Unit 21

Other Types of Meals: TV Dinner

A TV dinner (also called frozen dinner, microwave meal or
ready meal) is a pre-packaged, frozen or chilled meal which usually
comes in an individual package. It requires very little preparation and
contains all the elements for a single-serving meal. In the !, the
term is now synonymous with any pre-packaged dinner purchased
frozen in a supermarket and heated at home. "he original "# $inner
came in an aluminium tray and was heated in an oven. %ost frozen
food trays are now made of microwavea&le material, usually plastic.
"he first !wanson-&rand "# $inner (other companies produced
frozen dinners on trays years earlier) was produced in the ! and
consisted of a "hanksgiving meal of turkey, corn&read dressing,
frozen peas and sweet potatoes packaged in a tray like those used at
the time for airline food service. 'ach item was placed in its own
compartment. "he trays proved to &e useful( the entire dinner could
&e removed from the outer packaging as a unit) the aluminium tray
could &e heated directly in the oven without any e*tra dishes) and one
could eat the meal directly out of the same tray. "he product was
cooked for +, minutes at ++-./ and fit nicely on a "# tray. "he
original "# $inner sold for 01 cents, and had a production estimate of
,,--- dinners for the first year. !wanson far e*ceeded its
e*pectations, and ended up selling more than 2- million of these
dinners in the first year of production. "heir early packaging featured
the image of a "# set. Innovations( a wider variety of entr3es (fried
chicken, !alis&ury steak, %e*ican com&inations)) pre-packaged
frozen dinners) desserts (apple co&&ler and &rownies)) "# &reakfasts
(pancakes 4 sausage)) 5reat !tarts 6reakfasts and &reakfast
sandwiches (egg 4 /anadian &acon)) !wanson 7ungry %an dinners)
microwave oven-safe trays. %odern day frozen dinners tend to come
in microwave-safe containers. 8roduct lines also tend to offer a larger
variety of dinner types. "hese dinners can &e purchased at almost
every supermarket. "hey are stored frozen, then when it is time to
prepare them, the plastic cover is removed or vented, and the meal is
heated in a microwave oven for a few minutes. "hey are very
convenient since they require no preparation time other than the
heating. (After Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)
2+0
Vocabulary
airline food service 9 serviciul culinar al liniilor aeriene
aluminium tray 9 tav: ; t:vi<: de aluminiu
apple cobbler 9 tart: cu mere
at almost every 9 la aproape orice =
brownie 9 pr:>itur: cu ciocolat:
convenient 9 convena&il(:)
cornbread dressing 9 garnitur: din f:in: de m:lai
end up (v.) 9 a sf?r@i
far exceeded its expectations 9 a dep:@it a@tept:rile de departe
fit (v.) 9 a se potrivi
frozen dinner 9 cin: congelat:
frozen peas 9 maz:re congelat:
heat (v.) 9 Anc:lzi
microwave meal 9 mas: de Anc:lzit la cuptorul cu micro-und:
microwave oven-safe tray 9 tav: care poate fi pus: An cuptorul cu
micro-und:
microwaveable material 9 material care poate fi introdus An cuptorul
cu micro-und:
microwave-safe container 9 container care poate fi pus An cuptorul
cu micro-und:
nicely 9 frumos (adv.)
no other than = 9 nu altul = dec?t =
oven 9 cuptor
package 9 am&ala>
pancake 9 cl:tit:
pre-packaged 9 pre-am&alat(:)
product line 9 linie de produc<ie
proved to be useful 9 s-a dovedit (a fi) util
ready meal 9 mas: gata preparat:
remove (v.) 9 a Andep:rta, a scoate
Salisbury steak 9 chiftea An sos de fructe cu o<et
since 9 deoarece, Antruc?t
store (v.) 9 a depozita
sweet potato 9 &atat:, cartof dulce
turkey 9 curcan
vent (v.) 9 a face g:uri
without any extra dishes 9 f:r: vesel: suplimentar:
2B-
Exercises
2. "rue or falseC
Statement True False
A "# dinner is a pre-packaged, frozen or chilled
meal which usually comes in an individual package.
A "# dinner requires very much preparation and
contains all the elements for a single-serving meal.
"he first "# $inner produced in the ! consisted of
a "hanksgiving meal of turkey, corn&read dressing,
frozen peas and sweet potatoes packaged in a tray,
plus dessert.
"# $inner came in an aluminium tray and was
heated in an oven.
"# $inner far e*ceeded its e*pectations, and
!wanson ended up selling more than 2, million of
these dinners in the first year of production.
"# $inner innovations included a wider variety of
entr3es.
"# dinner is now synonymous with any pre-
packaged dinner purchased frozen in a supermarket
and heated on the spot.
"# $inner sold for 01 cents, and had a production
estimate of ,,--- dinners for the first year.
+. 5roup the following words related to food preservation and
storage, as in the model.
bag bottle canister container dry flour sack granary ar
leftovers preservative preserve salt save spice rack
store
or!s referrin" to
containers
use! to store
foo!
metho!s an!
materials use!
to preser#e
foo!
preser#in"
foo!
storin" foo!
