TV dinner

American  

noun

1. a quick-frozen meal, typically consisting of meat, potato, and a vegetable, packaged in a tray for heating before serving.

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Etymology

Origin of TV dinner

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

If you want to wear rainbow chard, a sardine tin, or a TV dinner in your hair, Lennick has a clip for that, though the company's bestseller is a strawberry.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026

To my childhood self, it was the south Indian equivalent of green peas from the classic American TV dinner: the prerequisite something-green on the plate, the unpopular party guest somehow included on every guest list.

From Salon • Nov. 30, 2021

I spent middle school as a latchkey kid, riding two public buses to get home and once there, often ended up spending evenings alone and warming up a frozen TV dinner.

From Washington Post • Sep. 1, 2021

Will John finally speak up, or will this be yet another yule he spends alone with a parakeet, a fish and a TV dinner?

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 25, 2020

Corn is in the non-dairy creamer and the Cheez Whiz, the frozen yogurt and the TV dinner, the canned fruit and the ketchup.

From "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan