I thought it would be helpful to in the early stages of this adventure set some guidelines for ratings and determining what is actually a TV dinner. My ratings essentially is a measure of how well does this diner meet expectations. Hence, the experience you expect from a TV dinner in general will receive an average, 70%, rating. An above average rating will be a dinner that meets or exceeds some expectations and dinner reaching the 90% plus range will have to exceed all expectations. It’s hard to quantify my personal expectations, but hopefully this guide will help.
Rating, Points | Criteria |
100-93 | If this was served to you on a plate you might have suspected it came in TV Dinner form, but are not totally certain. “Must Try” to “Highly recommended” |
92-83 | Highly Recommended. |
82-70 | This is the TV dinner that probably pops into your head when imagining one. Recommended. |
69-59 | Recommended with hesitations. |
58-0 | “Recommended with hesitations” all the way to “Do not eat, ever” |
As far as what is a TV diner and what is not a TV dinner is concerned and my reviewing standards, I have arranged a bulleted list.
- The dinner must be cooked in the microwave
- The dinner itself must give the impression that it alone is all you need to have a satisfying dinner for one.
- Nothing may be added to the dinner to make it more palatable before and during consumption. No salt, butter, sour cream etc.
- It must be self-contained. So things like adding your own water to the dish in order to cook it is strictly forbidden.
- The meals should come in some sort of plastic or cardboard tray. It may or may not have a divider.
- Things that are strictly forbidden from being a TV dinner include, pizza, Hot-Pockets, meals in bags, and breakfast items. Frozen Pizzas and hot –pocket like devices should really have their own websites. Comparing frozen pizzas to TV dinners and most other things that are strictly forbidden above is an apples to oranges sort of comparison in my mind.