Min. 100 units · 3–5 days
Ice Cream Packaging
Custom Food Packaging
Specify thisCustom Food Packaging
Frozen Food Boxes
Custom frozen Food Boxes produced to your size and substrate, with printing and finishing handled in one run.
- Minimum order
- 100 units
- Production
- 3–5 business days
- Construction
- folding carton
- Delivery
- US, UK, Canada, Australia
No obligation
Get a price
Name, email, phone and what you are packing and the volumes you run. Attach artwork if you have it. We reply with a specification and a written price, usually within one business day.
What frozen food boxes have to cope with
Frozen Food Boxes hold product that goes from a packing line into a freezer and stays there for months. That is the starting point for the specification, because freeze-thaw cycling, not the cold itself, is what destroys frozen packaging. A moisture-resistant coating and a cold-tolerant adhesive together are the fix.
In service they are used for retail freezer cabinets, restocked from a warm back room several times a week.
Where frozen food boxes are actually used
Frozen Food Boxes are specified for retail freezer cabinets, restocked from a warm back room several times a week. Freeze-thaw cycling, not the cold itself, is what destroys frozen packaging. A moisture-resistant coating and a cold-tolerant adhesive together are the fix.
- Retail freezer cabinets, restocked from a warm back room several times a week
- Shelf display in specialty retail
- Subscription and gift sets
- E-commerce inner packaging
The substrate for frozen food boxes
A moisture-resistant coated board with a cold-tolerant adhesive on the seam — both, not one or the other.
The options we would consider for this format are below; freeze-thaw cycling, not the cold itself, is what destroys frozen packaging. A moisture-resistant coating and a cold-tolerant adhesive together are the fix.
- 12pt SBS paperboard
- 14pt SBS paperboard
- 16pt SBS paperboard
- 18pt kraft board
- recycled CCNB board
Printing frozen food boxes
Inks must be specified for freeze-thaw cycling. Standard inks can craze after repeated condensation.
Offset lithography, Digital press, Flexography are all available for this format. Run length usually decides which is cheapest: digital removes the plate cost on short quantities, offset and flexo overtake it at volume.
Finishing frozen food boxes
Inks must be specified for freeze-thaw cycling. Standard inks can craze after repeated condensation.
Each finish below is a separate pass on the press or the finishing line, which is why they are quoted individually rather than bundled.
- Gloss lamination
- Matte lamination
- Soft-touch lamination
- Spot UV
- Foil stamping
- Embossing
- Debossing
- Aqueous coating
Sizing frozen food boxes
Usually retail-shelf proportioned, 6 × 4 × 2 in through 10 × 7 × 3 in, sized to a freezer planogram.
Send the contents rather than a box size. Buyers specify for the freezer and forget the pack is warm and wet every time it is restocked or transported.
Holding frozen food boxes before service
Condensation forms every time the pack moves between temperatures, and an uncoated board absorbs it until the print lifts.
Paperboard also absorbs moisture from the air until it equalises with its surroundings. If stock sits more than about six weeks in unconditioned space, a moisture-resistant coating is worth its small premium.
Preparing artwork
Supply artwork on the dieline we send you, with 3 mm bleed past every trim edge and all text held 4 mm inside the fold lines.
Supply a print-ready PDF or vector file with fonts outlined and images at 300 dpi. Our prepress team checks every file before a proof is issued. The check that catches most files is type sitting too close to a crease, which is easier to move at layout than at proof.
How an order runs
Tell us what goes inside, how many you need and when. Those three answers are enough for us to specify and price the job properly.
You approve the quote, we send the dieline, prepress proofs it, and production follows. The proof stage is where changes are still free.
What buyers get wrong with frozen food boxes
Buyers specify for the freezer and forget the pack is warm and wet every time it is restocked or transported.
The rest of these come up often enough across the format to be worth stating plainly.
- Specifying board weight without saying how hot or greasy the contents are.
- Forgetting that a pack carried at an angle in a courier bag behaves differently to one on a counter.
- Choosing a vented lid for a dish that needs to stay hot, or a sealed one for a dish that needs to stay crisp.
- Ordering a year of stock that then sits through a humid summer.
Testing the fit first
Ask for an unprinted sample if the question is fit, or a printed prototype if the question is colour. They answer different things.
Sample costs are normally credited against the production order.
