Frozen Food Packaging

Discover frozen food packaging solutions from Emmerson Packaging, including stand-up pouches, SmartPack™, and MicroPack™ microwaveable packaging.

The frozen food industry is growing at record speed. Can your brand keep up?

Packaging is critical to the success of your brand. Presentation, shelf impact, consumer convenience, and cost-effectiveness are key. We have the most advanced tools in the industry to help you deliver the best quality products to your customers.

For manufacturers, there is nothing more important than making sure your frozen food packaging is produced on time and to your exact specifications. This means keeping your entire project running to deadlines, and avoiding critical errors that can derail projects and cause deadlines to be missed. These kinds of mistakes can be financially devastating for both established and emerging brands, leaving room for your competitors to move in on your shelf space and customer base.

We’ve been serving leading name brand and private label owners for over 60 years, and we’re dedicated to the high standards that SQF requires every step of the way. For more information about our industry-leading project management capabilities and on-time guarantee, see our Project Solutions page.

What’s On This Page:

Trends In Frozen Food Packaging
Frozen Food Packaging Options
High Impact Designs for Frozen Food Packaging
High Quality Packaging = The Freshest Frozen Food
Sustainable Frozen Food Packaging
Read More On Our Blog

Trends In Frozen Food Packaging

Frozen food has been a staple on North American grocery lists since the mid-20th century. It’s a convenient, cost-effective way for consumers to enjoy healthy meals with ease. Today’s families enjoy more healthy and active lifestyles, so it’s no surprise that they are turning to convenient frozen food options more often. This trend is cited as a driving factor behind the growth of the frozen food industry, which is expected to grow to $329.4 billion by 2022.

Consumers are also switching to frozen food to reduce the amount of waste they create, as a study in the British Food Journal showed that families reduced their food waste by over 47% by switching to frozen food.

Frozen foods are well-positioned to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. As stated, they generate almost 50% less waste when compared to fresh foods consumed in the home as they take much longer to spoil. Offering sustainable packaging for frozen food is another way to attract the growing majority of consumers who name sustainability as a driver behind their food-purchasing habits.

Over the next five years, the global frozen food market is expected to experience a Compound Annual Growth Rate of almost 5%. With such a great opportunity to capture new customers, frozen food manufacturers must choose exceptional packaging to stand out in an already crowded freezer section.

We’ve identified several trends that will prove to have staying power. First, stand-up-pouches have increased in popularity over the last number of years. This format is especially popular with frozen food manufacturers because they don’t just stand up—they stand out! They’re lighter than traditional bottles and cans, cost less to produce, are easier to ship, and are more environmentally friendly.

Consumer trust is a huge hurdle for frozen food manufacturers to overcome. A 2017 Mintel study noted “Widespread distrust has increased the need for food and drink manufacturers to be forthcoming about their ingredients, production processes, and supply chains.”

A heightened awareness of food recalls thanks to widely accessible global media adds fuel to the fire that is consumer distrust of food producers. Farm-to-table transparency is something families now look for. For frozen food manufacturers, this means increased accountability and disclosure of more specific process details—where food comes from, how it’s processed, and how it’s packaged. Crystal-clear printing and high-quality packaging are a must to gain and maintain consumer trust.

A common misconception with frozen food and ready-made meals is that they lack the same quality that fresh foods offer. Backed by research and innovation, frozen food manufacturers are working to combat this misconception by conveying the message that frozen food options are indeed fresh, nutritious, and healthy. Frozen food packaging represents the best opportunity to deliver this message to the consumer, using premium-quality films, tactile closures, vibrant graphics, and convenience features.

Finally, sustainable packaging is nothing new to some consumers, but all research suggests that this is a movement that’s only gaining momentum. Almost all frozen food manufacturers are taking steps to reduce their environmental footprint, and consumers are noticing.

Frozen Food Packaging Options

In most cases, consumers choose lower cost options—but when buying frozen food, convenience reigns supreme. According to a recent Deloitte study, 45% of consumers chose a product primarily because it simplified preparation and, within this group, 35% purchased a product because the packaging was more convenient.

When you think of the most convenient preparation method, the microwave almost always comes to mind. Microwaveable food packaging isn’t a new concept, but consistent innovations have kept it on the cutting edge of packaging technology. Consumers are interested in reducing meal-prep time, and microwaveable packaging for frozen foods makes this possible.

Emmerson Packaging’s MicroPack™ microwaveable packaging allows consumers to steam frozen vegetables quickly and safely without removing them from the package. MicroPack™ is ideal for almost all frozen food products that need to be heated.

Health-conscious consumers can enjoy nutrient-rich meals in minutes, with little to no preparation or cleanup. It’s also convenient for your company. MicroPack™ can be efficiently run on conventional packaging machinery and prints high-impact graphics with ease.

High-Impact Designs for Frozen Food Packaging

Customers choose frozen food options because they want something that tastes good and will save them time in the kitchen. Your frozen product provides them with just that, but with so much competition in the market, your packaging has to convey a lot with its design.

Do the graphics catch the shoppers’ eyes? Is it compact enough to optimize freezer space? Can customers open and close it easily? Does it work with your existing manufacturing processes? With so many things to consider, you need to have an expert in your corner, working with you every step of the way.

High Quality Packaging = The Freshest Frozen Food

Back in the 1950s, when TV dinners were the dominant frozen food option, the focus was on convenience but not necessarily quality. Today, convenience is still of utmost importance—so important, in fact, that it is one of the main driving factors behind the growth of the global frozen food market. That said, there’s an increasing emphasis on quality and freshness that can’t be ignored.

Everything from film weight to closures can have an impact your product’s freshness from freezer to table.

Will your closures extend shelf life and prevent freezer burn?
Is your package barrier customized to your product?
Has your packaging been customized so it meets your brand and products unique needs?
Have sustainable options been investigated?

Our stand-up pouches and bags are state-of-the-art, so you never have to sacrifice quality or appearance to keep your food fresh and protected.

Sustainable Frozen Food Packaging

Today’s consumers are making product choices with environmental sustainability in mind. This is even more prevalent with the millennial generation, as a survey by the Shelton Group showed that approximately 70% of millennials said a company’s environmental focus impacts their purchasing decisions. It’s not enough to have beautiful, inviting product packaging—you have to ensure you’re highlighting your environmental practices too.

Frozen food manufacturers have to walk a fine line between style and sustainability, which isn’t always an easy task. Packaging has to have appropriate barrier protection that will protect from elements like moisture and cold, it has to be shelf stable and able to reproduce high-quality graphics for shelf impact. Historically, at least in the packaging world, words like “eco-friendly”, or “recyclable” have been synonymous with lesser quality—not luxury.

Luckily, Emmerson Packaging has risen to meet these challenges. Emmerson Packaging’s products like SmartPack™, and SmartPack-BDG™ that take eco-friendly packaging to new heights. With these products, you don’t have to choose between style, quality, and a smaller footprint.

Emmerson Packaging’s SmartPack™ uses innovative energy-curing technology, reducing the number of films required for a given package. This process represents a significant breakthrough in packaging reduction and sustainability, and it’s been recognized as an industry best.

SmartPack-BDG™ allows your customers to dispose of these packages in their regular garbage. They will then biodegrade in the landfill leaving behind only biomass and methane gas. These products give consumers the environmental sustainability they’re seeking with the convenience and quality they expect from a premium product.