Frozen Food Boxes.

Because standard coatings go brittle and crack at freezer temperature, and standard board loses most of its strength once condensation dampens it. Ambient stock is the wrong specification here. A frozen carton lives at minus twenty, sweats every time it leaves the cabinet, and goes through freeze-thaw cycles repeatedly in distribution.

We build the box on moisture-resistant board with a freezer-grade coating and a flexible ink system, all rated for the temperature it actually lives at.

A flexible ink system and a freezer-flexible coating, both formulated to flex instead of shattering when a cold carton is handled. Standard inks and coatings are the usual failure: the box looks fine leaving the printer and arrives on the shelf with cracked panels along every crease. We do not run frozen work on ambient ink.

Gloss lamination also sheds condensation better than an uncoated surface, which keeps the artwork legible in the cabinet.

Yes, on oven-rated board, and it is a separate specification from a plain frozen carton, never assumed. The board has to survive the cold, the condensation and then oven heat in sequence. Poly-lined board is the other option where the product sits in direct contact with the carton or is ice-glazed and needs a moisture barrier in both directions.

Tell us the cooking method before we quote, because it changes the stock.

Full CMYK with gloss lamination is the retail standard, because it gives bright saturation and sheds condensation. Matte lamination suits chef-led and gourmet ranges. Foil and metallic detail lifts premium positioning in a crowded cabinet. Every finish is specified freezer-flexible so it stays intact in the cold.

A clear cooking instruction panel is part of the print layout, since the customer reads it standing at the cabinet door.

6 x 4 x 2 inches and 9 x 6 x 2.5 inches are the common retail formats, quoted outside, length by width by depth. Keep the shape square and flat-topped. Frozen cartons are stacked deep in cabinets while still damp, and a tapered box collapses under that load. Level tops also let the pack face forward in a retail freezer.

We size to your tray or pouch and to the cabinet shelf pitch.

The minimum is 500 cartons in a single size and artwork. Frozen work is usually ordered in larger runs than that because the stock is specialised, and the price per box drops noticeably once the order passes 1,000. The top of the range is 100,000.

Count on 7 to 10 business days for standard production and 5 to 7 business days on a rush, with samples in 5 to 7 business days. Put the sample through your own freezer, leave it out to sweat, then handle it. If the print and the creases survive that, the run will.

The sample fee is credited against production.

Yes, where the carton uses a moisture-resistant board and a freezer-grade coating without a poly liner, it goes into paper recycling. Poly-lined board is the exception, since the plastic layer has to be separated. We use the lining only where direct contact or ice glaze demands it.

Say which end-of-life claim you want printed and we will pick the stock to support it.