Single Serve Entrées and Packaging Sleeve
New Consumer Habits Following Fast-Paced Life Style
People’s living style has shifted a lot with the fast-moving modern society where most of us find ourselves trapped in time and schedule commuting from places including home, office, and traffic stations. Grabbing a quick bite, no matter for breakfast, lunch or even dinner can sometimes turn out to be a luxury: every minute matters.
The introduction of single-serve entrees (sometimes referred to also as ready-to-eat meals, single-serve portioned meals or prepared meals) is the proof of the fact that food processing and manufacturing companies know what people want: less time consumed to pig themselves out.
The ultimate form of such ideas is basically those ready-to-eat meals stored on the refrigerator shelf which are available for immediate consumption by tearing the plastic lids, or those microwavable single portioned meals loaded in plastic trays, pots or tubs and then wrapped by a cardboard sleeve that we usually bump into in the supermarket.
Microwavable Single-Serve Entree by Ambrosia
The Packaging of Single-Serve and Portioned Meals
The food packaging process of ready meals follows a known practice: from thermoforming to sealing, and then carton sleeve wrapping usually as the secondary packaging.
The thermoformed containers, usually rigid trays, can vary in materials among which there might be:
- Polypropylene (PP): which withstands a high temperature of up to 125°C and usually are used to form microwavable safe trays and other forms of containers.
- Polyethylene Terephthalate(PETE): PETE, on the contrary, is the common material for containers used in low-temperature and cold packaging, for example, ready-to-eat salads, microwavable frozen pizza, and so on.
The plastic lid is then to cover the formed containers, with which the primary packaging of the single-serve entrees is done.
Carton Sleeve as the Secondary Packaging to Provide the Surface for Ads. Display
The sealed container of the single-portioned meal, usually a tray, is then wrapped by a piece of cardboard sleeve with two horizontal ends open. This is for either the ease of pulling out the meal for consumption or for paper and printing materials saving. And thanks to the features that sleeve offers a wide range of customization, carton sleeve packaging usually comes in various forms of styles and shapes:
- Complete wrap-around
- Strap sleeve
- Sleeve with additional base
- And for the round containers, sleeves with rims
- …
Advanced Sleeve Packaging Machine for Single-Serve Entrees
Food packaging faces regulations that require equipment and machinery installed and used in a food processing facility should be in compliance with safe serving standards.
We bear these in mind and build our sleeve packaging machine with hygiene and robust stainless steel structure that come in compliance with the food safe-serving standards. Further, ELITER Packaging Machinery offers the unique option to get our packaging machines made washdown to IP65.
To find more information about our ready meals packaging solutions:
Sleeve Packaging Machine for Ready Meals | ÉLITER Packaging Machinery