Reference
Frozen Food Boxes at a specification level
| Product | Frozen Food Boxes |
|---|---|
| Category | Custom Food Packaging |
| Construction | Die-cut, creased and seam-glued |
| Board thickness | 12pt – 18pt depending on product weight |
| Ships as | Flat-packed, glued one seam |
| Materials | 12pt SBS paperboard, 14pt SBS paperboard, 16pt SBS paperboard, 18pt kraft board |
| Printing | Offset lithography, Digital press, Flexography |
| Finishes | Gloss lamination, Matte lamination, Soft-touch lamination, Spot UV, Foil stamping |
| Minimum order | Minimum order is 100 units on any format, and unit cost falls sharply as the quantity rises. |
| Lead time | 3 to 5 business days after artwork approval |
| Shipping | Across the US, UK, Canada and Australia |
Specification builder
Specify Frozen Food Boxes in under a minute
Set what you know, leave the rest. Everything here travels with your request, so nothing gets retyped.
- 100-unit minimum
- 3–5 day production
- Free dieline
- No obligation
Frozen Food
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What you get
What you get with this format
Fitted to what goes in it
Usually retail-shelf proportioned, 6 × 4 × 2 in through 10 × 7 × 3 in, sized to a freezer planogram.
The failure we design out
Condensation forms every time the pack moves between temperatures, and an uncoated board absorbs it until the print lifts.
Where it has to work
Specified for retail freezer cabinets, restocked from a warm back room several times a week.
What decides the job
Freeze-thaw cycling, not the cold itself, is what destroys frozen packaging. A moisture-resistant coating and a cold-tolerant adhesive together are the fix.
This format sits in our custom food packaging range, alongside 33 other made-to-order formats.
Answers
Ordering frozen food boxes: the usual questions
Specification, minimums and lead times for frozen food boxes.
Are these food-contact compliant?
We specify food-contact compliant boards and inks where the pack touches food directly. Tell us whether contact is direct or through a liner for frozen food boxes, because it changes which stocks are available to you.
How do you stop grease showing through?
A grease-resistant coating or a greaseproof liner. Untreated board will always strike through eventually with hot, oily food — that is a property of the material rather than a quality fault, and it is inexpensive to design out.
Will these survive cold storage?
With the right adhesive, yes. Standard carton glue becomes brittle in sustained cold and a seam that is sound at room temperature can crack when handled cold. A cold-tolerant adhesive costs very little and prevents it.
Do frozen food boxes arrive flat or assembled?
Flat and glued along one seam, so they pop open on your packing line. That keeps freight cost down considerably compared with a pre-assembled structure.
How long do frozen food boxes take to produce?
3 to 5 business days after artwork approval, plus freight. Folding carton runs with applied finishes can take longer because each finish is a separate pass, and we confirm a firm date in writing with the quote.
What do frozen food boxes cost?
Prices start from $0.30 per piece for large-volume orders. For this format the biggest levers are quantity, print route, board grade and how many finishing passes are involved. We quote each element separately so you can see where the money is going. Finishing passes are the lever buyers most often underestimate: each one is a separate run through the line.
Can I see a sample first?
Yes. We can send a plain unprinted sample so you can check the fit and structure, or a printed prototype for colour and finish. Sample costs are normally credited against the production order. Worth running a few through your actual line rather than checking them by hand: fill speed and hot contents find fit problems that a desk check does not.
Can you match packaging we already use?
Send the current specification or a physical sample and we will quote to match it rather than proposing an alternative you would then have to re-approve internally. Tell us the coating on the pack you are matching too. Grease and moisture resistance are not visible in a sample and they change which stocks we can quote.
Where do you deliver?
All 50 US states, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, on the same timeline everywhere: 3 to 5 business days of production after artwork approval, then 5 to 7 business days in transit. Every run is made to order and shipped directly to your address rather than pulled from stock, so you receive current production rather than whatever has been sitting in a warehouse. Freight is costed separately by weight, volume and destination. If stock is going into a kitchen or a service counter rather than a warehouse, tell us — case sizes that a single person can lift and store matter more there than pallet efficiency.
Can I order frozen food boxes in a custom size?
Every run is cut to your dimensions — there are no stock sizes here. Send the product measurements rather than a box size and we will build the folding carton around them, then send a dieline template you can design onto.
What happens after I approve the quote?
We issue a dieline template sized to your product, prepress checks your artwork against it, and a proof comes back for sign-off. Nothing runs until you approve that proof, and folding cartons then take 3 to 5 business days.
Can you hold the specification for repeat orders?
Yes. Once a first run is approved we hold the board, structure, dimensions, print method and finishes against your account, so a reorder references the same specification exactly rather than being re-derived. The board and coating are held together, so a reorder cannot quietly arrive on a stock with different grease resistance.
Next step
Quote Frozen Food Boxes
Send the fill size and the volumes you run. We reply with a full specification and a written price, usually within one business day.