Back in the 80’s I was what they called a “Latch Key Kid”, meaning I usually locked up when I left for school, and let myself back in when I got home – usually an hour after my parents left for work and 2-3 hours before my parents got home. This worked pretty well save for those days when school was out for some reason and my parents still had to go to work… On those days my lunch was usually something in an aluminum tray made by Swanson’s or Banquet. Like these:
I think this is where my like of Salisbury steak and beans and franks comes from, and to this day I still love them both.
Anyway, with the advent of the microwave in the mid 80’s, the handy Swanson’s aluminum tray meal kinda fell to the wayside and was replaced by things like “The Budget Gourmet”:
Fast forward about 40 years and modern TV dinners kinda suck. They tend to be flavorless and texture-less – basically ‘gut wadding’ used to keep you from being quite as hungry as you were before you ate – and I therefore don’t bother with them.
Unless they are one of these:
This is from a local restaurant called “Lazy Dog” which somewhat specializes in old-school aluminum tray TV dinners. These run about $9 a piece in a six-pack and are basically a restaurant meal you have to cook at home, in the oven, for 45 minutes… Lazy Dog rotates the offerings seasonally, so I never get bored, and I really enjoy plopping down in front of the TV with a legitimate TV Dinner and putting on some old 80’s show for ambiance. 🙂
Listening to "TV Dinners" by ZZ Top