Favorite Food-Packaging Innovations

[GordonCooks]

Ice Cream in convenient, single serving half-gallons

[g.johnson]

Anyone think how much paper is saved by producing circular, instead of square, tea-bags?

My bet is none. You could only save paper with a close-packing arrangement on huge sheets of paper.

It was a serious question, wasn't it?

[Wilfrid]

Yes it was. I think the round ones have a smaller surface area. Only marginally smaller, but I presume they are making millions of 'em. Please perform a laboratory experiment to see if I'm right.

[Rhea_S]

Tomato paste in a tube. I rarely use the stuff, and when I do, it's only in small amounts.

[g.johnson]

Yes it was.  I think the round ones have a smaller surface area.  Only marginally smaller, but I presume they are making millions of 'em.  Please perform a laboratory experiment to see if I'm right.

Unless they've found a way of making round paper, they'll be cut from a square sheet so total paper usage will be the same*. They might recycle the waste but I doubt it.

*Unless, as I mentioned above, they offset alternate rows by one radius when the circles will be 'close packed'. However, that increases wastage at the end of each row.

[Wilfrid]

Interestingly, even if they started off with a round sheet, there would still be wastage. Fascinating.

[g.johnson]

Not if the round sheet was exactly the size of the tea bag.

Edit: It's because of ideas like this that scientists are held in awe by ordinary mortals.

Edited March 26, 2003 by g.johnson (log)

[Wilfrid]

Aaaaahhhhaaaa. So that's how they do it (deferring to authority).

[pixelchef]

Anyone ever experience the frustration of Kraft cheese slices? Ya know how when you unwrap one, there is a thin little strip of cheese at the top that always tears off along with the wrapper? I HATED THAT! Apparently, their crack team of engineers has since rectified the situation. Good thing, because I was getting mighty pissed.

[fifi]

I adore Ziploc baggies. I use the freezer bags to store leftovers for the freezer. I tend to make lots of "pots of stuff". I have developed a technique for filling them with a portion, squeezing out all of the air, then freezing them flattened on a cookie sheet. You can stack them in freezer baskets like books. Saves a lot of space. And they are cheap if you buy them by the crate at Sam's. Long live Ziplocs! (No other brand need apply.)

Edited March 27, 2003 by fifi (log)

[Jaymes]

Cajeta in squeeze bottles. A revelation.

[bigbear]

Ice Cream in convenient, single serving half-gallons

Excellent.

[JAZ]

Tomato paste in a tube. I rarely use the stuff, and when I do, it's only in small amounts.

Yeah, I second that.

[kpurvis]

Tomato paste in a tube. I rarely use the stuff, and when I do, it's only in small amounts.

Yeah, I second that.

I'll third it, and raise you two:

Crisco in sticks!

Hershey's cocoa in the wide-mouth box! (Who ever came up with that stupid small opening that couldn't handle a tablespoon?)

[jeniac42]

It's discussions like the one about teabags that make me wonder if I shouldn't go back to my math major after all. (Or astronomy, whichever one I'm currently declared as.)

It's too early in the day for me to think of anything actually relevant that someone else hasn't already covered, though.

[Kerouac1964]

Anyone ever experience the frustration of Kraft cheese slices?  Ya know how when you unwrap one, there is a thin little strip of cheese at the top that always tears off along with the wrapper? 

You have to admit, though. The thin strips fit well over a hot dog.

[pixelchef]

Anyone ever experience the frustration of Kraft cheese slices?  Ya know how when you unwrap one, there is a thin little strip of cheese at the top that always tears off along with the wrapper? 

You have to admit, though. The thin strips fit well over a hot dog.

Damn, good point. I fold.

[Xanthippe]

Cajeta in squeeze bottles.  A revelation.

Jaymes, where??!? Do you think it's possible to find such a revelatory product here??

[Malawry]

I once bought some crackers that were packaged with a packet of silica gel. I think they were called Nut Crisps and they were hazelnut-rice crackers. They were pretty good, too, and we justified eating them quickly by surmising they'd go stale in an instant if they had to package them with silica gel.

I like Plugra butter partly 'cause it's un-user-friendly in its packaging. (I buy the 1lb foodservice bricks from Trader Joe's.) Now the sticks seem really weird to me.

As I think about this I realize how unintelligent most packaging is. Why aren't chips and pretzels sold in a bag with a vertical velcro strip for easy resealing? Why are there canned anchovies...does anybody eat a whole can at once? (I usually buy them jarred for this reason. And yes, I love anchovies.) Why are olive jars so slim?

[torakris]

The Japanese really lead the way in innovative packaging:

almost all condiments are in soft sqeeze bottle that can be stored upside down

all cans have pull tabs, no can openers are ever needed (tuna, canned tomatoes, beans, canned fishes, etc)

silica gel packs in everything!

ziploc type closures on items that are difficult to use all at once

unbelievably easy to open bags of snacks ,etc, no struggling and no scissors

[nightscotsman]

I agree, the Japanese are the current world champions when it comes to packaging. One of my favorites is the cellophane wrapping on individual onigiri sold in train stations and convenience stores - the wrap is dual-layered in such a way that the surrounding nori is kept separated from the rice. To open it you pull a tab that runs around the center of the package and slide to two halves apart, leaving you with a rice ball perfectly wrapped in crisp, non-soggy seaweed. Just brilliant.

Pictures of the packaging and how it unwraps here.

Edited March 28, 2003 by nightscotsman (log)

[Jaymes]

Cajeta in squeeze bottles.  A revelation.

Jaymes, where??!? Do you think it's possible to find such a revelatory product here??

First saw this in Mexico. Couldn't believe we didn't have them here. Cajeta is so messy to dig out. So, I zap the bottle in the microwave, but still.

So anyway, in a grocery store in Mexico and there it was, Coronado cajeta in squeeze bottles!

Our largest grocery stores here in Austin carry it - especially in the Hispanic areas.

You just turn it upside down over your ice cream, pound cake, whatever, and squeeze. Heaven awaits.

[foodie52]

Jaymes, shouldn't you be working??

I have the cutest package of 6 individual coconut icecream servings (Thai), each in its own ceramic mise-en-place size bowl. I kid you not. All of them in a convenient vacuum-packed plastic sleeve. Asian packaging wins hands down for cuteness. And I use the bowls....

[torakris]

I agree, the Japanese are the current world champions when it comes to packaging. One of my favorites is the cellophane wrapping on individual onigiri sold in train stations and convenience stores - the wrap is dual-layered in such a way that the surrounding nori is kept separated from the rice. To open it you pull a tab that runs around the center of the package and slide to two halves apart, leaving you with a rice ball perfectly wrapped in crisp, non-soggy seaweed. Just brilliant.

Pictures of the packaging and how it unwraps here.

not only convenience stores, but they have it for the home consumer as well:

nori in little plastic packages to wrap around your own onigiri

http://www.nagainori.co.jp/shouhin/onigiri...newrapnori.html

[fifi]

foodie 52... Where did you get those coconut ice cream things? I gotta have 'em.