Remember Lunch Bucket? The Hearty '80s Meal That Promised Dinner In 90 Seconds

In the 1980s, microwaves had become a vital part of the American kitchen. With more women in the workforce than ever before, families needed a fast and easy way to make meals, and the microwave was one solution. It became a food trend in the 1980s, like margarine and sun-dried tomatoes. In the mid-1980s, 25% of U.S. households had a microwave, and by the decade's end, that number rose to 90%. Food companies honed in on this, releasing an array of quick-cooking dishes — in 1987 alone, they introduced more than 500 different microwavable foods — and they kept on coming. One of these products was a now-forgotten one-dish meal called Lunch Bucket, and it had some fairly unique attributes, mostly related to its packaging.

It took the Dial Corporation two years to perfect a heat-and-serve container for its line of 15 soups and entrees, from beef stew to lasagna to chicken noodle soup. The line was shelf-stable and could last for up to two years before being popped into the microwave and ready to eat in 90 seconds. It was a pretty hefty meal too, weighing in at half a pound, and each cost a little more than a dollar. Even so, the commercials tried to make it seem like these were high-end meals.

The Dial Corporation's packaging for the Lunch Bucket line was fairly innovative, earning several awards for its design. It was made from seven layers of plastic that wouldn't melt in the microwave and sealed with an aluminum lid that you'd pull off before cooking. It also had a plastic lid with venting holes and featured a foam wrapper that kept the package cool enough on the outside to grab without burning your hand.

Maybe it was the fact that the company spent such time and effort on its packaging, or just a marketing ploy to make the meals seem as fancy as another forgotten dinner option from the '80s, Swanson's Le Menu frozen dinners, but for whatever reason, Dial hyped Lunch Buckets as being upscale. The brand released a series of commercials that featured an English butler convincing diners to forgo their cold sandwiches for a "proper hot lunch" and then pulling out a white tablecloth and candelabra.

In 1987, Sacramento, California, became the test market for Lunch Bucket meals, and soon these microwaveable dishes began appearing on grocery shelves nationwide. The instant meal continued being sold under the Armour name until at least 2004. However, today, it's just another vintage '80s food trend, like that decade's cottage cheese diet, that has faded from the public's collective memory.