When it comes to food there is still dishes I dream of that we can no, longer get. One of those dishes in a Frozen TV Dinner which was Patio Mexican Dinners. Now I have a question for you. Do you remember Patio Mexican TV dinners?
Because if you do, then you probably already know where I’m going with today’s post for Foods We Remember which also ties into Taco Tuesday creating a duel series post which is nice.
.Before I share more about Patio TV Dinners I wanted to let you know this isn’t really a post about a frozen dinner. It’s about one of those foods from childhood that somehow became more than food.
These TV dinners became comfort and it helped me through some of the toughest times in my life. It became an easy dinner. It became something I could count on and I did count on it many times which for me was a Patio Mexican TV dinner.
When I was a child, my favorite was the one with the mini tacos Spanish Rice I wish I could make and Refried Beans. Oh, how I loved those little tacos I wish I had the opportunity for Charlie to have tried them.
For me there was something about opening that box and knowing exactly what was waiting for me. You had your little compartments, your Mexican-inspired dinner, and that wonderful feeling that dinner was going to be easy.
And then, somewhere along the way, Patio stopped making my beloved mini-taco dinner. I had to evolve. And evolve I did. I eventually found my new Patio favorite: the beef enchilada dinner.
Not the cheese enchilada. Nope. I was a beef enchilada girl. Beef enchilada all the way, all the time. And I still remember those dinners. The enchilada, the rice, the beans—and then I would add just a little bit of butter to my rice and beans and Cheese which more times than not was a slice or Kraft American Cheese because it was what we had.
Apparently, even as a child I knew exactly how I wanted my comfort food. And here’s the thing about those Patio dinners. They weren’t supposed to be fancy. They weren’t restaurant food. They weren’t trying to be gourmet food. They were a frozen dinner. But sometimes a frozen dinner can become part of your family story.
For those #homeschooling with Back-to-School around the corner I thought they could study the history of Patio TV Dinners which was created by Patio Foods who actually has a pretty fascinating history.
The company was founded in San Antonio in 1946 by Louis H. Stumberg and his family. The idea grew out of the popularity of Mexican food among military trainees in San Antonio, and Patio became a pioneer in freezing Mexican foods so people could enjoy them outside the Southwest.
Patio started with foods such as frozen tamales and chili and eventually moved into frozen Mexican dinners. By the 1960s, those dinners were part of the growing frozen-food world that had been transformed by the popularity of TV dinners. And that’s part of what makes these old dinners so interesting.
I don’t know about you but I would like to try there Tamale and Chili and I’m sure David would to because just like me he loves Tamales. As for Chili he eats it but it isn’t his favorite food but it is mine and I would eat it 24/7 365 days of the year if I could. What about you?
The original TV-dinner era was built around compartmentalized meals in trays. The Library of Congress notes that frozen dinners in aluminum trays became commercially popular in the early 1950s, helping establish the familiar TV-dinner format.
So when we remember those old Patio dinners, we’re remembering more than a box in the freezer. We’re remembering an entire era of American food. A time when you could come home, pull a frozen dinner out of the freezer, put it on your TV tray, turn on the television and have dinner without anybody having to spend an hour in the kitchen.
And those Patio dinners became especially memorable because they brought something different to the freezer aisle. Mexican food. Today, you can walk into almost any grocery store and find frozen enchiladas, burritos, tacos and Mexican-style meals.
But back then, Patio was doing something special. It helped introduce frozen Mexican food to people who might never have had anything like it at home. And yes, I know what you’re thinking.
“Those dinners weren’t exactly authentic Mexican food.” You’re probably right. But that’s not really the point. They were Patio TV Dinners. And if you grew up eating them, you knew exactly what they tasted like.
The enchilada wasn’t too spicy. The rice and beans were familiar. The whole dinner was mild enough that even children could eat it. And that’s one of the things I remember most. It wasn’t too hot. It wasn’t too complicated. It was just something I could eat.
And if I remember correctly, my little Patio dinner could go into the microwave for about seven minutes that is after they moved from the tin trays they originally used for there tv dinners.
Of course, microwave cooking times varied depending on the microwave and the particular package, so I’m sure some families remember cooking theirs differently. But I remember those seven minutes.
Seven minutes wasn’t a long time. Seven minutes meant that if I was hungry, tired, having a bad day—or simply didn’t feel like figuring out what I wanted to eat—I could go to the freezer and find my answer.
And honestly? There were times when that little frozen dinner could make everything feel better. No matter how bad I felt. No matter what time of day it was. No matter what kind of day I had been having.
If I could go grab one of those Patio Mexican dinners, put it in the microwave and sit down with it, I knew my day was probably going to get a little better. That’s what food memories do. They don’t always make sense to somebody else.
Someone else might look at an old frozen dinner and say, “Why in the world would you miss that?” But I understand. Because I’m not really missing the frozen enchilada. I’m missing the little girl who loved those mini tacos.
I’m remembering the girl who eventually switched to the beef enchilada dinner when the mini tacos disappeared. I’m remembering the rice and beans with that little bit of butter and Cheese which reminded me of Pancho’s without leaving the house..
I’m remembering the television. I’m remembering the simplicity of dinner. And I’m remembering a time when seven minutes in the microwave could feel like a little bit of magic.
I’ve looked in the frozen food aisles today, and yes, there are Mexican TV dinners. There are enchiladas but most of them are spicy so I can’t have them. There are burritos. There are Mexican-style frozen meals.
But none of them are Patio. And none of them have replaced it for me. That’s the strange thing about discontinued foods. Sometimes the company changes the recipe. Sometimes the packaging changes. Sometimes a favorite variety disappears. Sometimes the entire product disappears.
And sometimes you can find something that looks almost exactly like it—but it still isn’t the same. Because you aren’t really tasting the food. You’re tasting the memory and for me nothing can replace my memories of that tv dinner.
Patio eventually passed through several corporate owners over the years. The brand was sold to R.J. Reynolds in 1967, later became part of the Del Monte food business, and eventually moved to ConAgra after its acquisition of Del Monte.
Patio products continued in various forms for decades, although the old frozen dinner line that so many people remember is no longer what it once was. And that is why I wanted to talk about Patio today. Because Tuesday is Taco Tuesday, and sometimes Taco Tuesday isn’t about going out for tacos.
Sometimes it is about remembering the tacos you used to eat. The little mini tacos in a Patio TV Dinner box. The beef enchilada that became my favorite. The rice and beans. The little pat of butter. Cheese sometimes. The microwave. The TV tray. And that wonderful feeling of knowing that dinner was going to be okay.
I wish I could walk into a grocery store today and find that old Patio beef enchilada dinner waiting for me in the freezer. I’d probably buy more than one. And if they brought back the mini tacos?
Well, let’s just say I might have to go back and find out if they taste as good as I remember. Although I’m pretty sure they would. Because sometimes the best part of an old favorite isn’t what’s inside the box.
It’s everything that comes rushing back when you see the box again. So tell me—what discontinued frozen dinner do YOU still miss? Was it Patio? And if it was, were you a mini-taco person, a beef-enchilada person, or something completely different?
I’d love to hear what you remember. Because around here, we’re not just remembering food. We’re remembering the people, places, and moments that came with it. And sometimes, that’s the best part of the day.
Grateful, Thankful, Blessed.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates