One of the businesses that moved into the spotlight during the pandemic is “meal kit,” a unique business model where customers typically subscribe to a service and then pick out various dishes they are interested in eating. Upon making their selection, a recipe and the raw ingredients are then sent to the subscriber’s home so they can prepare the meal themselves.
This business model has some great overlap with adding variety to a home diet while still keeping costs low as meals are prepared at home, not at a restaurant. However, there are special considerations to ensure a safe, successful sale, such as insulated packaging. Here are a few of the biggest factors.
Freshness Matters With Insulated Packaging
The biggest factor to consider is preserving freshness. These are raw ingredients that are meant to be delivered straight to someone’s door so they can be cooked for a couple or an entire family. As a result, the freshness of the ingredients must be preserved.
Another key issue associated with freshness is safety. Some of these dishes require meat, meaning raw meat is shipped along with the other ingredients and must be properly sealed and separated to prevent cross-contamination. An onion touching a tomato is not a serious issue, but raw meat touching other ingredients could potentially contaminate the other food and leave them unsafe.
Temperature Is A Factor
An important component of freshness is the temperature, which is why insulated packaging can sometimes be crucial. Ingredients can be dramatically affected by rapid temperature changes; depending on the time of the year, these temperature swings can be extreme.
Insulated packaging and other logistical precautions are a cost-efficient, passive way to protect the integrity of ingredients. Insulated packaging allows meal kits to retain their ideal temperature even when there’s no temperature control in the environment. If you don’t want to take chances with uncontrolled variables affecting the quality of meal kit ingredients, take appropriate packing precautions.
