The rise of ready meals

The first commonly available convenience foods were canned goods, which were developed in the 19th century for military purposes. The little tins made it easy to store, transport and prepare food on the battlefield.

The use of canned food escalated during second world war, when soldiers’ rations contained tins of meat and stew to keep them going

• The first home ready meals were actually created to use up surplus meat. US food company Swanson had a disappointing Thanksgiving period in 1953 and found themselves with huge stocks of leftover turkey.
• Bosses challenged their staff to find a creative solution, and salesman Gerald Thomas designed his own version as a ready meal tray. It had three compartments to hold meat, potatoes and vegetables.
• Swanson named their new idea a TV dinner, marketing it as a convenience food you could eat while watching television. And their popularity was staggering: Americans bought 10 million TV dinners in the first year alone!