If you’re new to the catering industry or your current comestible packaging solutions just aren’t performing as you’d hoped, then it might be time to explore your commercial food storage container choices. From selecting the perfect size to picking the best shape and material, navigating the many packaging options can be difficult.
Luckily, we have many years of invaluable experience in the packaging industry to help guide you toward the right food containers for your storage needs. Simply carry on reading to find out which food storage containers are the best for use in commercial kitchens, as well as both how and where you can find these sought-after storage solutions.
What are food storage containers?
As the name suggests, a food storage container is used to store (and sometimes transport) food. Most suitable for storing food at room temperature as well as holding comestibles in the fridge and freezer, they are an essential item found in many kitchens, both residential and commercial. Regardless of whether you want to keep food fresh and tasty or pre-prepared meals ahead of time, you’ll need a suitable container!
However, before you opt for just any old food storage container, it’s important to take your specific storage requirements into consideration. Will the comestible being stored require additional protection for transport? Or will the commercial food storage containers need to be reusable? Identifying your must-have features before you start searching for the perfect food container will make finding the right solution a quicker and easier process.
Kitting out your business? If you need a helping hand finding some of the best food storage containers in the UK for commercial purposes, then you’re in the right place! Below, we explore which containers you should be using to boost your cooking, catering or culinary business and why!
Commercial Food storage containers
Commercial food storage containers are available in a wide range of materials, sizes, styles and even colours. Not to mention, they can even come complete with all kinds of handy and reassuring features, including tamper-evident lids. Unlike residential kitchens that might value aesthetic appeal and lifespan the most, commercial kitchens typically favour features like affordability, quality maintenance and durability.
This is why the most popular food storage containers for your home kitchen are unlikely to be the best comestible storage solution for your business. Regardless of whether you run a concession trailer and are looking for robust containers that can handle any bump in the road or own a meal prep company that’s in search of a container that holds the perfect portion, there are many factors to consider.
Best commercial food storage containers
All kinds of commercial kitchens, including those for meal preparation companies, food trucks and concession trailers, require the right type of food storage containers for their business, but how do you know which type of container is the perfect fit? If you’ve been unsuccessful so far in your search for the most suitable food storage container, then we can help.
From the strongest containers to the most versatile storage solutions, we find out which container is best for your business by exploring the most essential features of a commercial food storage container. This includes aspects like durability, sustainability, versatility and affordability, but only you can decide which container is right for your purposes.
Durable material
Considering using glass containers to contain comestibles? Glass is a strong and high-quality material that doesn’t absorb the colour, flavour or odour of the food within. However, while glass food storage containers might have a certain aesthetic appeal when displayed on your home kitchen countertop and plenty of practical benefits, they’re often not the best choice for commercial environments, but why?
Crucially, glass containers are unlikely to survive bumpy roads and drops, meaning any company that uses these containers won’t be able to use them for transport due to health and safety reasons. Plastic, foil, paper and cardboard containers, on the other hand, are much more durable and can typically withstand plenty of transport bumps.
Resistant to temperature changes
As any food preparation business knows all too well, comestibles need to be stored at the correct temperature in order to maintain their condition. Luckily, foil and plastic food storage containers have the ability to withstand all kinds of temperatures, ensuring they can be safely stored in refrigerators, freezers and room temperature cupboards. Unlike foil containers, however, plastic storage containers can be placed in the dishwasher and used time and time again for storage either by the business or the end-user, giving them a reusable edge.
Airtight
It’s also worth bearing in mind that some foil and glass containers come with loose lids and therefore can’t offer the same protection against air exposure and tampering as plastic alternatives. Subsequently, this can cause the comestible within to lose colour, flavour or even nutritional value as exposure to air causes the item to become bland, stale or even rancid.
Ultimately, investing in food storage containers with loose lids can be a costly mistake for food businesses if they need to throw and away and replace this spoiled food. Most importantly, it can also affect their reviews and reputation. Opting for containers with airtight lids, such as plastic food storage containers, is therefore essential to holding onto your profits!
Tamper-evident
To give your customers peace of mind, it’s also important to look for food storage containers with tamper-evident lids. Not only are these reassuring lids airtight, but the tamper-evident design helps to give the end user confidence that the container hasn’t been tampered with. As a result, these containers are ideal for businesses that provide meal preparation services or want to store comestibles in the same containers that they are transported and sold in.
Sustainable
Regardless of whether you have aims to limit business waste or want to do your bit for the environment, opting for plastic food containers can help. While glass jars are considered to be the most sustainable food packaging solution, there are plenty of benefits to choosing plastic instead.
