TBT…

Things kids today don’t know…

And how many of us remember these??? I don’t think my mother EVER bought the Chinese one, but I’m pretty sure I had the other three… sigh…

Brings back memories, including the heartburn suffered from those nasty things… LOL

Comments

TBT… — 31 Comments

  1. We always asked for those TV dinners… Then mom brought some home once, and we never could look at the commercials again. Oh, they were nasty.

    • We cheered when we got them.

      My mother’s cooking… one of the best parts about moving out on my own was that I never had to eat “just like Mom made!” again…

  2. I recall us having the frozen dinners a couple of times, but I don’t remember the taste, and since I don’t remember the taste that must tell me they weren’t great or terrible.
    I guess they were MREFS. (Meals Ready to Eat Frozen Style)

    Kids today don’t know what that the background mechanical noise heard on radio news broadcasts was the sound of a teletype machine.

    I’m sure that mentioning “Linotype” will bring a blank stare.

    I wonder how many auto mechanics have never set the gap on points, or turned the distributor to set the timing.

    (OMG I’m old!) 🙂

    • > Linotype

      It’s the mythical metal old-timers cast bullets out of…

  3. Oooo, TeeVee Dinners – yum ! Plastic peas and carrots, watery mashed potatoes and Salsbury Hockeypucks, covered in 40w gravy …

    Hey Mom, how about we go to Mr. Q instead ?

  4. For about the last decade, we’ve been teaching the communication priority:

    0. Courier.
    1. The human standing right there with you.
    2. The human calling on the phone or shiny box.
    3. A text, voice, or video message on the shiny box.
    4. Email
    5. Paper mail

    Amazing, that I had to politely explain once to my division chief that our conversation in person took priority over a phone call (not critical) that went to voice mail. Used that same example to explain to youngsters. Tech is at the point where phone or now defunct telegram are not expensive means to send urgent messages, that need to be answered or read first.

    Can you imagine the chaos if some disgruntled line workers would have switched tanks, and made random combination trays? Perhaps it would have tasted better.

  5. Let’s see now. Shall I have a Swanson’s International Frozen Dinner or shall I have some C-rations. Hmmm… Pass me the ham and MFers.

  6. As human beings, we are meant to communicate face-to-face, my mouth to your ear and vice-versa. Anything else loses elements of the entire communication process. No delays, eye contact, facial expression, body language, tone, volume, inflection, the actual words used, context, etc. That is why a simple typed text or email is easily misconstrued and can turn into an ugly exchange. It is also why I shun social media.
    In the fire service, we depend heavily on radio communication, and make no mistake….lives are on the line. Each communication contains four basic parts:
    1). Who are you calling? (usually a unit or call sign)
    2). Who are you? (usually a unit or call sign)
    3). The message content
    4). Acknowledgement of the content or a request to “say again” (to those of us that were US Army Signal Corps, we know you never say “REPEAT”. That was ONLY for artillery fire control to repeat the last barrage to the last coordinates. Errant use of that word could get people killed. Old habit.)

    Example: “County Dispatch, this is Engine 192, we are the on scene of a two-car MVA, appears minor, will advise.”
    “Engine 192 on scene, reporting a minor two-car MVA, will advise.”

    If an urgent or more detailed message is required, then the format changes slightly:
    “County Dispatch from Engine 192.” [pause for acknowledgement]
    “Engine 192 County Dispatch is on.”
    “County Dispatch from Engine 192, be advised we are the on scene of a two-car MVA, heavy vehicle damage with entrapment, pole and wires down. Send utilities on Priority 1, start a second ambulance to the scene, and check on the availability of a medevac helicopter.”
    [Confirmation from Dispatch]”Engine 192 is are the on scene of a two-car MVA, heavy vehicle damage with entrapment, pole and wires down. Sending utilities on Priority 1, starting a second ambulance to the scene, and checking on the availability of a medevac helicopter. We will get back to you with helicopter availability, standby.”

    Using this format ensures there is no doubt what the situation is and what is required to mitigate it. While emergency services are different than social interactions, it is an example of clarity.

    • > meant to communicate face-to-face,

      And it can backfire horribly.

