Because in the entire history of history, there has never been a tv dinner brownie without at least one piece of corn in it. (And frankly, we’d be disappointed if there was. Brownie corn is the best kind!)
I keep some in my freezer, not for the convenience but to act as portion control. Well, that is, unless I eat two of them. And since I buy Healthy Choice, there’s no guilt over eating all the crap the others have. My favorite is Sweet and Sour Chicken.
I’m not as good of a person as you… I still watch TV… even the popular shows (not just PBS or BBC). I even eat at fast food or chain restaurants from time to time. (I even drive a gas powered V8 car but don’t tell anyone)
Somehow though I also learned how fun and easy it is to cook, but there are still times that it is fun to kick back and toss in a Totino’s pizza, or get your fill of Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes with Gravy and some baked good in a few minutes rather than a full day of cooking. I’ll even jump on the Salisbury steak band wagon… I’ve never thought to make it from scratch, but sometimes it is just nice to sit back and enjoy the convenience and memories that come from Swanson.
I’m liking the Marie Callender line (sweet & sour chicken, steak and potatoes, herb chicken, etc.) They’re running $2 apiece at WalMart lately, with a bit more food than the typical Banquet meals. I think it’s about the same quality you get served at Applebees. But, alas, no brownie.
Spud, Totino’s Pizza. (I hear ya’) Now there’s a thread all on it’s own. I hear that it’s not even real mozzarella, just shredded mozz. shaped oil. Bad, bad, bad, but good, good, good!
I am trying to eat healthier so I don’t eat them much anymore but I love TV dinners. Swanson’s Fried chicken is one of my favorite Fried Chickens period. When I was a kid you could just get a box of the fried chicken which was awesome. They don’t sell it that way anymore though.
I don’t know if a single-dish frozen meal counts (with no applesauce or brownie) but I love to get single-serving Stouffer’s lasagna.
Yes I could make a whole lasagna and then have like 12 single servings but that’d take me 6 months to eat. I much prefer Stouffer’s do it for me 
The ones I miss were the Tyson line. Their entrees, obviously, were all chicken. My favorite was Chicken Piccata.
I even like the turkey (if the sauce is not too blue)
MMM, that fried chicken was tasty childhood treat, even though mom’s was much better. I also fondly recall the carrots. Sweet, cooked to death, with an aluminum twinge.
It’s not a TV dinner unless it has all parts of a dinner - meat, starch, vegetables, dessert. (My brownies always had corn on them also.) They were great before there were microwaves. Now there are tons of decent microwaveable foods, but they aren’t TV dinners.
How odd that the ones I used to like are exactly what people have mentioned - salisbury steak, fried chicked, Mexican. I don’t like cranberry sauce, so the turkey dinner was right out.
Who remembers Libbyland dinners?
Oh yeah. The Hungry Man Salisbury Steak heated in the oven is wonderful. In the microwave, not so much.
I try to keep a few in the freezer for those times I just want to have a complete meal without any complications.
Some of the Healthy Choice still do. In fact, some of them had a dessert that, when heated, would bubble over out of the tray. I tried adjusting the temperature or the time, and nothing helped. So I emailed the company, and a few months later the problem went away. I don’t know whether they reduced the amount of dessert or made the trays deeper. With the sweet & sour chicken they eliminated the dessert completely. It’s still a relatively healthy alternative to the others with too much fat or salt or sugar.
Yeah, I’ve got that song stuck in my head now too. 
I haven’t had a TV dinner since I was a kid, but the main reason we loved 'em was because they came with dessert, which we didn’t ordinarily have. A TV dinner plus a Charlie Brown special on the same night? As good as Christmas!
I’m old enough to remember when tv dinners did not have dessert :eek: I loved the (fake) buttery goodness of the mashed potatoes and my mom would put extra margarine on it. Of course I ate only the dinners with fried chicken. Chicken, mashed taties, and some sort of veggie (either corn or mixed veggies). We kids had these only when Mom and Dad were going out for thei evening with their grown-up friends. Oh, the anticipation of peeling off the tin foil covering! I also fondly remember chicken pot pies…
Nthing the Salisbury Steak love, and tossing Swedish Meatballs onto the love pile.
Lately I’ve been having some of the frozen Meals for Seniors (aka “Meals on Wheels”). (Patients like to give me things, but I can’t really accept gifts or cash. I found out that one of my patients was throwing out last week’s meals uneaten when he got his new supply of meals. His family is making him home cooked food to actually eat, the Meals are just a back up plan, but he has a small freezer so can’t store much. I talked to his daughter about it, and she invited me to take what I can use. He’s delighted to be able to give me something each week. So now I have a freezer full of Meals for Seniors.) They are…technically edible.
Amy’s Cheese Enchiladas are actually quite amazing. While they’re quite expensive compared to others, they’re more than just “good for a frozen meal,” they’re just plain good.
I loved the “Chinese” ones. It was either La Choy or Chun King…one of those major brands…that had absolutely addictive meals. They weren’t actually good, but I’m convinced they spiked 'em with heroin given the way I used to want to eat them. 
Found a pic of one
We are teh old. 
Oh, and the brownie must be lightly contaminated with the tomato sauce from the meat loaf.
Tomato sauced chocolate nut brownie, MMM (and tomato sauced green beans)!
Beans and Franks, with TWO desserts!
Note the blue ink, hand stamped, price tags.
CMC fnord!
I love TV dinners!
I don’t get them very often anymore, but every now and then I’ll hit the frozen food section and get a few Banquet Salisbury Steak dinners (my favorite!). The Meat Loaf’s not bad; it’s basically exactly the same thing as the Salisbury Steak, but without the colored-on grill lines. Most stores around me don’t carry the Chicken Fried Steak or Chicken Fried Chicken, but those are my second favorites. And their Pot Pies are awesome!
The best part about Banquet dinners? They’re dirt cheap. Regular price is only 99¢, and I’ve seen them on sale for as low as 5/$1.00.