genius. Ok, maybe it was the wine...

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Periodic Contributor

I had the blessing of grocery shopping for my grandfather when I turned 16 and could drive and I was allowed to buy myself something to eat and I ALWAYS bought a turkey TV dinner and relished it as this was a luxury our poor family did not partake in. To this day I buy only one kind of frozen meal and itโ€™s a turkey dinner and ALWAYS think of my sweet grandfather โค๏ธ

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That's so lovely!!

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Newbie

TV dinner meant it was Thursday - Mom and Dads bowling night.  The evening out was their treat - TV dinner was ours!

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We also ate TV dinners that came in a foil tray with a foil top and baked in the range oven. All this while Animal Kingdom or The Wide World of Sports on a Curtis-Mathes television!

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I used to love TV dinners because we actually got to use TV trays and watch the TV while eating.

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Periodic Contributor

During my childhood in the 1970s, we rarely had tv dinners because we were a family of 7, but when we did, it was such a special treat! My parents never ate them, but my brothers and I would set up snack tables in the den and watch one of the three channels we had. I can't remember the actual meal contained within, but I remember the extra special feeling. My poor mom cooked for us practically every night but we were most appreciative of these little tv trays. Of course that changed over time and mom's cooking was number 1. But I remember those few precious nights eating with just my brothers in the forbidden space, and, sometimes, I wish we could go back โค๏ธ

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I still eat a turkey dinner twice a week as a reward for eating everything else healthy. We were extremely poor when I was a child and my mother saved her pennies so we could have turkey TV dinners on thanksgiving. My favorite memories 

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I remember having these very occasionally as a child.  My mother would get them for the three of us children and they would eat something else; although my father would eat our vegetables and other things we did not like.  We particularly liked pieces of chicken and different potatoes, and the ones that had desserts  When I got older and lived by myself I sometime purchased more expensive frozen dinners that I knew i would like.  We rarely buy frozen dinners anymore, but occasionally buy a frozen side dish, like spinach soufflรฉ's or a special entry, like an Asian dishonor something that was too much work to make for just the 2 of us.

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