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TV dinner可不是看电视的时候吃的晚饭哦~
Definition
A frozen prepared meal, usually packaged in a disposable serving tray, that needs only to be heated before serving.
(also called prepackaged meal, ready-made meal, ready meal, frozen dinner, frozen meal and microwave meal)
电视餐，也叫做冷冻餐、冰箱餐、微波餐，指独立包装的冷冻或冷藏餐食，直接加热即可食用。
Example
In 2019, the number of microwaves shipped to U.S. retailers is expected to increase for the fourth straight year, nearing the market’s pre-nosedive numbers of the mid-2000s. Even the much-maligned TV dinner is on the upswing, with a couple of years of rising sales in a row.
( The Economist )
Origin of TV Dinner
Several smaller companies had conceived of frozen dinners earlier, but the first to achieve success was Swanson.
( Wikipedia )
First sold in 1954, just as television was becoming the dominant family pastime, the Swanson TV Dinner was packaged in a box designed to look like a TV screen. Swanson's first TV dinner consisted of turkey, cornbread dressing and gravy, buttered peas and sweet potatoes.
The TV dinner was a landmark for the frozen food industry, said Chris Krese, senior vice president for industry affairs of the American Frozen Food Institute in McLean, Va., a trade group representing the industry.
Today, frozen foods bring in about $30 billion each year, according to the trade group's Web site.
( The New York Times 2005)
TV Dinner 发明于 1954 年，餐盘的形状像电视，由此得名。最初的 TV Dinner 有土鸡，豌豆，红薯等。目前关于起源说法不一，但是无论怎么说，都是 Swanson 公司第一家使用这个名字并大获成功。
See Also
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/menus/history-tv-dinner.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/21/business/gerry-thomas-who-thought-up-the-tv-dinner-is-dead-at-83.html
https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/tvdinner.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_dinner