Between the 1930s and the 1960s, American kitchens filled with foods that promised speed, a long shelf life and an easy cleanup. Freezers, canned goods and boxed mixes changed how families planned meals and what ended up on the table. Here are ten convenience foods that helped define the era.
1. TV dinner: The tray that put supper in front of the television
The frozen TV dinner arrived in American kitchens through Swanson & Sons of Omaha, Nebraska. The National Museum of American History holds one of the company’s original aluminum trays, and the museum’s record, which lists the product as introduced in 1954, describes the prepackaged meal as well balanced and nutritious.
Each tray held an entire dinner in separate compartments, ready to heat in the oven and eat without a single serving dish to wash. The format suited busy households. Frozen entrees became a regular fixture of home freezers through the following decades, and the compartment tray remains the shape that most people still picture when someone says the words TV dinner.