Ready steady go! The simple solution for ready meal and convenience food packaging
Last year, UK sales of ready meals were reported to have risen by 11.5%². As well as offering convenience to time poor consumers, microwaveable ready meals require very little domestic energy so the archetypal TV dinner looks set to remain on shopping lists for some time.
In addition, the trend for different types of convenience meals has also risen rapidly over the past decade. Meal preparation kits appeal to people who may not have time to cook from scratch, but still want to prepare most of the meal themselves. While international streetfood for food-on-the-go options such as burritos are hitting the shelves with new product introductions.
Extensive research and development goes into perfecting convenience and this includes the packaging. Although consumers may recognise the obvious advantages of easy open, resealable and ovenable features, they are often unaware that flexible film is also essential to maintaining optimal food quality and a consistent taste.
Let’s look at what’s important to brand owners – how flexible packaging contributes to a great consumer experience?
Advantages of flexible films for convenience and ready meal applications
- Quality & Safety – different flexible film materials have barrier properties and physical strengths that prevent contamination, protect against damage and prolong freshness.
- Versatility – flexible film is suitable for a wide range of applications including lidding for ready meals and flow wrap for convenience foods like burritos. Different properties such as high transparency, anti-fog and temperature resistance make it versatile for storing food in ambient, frozen or chilled environments.
- Visual impact – the variety of materials, print finishes and colours that can be used for your flexible packaging will make it stand out, adding visual appeal to on-pack images of food. Films are available in clear, white, matt and metallised options for high quality flexo printing and there is also the option of ovenable inks.
- Taste – barrier films help maintain a consistent environment that protects food from migration of flavours or aromas. This ensures that your ready meals and convenience foods reach the consumer as you intended with excellent taste throughout.
- Convenience – re-sealable, microwaveable and ovenable packaging for quick and easy meal preparation. Peelable film is also safer for accessing and removing hot contents after cooking. Value can be added to packaging films through finishing processes such as lamination, for strength or on-shelf appeal, and hot needle perforation which lets steam out during cooking for ovenable and microwaveable meals. These features all enhance the consumer experience.
Polyester PET film – the perfect choice for convenience and ready meal lidding applications
PET (polyethylene terephthalate) peelable films are ideal for microwaveable and ovenable products due to their high temperature resistance, gas barrier properties, seal strength and easy opening features. They can also be stored at ambient, chilled or frozen temperatures. Our range of peelable films are suitable for APet, CPet, PP, PE, cardboard and pulp lined trays. View our range of PET films here.
Hot-fill packaging for convenience meals
Meal kits typically now come with additional sachets of dressings, seasonings and sauces. All of these can be hot-filled to ensure a long shelf life without the need for preservatives. During transportation, these meal kits can experience a change in temperature and environment so selecting flexible packaging that will protect them is important.
PET and CPP are ideal film types for hot-fill applications as they are both robust and can withstand high temperatures. It’s always best to talk to an expert about the type of application and style of packaging you are looking for. Contact us today to find a solution that’s right for you.
