A microwave meal (also referred to as a frozen dinner or a T.V. dinner, because it is often eaten while watching TV) is a prepackaged, frozen meal which usually comes packaged in a flat cardboard box.
They are typically purchased at a supermarket and stored in the freezer for later use. When it is time to prepare them, the plastic cover is removed or vented, and the meal is heated in the microwave oven for a few minutes, after which a fully prepared meal is ready— one requiring minimal effort to prepare. They are the ultimate in convenience, but they can be more expensive than preparing food from scratch. They are also less nutritious than fresh food, since they are usually heavily processed, and are formulated to remain edible after long periods of storage, thus often requiring additives such as BHT.
Before the proliferation of microwave ovens, TV dinners were packaged in aluminum trays and heated in conventional ovens.