2B2
bag
B. %atch the following.
2. chicken breast
a. a chest deformity marked &y a pro>ecting
sternum, often occurring as a result of
infantile rickets
+. chicken feed
&. a light-gauge galvanized wire fencing usually
made with he*agonal mesh
B. chicken hawk
c. an acute contagious disease, primarily of
children, that is caused &y the varicella-
zoster virus and characterized &y skin
eruptions, slight fever, and malaise
D. chicken pox
d. an annual Asian plant !"icer arietinum# in
the pea family, widely cultivated for its seeds
in its short, inflated pods
,. chicken run
e. an enclosed area in which chickens are
allowed to walk and run a&out
E. chicken shit
f. any of several non-venomous snakes of the
genus $laphe that eat rats and other rodents
F. chicken snake
g. any of various hawks that prey on or have
the reputation of preying on chickens
1. chicken wire
h. any of various her&s of the genera
"erastium and Stellaria, especially S% media,
a 'uropean weed naturalized worldwide
0. chickpea i. contempti&ly petty, insignificant nonsense
2-. chickweed >. trifling amount of money
D. Gill in with the proper adectives from &elow.
annual average cool early edible small spherical
A pea, although treated as a vegeta&le in cooking, is &otanically a
fruit) the term is most commonly used to descri&e the = = seeds or
the pods of the legume &isum sativum. "he name is also used to
descri&e other = seeds from the Ga&aceae like the pigeon pea
("aanus caan), the cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), and the seeds from
several species of 'athyrus. &% sativum is an = plant, with a lifecycle
of one year. It is a = season crop grown in many parts of the world)
2B+
planting can take place from winter through to = summer depending
on location. "he = pea weighs &etween -.2 and -.BE grams.
,. nscram&le the modifiers &elow, in order to get a meaningful te*t.
"hen put the te*t into Homanian.
"he (company( food) e*ecutive whose (bright( incredibly) idea put
(cold( left-over) turkey on a (aluminum( small) tray and called it a I"#
dinner,J was honoured in 7ollywood "uesday as part of the D,th
anniversary of !wansonKs (frozen( original) meal. Lutside %annKs
/hinese "heater, (old( year( ))) 5erry "homas placed his handprints
in a &lock of cement, along with an imprint of the !wanson &randKs
(classic( compartment( dinner( three) tray. "he cement sla& will go on
display at !wansonKs corporate headquarters outside 8hiladelphia.
!wanson, which is now part of /amp&ell !oup /ompany, ranks
fourth in (food( frozen( the) market, &ehind Mestle. 6ut for the "#
dinner anniversary, !wanson plans to launch (&rand, 2-, new)
products. "he company will again use the term, I"# dinner,J on its
packaging, and plans a nationwide sweepstakes.
E. 8rovide an alternative sentence containing the ver& wish, as in the
model.
* don+t know your grandmother% , * wish * knew your grandmother%
- Andrew regrets that he didnKt work harder when he was a
student in our university.
- 7e always cooks very spicy foods and I do not like it at all.
- I donKt like the fact that I have to go to study in the .!.
- IKd &e happy if I could give you the money you need in order to
open your own restaurant.
- 8lease, donKt change your mind a&out coming to dinner.
- "hey didnKt leave their address &efore leaving.
- nfortunately, I cannot cook ela&orate meals, so I cannot
impress my in-laws when they come to visit.
- Nhy didnKt you tell me a&out your pro&lemC I could have
helped you.
- Oou keep telling me what to do, even in the kitchenP
2BB
F. !tate your opinion on "# dinners. $o you think they are healthyC
Nhy do you think people choose themC Nhat a&out eating in front of
the "#C
$et%s $au"h&
7ow to cook a "# $innerC Oou must first remove the plastic cover. 6y
doing so you agree to accept and honour %icrosoft rights to all "#
dinners. Oou may not give anyone else a &ite of your dinner (which
would constitute an infringement of %icrosoftKs rights). Oou may,
however, let others smell and look at your dinner and are encouraged
to tell them how good it is. If you have a 8/ microwave oven, insert
the dinner into the oven. !et the oven using these keystrokes(
Qmstv.dinn.;;-1.,minRR,-Sheat;; "hen enter(
ms;;start.cookTdindin;yummyQU;yumVyum(-)gohotWcookme. If you
have a %ac oven, insert the dinner and press start. "he oven will set
itself and cook the dinner. If you have a ni* oven, insert the dinner,
enter the ingredients of the dinner (found on the package la&el), the
weight of the dinner, and the desired level of cooking and press start.
"he oven will calculate the time and heat and cook the dinner e*actly
to your specification. 6e forewarned that %icrosoft dinners may crash,
in which case your oven must &e restarted. "his is a simple
procedure. Hemove the dinner from the oven and enter(
ms.no.good;tryagainQagain;again.crap. "his process may have to &e
repeated. "ry unplugging the microwave and then doing a cold
re&oot. If this doesnKt work, contact your hardware vendor. %any
users have reported that the dinner tray is far too &ig, larger than the
dinner itself, having many useless compartments, most of which are
empty. "hese are for future menu items. If the tray is too large to fit in
your oven you will need to upgrade your equipment. $inners are only
availa&le from registered outlets, and only the chicken variety is
currently produced. If you want another variety, call %icrosoft7elp
and they will e*plain that you really donKt want another variety.
%icrosoft /hicken is all you really need. %icrosoft has disclosed plans
to discontinue all smaller versions of their chicken dinners. Guture
releases will only &e in the larger family size. '*cess chicken may &e
stored for future use, &ut must &e saved only in %icrosoft approved
packaging. %icrosoft promises a dessert with every dinner after X01.
7owever, that version has yet to &e released. sers have permission
to get thrilled in advance. %icrosoft dinners may &e incompati&le with
2BD
other dinners in the freezer, causing your freezer to self-defrost. "his
is a feature, not a &ug. Oour freezer pro&a&ly should have &een
defrosted anyway.
2B,