How TV dinners changed American cooking, forever

Nothing quite conveys America's need for quick culinary convenience like a TV dinner — turkey and gravy with mashed potatoes and peas, all neatly portioned in an oven-ready tray. The TV dinner of the 1950s and '60s has changed a lot in the decades since. Today, frozen foods are big sellers in supermarkets and they were among the fastest-growing grocery categories during the Covid-19 pandemic, bringing in $72.2 billion in retail sales in 2022, nearly a 34% increase compared to 2019.