      I look in the mirror and see an ordinary schmuck, but apparently I have the kind of face people love to hate. I can walk into a room and see complete strangers start to bristle like they just spotted Mr. T at a Klan meeting.

      Pheromones? Body language? Who knows…

  7. To the best of my recollection, my brother and I lobbied long and hard for those fancy TV dinners that someone made look so enticing on the TV commercials – and again to the best of my recollection through the long mists of time – it was a One and Done event.
    I still open every new book that I get that way. Mom taught me that one.

  8. I still open new books that way, on the rare occasion of actually obtaining one. Swanson dinners were … well, as described above. The Hungry Man dinners were the first ones I sort of liked, but it’s instructive to realize how long it’s been since I had one (more than 30 years).

    Telephone instruction (slightly modified for cell phone use) is still necessary. Neither daughter quite got how to properly answer one until they went to work.

  9. When I became old enough to use a telephone, in our small town, phones didn’t have dials. We were taught to pick up the handset, wait for the operator to say “Number please” and give the number usually using the exchange name rather than the all numeric number, i.e. Cedar-2-5555. Dial phones came a few years later and were an endless source of fascination until the new wore off.

  10. All- Glad I’m NOT the only one that didn’t care for those plastic dinners… Captain- VERY true!

    Posted from my iPhone.

  11. The TV dinners didn’t bother me, I have a Waffle House stomach. And back in the day, the only IM we had was if they answered the phone on the first ring.

  12. Well. Swanson TV dinners were a welcome respite from my mother’s cooking–I loved the little desserts in the middle. And it was a special day when we got the Chung King Chinese dinners from the can, with an extra can of water chestnuts.

  13. Ummm, I kinda liked the turkey dinner, and the Mexican-ish dinner.

    Then again, I get joy from a mustard sandwich. Mustard, a piece of bread, maybe some onions, but plain mustard is fine.

    And I like Ramen, chicken or beef, with an egg mixed into the water and maybe some mixed veggies for texture.

    I also like highly complex dinners and stuff, so…

    Weird I am.

    But I draw the line at deviled ham. Blech!!!!

  14. Dad worked at the local Air Patch, so answering the phone we used this script, “John Q. Public residence, ‘whichever child’ speaking.”

    Lord help you if you didn’t open a book the correct way or misused one.

    Frozen dinners did not happen at our house. You can feed more people for less, cooking from scratch. The closest we got to frozen dinners was a trip to Micky Dee’s when Dad was out bird hunting. I didn’t have Mexican, Chinese or Italian until I was in high school.

  15. Only the Mexican one. And no microwave, so done in the oven. Sometimes with Pepperridge Farm turnovers (if we had behaved, which wasn’t really all that often).

  16. I think I snorted when I giggled over this and I have a big fat smile. Then, when I really think about it, it is sad. They have no idea what they have missed.

  17. The “German Style Dinner” doesn’t LOOK too bad. It looks like sauerbraten, spaetzle, and red cabbage, which is a good combo. I have no idea how it actually tasted, though – by the time I encountered TV dinners, they came in plastic trays and you microwaved them. On average, they were mediocre, the fried anything was never crispy, but I loved the brownie that used to come with Salisbury steak.

    • The amazing part was how even in a conventional oven, something could be underdone inside and yet charred on the surface. It a long time for me to consider au gratin potatoes as anything other than “Awg! Rotten potatoes!”

  18. CP- LOL

    Jonna- THAT is sad…

    Beans- You ain’t right… 🙂

    Judy- Good point!

    BP- Yeah, that one was ‘marginally’ edible…

    Fargo- And they’re better off for it!!! LOL

    TOS- You’re lucky.

  19. A “book” can be many things.
    Shown… how to gently break in a CODEX.
    Odd that I didn’t know what one was until fairly recently.

  20. Does anyone teach their daughters to “walk like a lady” – with a book balanced on their heads and two others clasped under the armpits?

  21. Man, as a child of the 80’s, we were regularly fed mac & cheese out of a box. Those nasty looking things make Kraft seem like Michelin rated chow.

    Still love me some mac&cheese. Shred some smoked boston butt on there and you’ve got comfort food comma.