Craigs Turkey Dinner in a Can – The Strange History of Thanksgiving Meals in Cans

Canned and preserved foods have been around for centuries, allowing foods to be kept for long periods of time without spoiling. While canned foods like soups, vegetables, and fruits are commonplace today, there have been some more unusual canned food products throughout history – including entire Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners packed neatly into a can!

One of the earliest examples of a full holiday meal in a can dates back to 1895 when the F.A. Walker Company of Chicago, Illinois began producing mince meat in cans as an early convenience food. By 1899 they expanded their canned food offerings to include a Plum Pudding canned dessert perfect for Christmas dinner.

The Origins of Canned Turkey Dinners

The idea of canning entire holiday meals really took off by the 1950s, when consumerism and convenience foods were on the rise In 1953, the Reynolds Metals Company partnered with Swanson to create the first frozen TV dinner, meant to be heated and served on the newly popular medium of television

On the canned food front, Wolfgang’s Turkey Dinner in a Can hit shelves in 1950. This early turkey dinner featured sliced white and dark turkey meat accompanied by corn bread dressing, gravy, cranberries, and pecan pie.

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, various companies like Swift Premium and HoneyBaked Ham joined the market, releasing their own canned holiday meals. However, one of the most infamous and bizarre canned meat products emerged in 1976 – the Craigs Turkey Dinner in a Can.

The Strange Saga of Craigs Turkey Dinner

The Craigs Turkey Dinner was the creation of Minnesota-based Craigs, Inc. According to vintage advertisements, it contained an entire boneless turkey dinner layered neatly in a 3-pound can. The menu featured sliced turkey, cornbread stuffing, creamy turkey gravy, candied sweet potatoes, buttered peas, and cranberry sauce.

Perhaps even stranger – the cans actually included heating instructions, advertising that you could enjoy a hot turkey dinner straight from the can! All you had to do was remove the paper label, place the unopened can in boiling water for 45 minutes to an hour, open carefully, and serve.

Not surprisingly, reactions to the Craigs Turkey Dinner were generally negative. Many found the idea unappetizing and disturbing, nicknaming it “the trash can turkey.” When opened, the mushy medley of wet turkey and vegetables crammed into the can also left much to be desired.

Despite the backlash, Craigs Turkey Dinner in a Can remained on shelves through the early 1980s. After Craigs, Inc went out of business, the product was briefly produced by Derby Meat Products until it was finally discontinued in the late 1980s.

Modern Thanksgiving Meals in a Can

While not as popular as its mid-century predecessors, some canned Thanksgiving dinners are still produced today.

In 2015, Spam creator Hormel Foods introduced their Canned Pork and Turkey Feast. This slimy mixture of cubed ham, diced turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and gelatin gravy raised some eyebrows but was not nearly as shocking as earlier canned meals.

Across the pond in the UK, British retailer GAME has sold a Christmas Tinner annually since 2016. This nine-layer canned dinner includes scrambled eggs, mince pies, turkey, potatoes, gravy, Brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, and Christmas pudding.

While not as omnipresent as in their heyday, some nostalgic consumers and curious foodies still seek out and try these vintage-style canned holiday dinners. However, for most people today, the idea of an entire Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner in can seems bizarre and unappetizing.

Why Canned Turkey Dinners Were Created

Looking back, it may seem baffling why anyone ever thought a wet, tinned turkey dinner was a good idea. However, these products emerged at a time when convenience foods were a novelty, and brands were constantly looking for new ways to revolutionize home cooking.

Canned and processed foods helped introduce timesaving shortcuts to households, promising home-cooked meals with minimal effort. Turkey dinners in a can took this convenience a step further, condensing an entire holiday feast into one simple product.

For women who had historically slaved away in the kitchen preparing elaborate turkey dinners, canned meals offered liberation from cooking and opened up more time to spend with family.

The Decline of Canned Holiday Meals

While novel at first, canned holiday dinners were always controversial. By the 1970s and 80s, as more Americans became concerned about dietary health and artificial or overly processed foods, the popularity of these canned meals steadily declined.

Canned and frozen holiday dinners are still available from some specialty food brands. But for most people today, the benefits of convenience no longer outweigh the unappetizing idea of serving a wet, tinned turkey.

From lavish feasts to TV dinners, Thanksgiving dinner traditions have certainly evolved over time. But despite some brief anomalies like Craigs Turkey Dinner, home-cooked meals shared with family remain the ideal for celebrating the holidays.

So this Thanksgiving, you may want to stick to roasting a fresh turkey alongside some homemade sides. But next time you sit down to carve your bird, spare a thought for those resourceful homemakers of the 1950s, who traded hours in the kitchen for revolutionary new canned dinners.