Many plastic food storage containers are either made from recycled material or can be recycled, and while glass can be recycled and reused time and time again, this type of material isn’t suited to transport and storage like the plastic alternative. Even if your business has a strong eco-policy, it might be impractical to use glass containers for these reasons.
Retains the quality of the comestible
Ensuring your product reaches the end user untainted isn’t just a matter of picking a container with a tamper-evident lid. Indeed, the container also needs to be highly resistant to corrosion in order to prevent the food from becoming tainted with regard to taste or quality.
Unlike foil, paper and cardboard packaging that can fail when exposed to water, plastic and glass are both ideals for this purpose. Not to mention, some plastics even boast FDA-approval to ensure no unwanted chemicals find their way into the comestible product.
Selection of shapes and sizes
The first rule of business is to take advantage of the tools and resources at your disposal, and one of the most important resources you can have in a commercial kitchen is space. With the right food containers in a variety of sizes, you can stack and store them to really utilise every inch of space in your refrigerator, freezer or cupboards.
At Venturepak, for example, we offer a wide range of food container shapes and sizes to make utilising storage space effortless. This includes five different sizes of rectangular containers (from 200-millitres to 1.2-litres) as well as 18 different square container sizes (125-millilitre and 5-litre containers) and a choice of two meal prep container sizes – 500-millilitres and 750-millilitres. Regardless of the type of food you want to store (be it soup or salad!), having a wide range of container shapes and sizes is always a good idea.
Versatile
Often, companies dealing in comestibles will want or even need to store ingredients/meals in the same container that they are transported in. Investing in convenient versatile food containers is, therefore, another way that businesses can save time and cut costs. As a result, we recommend avoiding fragile food storage containers and opting for something a little more durable, like plastic.
Safe
Glass can also be much heavier and harder to both handle and transport, becoming hazardous if dropped and broken. Unlike glass containers, plastic containers are incredibly durable and non-hazardous in the unlikely event that they do break while being transported. They can also withstand a wide range of different temperatures, ensuring they’re suitable for transporting both hot and cold foodstuffs.
Plastic food containers are also safe for the end-user as well as the delivery team. At Venturepak, for example, all our containers are food-safe and BPA-free, as well as durable enough to prevent tears and damage during transport. Glass containers, on the other hand, are less robust and incredibly dangerous if broken into sharp shards.
Affordable
Some of the most affordable food storage containers are either made from cardboard, paper, plastic or foil. Glass containers, on the other hand, are significantly more expensive than foil and plastic alternatives which can end up taking a sizeable chunk out of the business’s profits. If you want to get the most out of your money and reuse the containers, it’s best to opt for either plastic or foil, as cardboard and paper containers are typically only suitable for single use.
How to shop for the best food storage container
For the best products, you need to reach out to the experts! Here at Venturepak, we have years of experience in the packaging industry that has allowed us to create a hub of invaluable knowledge. As a result, we’ve manufactured a wide range of high-quality plastic food storage containers that are ideal for a whole host of food businesses and commercial kitchens.
Our plastic packaging solutions come in the form of injection moulded tubs, pots and buckets – all of which are BPA-free, too! They offer a lightweight, secure, robust and affordable alternative to other packaging options (like glass) that makes them one of the most sought-after food storage solutions in the UK.
Complete with an airtight and tamper-evident lid, plastic containers can prevent air from spoiling the comestible within while also deterring anyone other than the end user from reaching the fresh and tasty contents. Regardless of whether you’re looking for ice cream containers or candyfloss buckets, you can find them here!
Why you should choose Venturepak for commercial food storage containers
Here at Venturepak, we don’t settle for adequate. Instead, we’re dedicated to providing an exceptional level of customer service, producing high-quality products and delivering on our promises. From first contact to delivery of your order, we’re always on hand to provide expert advice and guidance, ensuring satisfaction with every sale.
Thanks to the unyielding support from our friendly, experienced and highly-knowledgeable team, we aim to understand the needs of your business to provide personalised food container recommendations. Within our extensive online range of high-quality food containers, you can shop a selection of shapes and sizes to suit your specific storage requirements.
Based in Merseyside, we can offer UK comestible companies everything from meal prep containers to plastic buckets, standard square food containers, and so much more. Complete with the option to add a touch of branding though in mould labelling (IML) techniques, building your brand and standing out from the competition is no hard task.
Ready to start your search for quality food storage containers in the UK? If you’d like some support and guidance while browsing our products, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with a member of our team today. You can either give us a call on 01744 415111 or send us your enquiry in an email to sales@venturepak.co.uk.
Alternatively, you can also visit our contact page and fill out our online contact form with your enquiry and basic contact details. However you decide to contact our team, we’ll be in touch shortly to help you pick the perfect food storage containers for your company!