Abstract:
Food packaging includes a top wall of film plastic material which in turn includes top and bottom wall portions creating a pocket therebetween. The pocket bottom wall portion has feed openings communicating with the food chamber. The top wall portion includes a centrally disposed feed opening registering with a vent opening in the bottom wall portion with the bottom wall feed openings being remotely located and adapted to be sealed during cooking by pressure within the food chamber pressing the bottom wall portion against the top wall portion.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a Continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 10/269,455 filed Oct. 11, 2002 of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to packaging food for display in the market, preparing the food for cooking and then microwave cooking the food.  
         [0003]     Typical preparation of food for microwaving involves removing food from packaging, placing it in a dish and then placing the dish in the microwave oven for cooking. What is needed is packaging and a method of microwave cooking that utilizes the best features of known cooking methods with the food packaging becoming a cooking vessel for pressure cooking in the microwave oven.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     Food is packaged in conventional plastic wrapping material but a liquid feed opening with a relief valve is provided in the top of the package. The top wall of the food package includes two wall portions with the top wall portion having a centrally located feed opening axially aligned with a vent opening in the lower wall portion. The lower wall portion includes a plurality of feed openings remotely positioned relative to the vent opening with one of the feed openings being substantially larger to allow passage of larger feed additives. All feed openings in the lower wall portion allow for passage of liquid including water and flavorings into the food chamber of the package.  
         [0005]     Cooking of the food in the packaging creates steam which in turn presses the lower wall portion against the top wall portion thereby sealing all feed openings in the lower wall portion leaving the vent opening to allow release of a limited amount of gas pressure. The sides of the vent opening can be varied as required by the cooking circumstances. If a number of food items having different cooking times are to be cooked at the same time the size of the vent opening can be selected to effectively make the cooking time for all items substantially the same.  
         [0006]     The top and bottom walls of the food package may vary between two film sheets to a top film sheet sealingly secured to the top edges of a tray. The tray may have the shape of a piece of pie and thus when a plurality of trays are positioned together they form a pie shape which in turn corresponds to the circular rotatable tray of a microwave oven.  
         [0007]     The food packaging may also include a unitary tray having multiple food chambers. A further alternative is for a pair of film sheets being provided that are sealingly secured together along a plurality of radial lines and then around the peripheral edges after the food items have been inserted into each of the food chambers by the grocer or consumer.  
         [0008]     The cooking method involves determining the cooking times of each of the food items to be cooked and setting the maximum time on the microwave oven. The food item requiring the longest cooking time is placed in the oven first and when the cooking time of the item requiring the second longest cooking time appears on the timer the second item is placed in the oven and the procedure is repeated until all items are cooked and the time on the timer has expired. This procedure provides a properly cooked entire meal in a minimum amount of time and with minimum effort.  
         [0009]     Preparatory to placing the packaged food in the microwave oven, liquid and flavorings may be added to the food in the packaging through the feed opening in the top wall portion of the top wall wherein liquid travels through the feed openings in the bottom wall portion of the top wall thence into the food chamber with the food to be cooked.  
         [0010]     During the microwave cooking, pressure in the packaging inflates the packaging causing gas to be formed which tightly presses the bottom wall portion of the top wall against the top wall portion of the top wall causing the substantial sealing of the feed openings in the bottom wall portion of the top wall to allow for limited pressure cooking. Excess pressure is relieved through the opening in the top wall portion of the top wall by gas escaping from the food chamber through the vent opening in the bottom wall portion of the top wall into the pocket between the top and bottom wall portions and thence out through the feed opening in the top wall portion of the top wall.  
         [0011]     Preparatory to placing the packaged food in the microwave, liquid and flavorings may be added to the food in the packaging food chamber through the feed opening in the top wall portion wherein liquid travels through the feed openings in the pocket into the food chamber.  
         [0012]     A variety of individually packaged food products may be appropriately packaged for simultaneous cooking in a microwave oven such that an entire meal may be cooked in one operation.  
         [0013]     Precise cooking results can consistently be expected by maintaining a record of information including food weight, amount of liquid and flavoring added, cooking vessel used, microwave wattage and cooking time. Once the desired results have been obtained and the cooking information has been determined it may be expected that those same results can be replicated consistently thereafter. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]      FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of the food packaging of this invention containing cauliflower ready to be cooked.  
         [0015]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view similar to  FIG. 1  showing additives including liquid being added to the food chamber through the feed opening in the top wall.  
         [0016]      FIG. 2A  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  2 A in  FIG. 2  showing a bottom wall portion of the top wall being formed by a piece of patch film material secured to the bottom side of the top sheet.  
         [0017]      FIG. 2B  is a view similar to  FIG. 2A  but showing the piece of patch sheet material being attached to the top side of the top film sheet.  
         [0018]      FIG. 3  is a view similar to  FIG. 2  but showing the liquid being fed through the top feed opening into the pocket formed between the top and bottom wall portions of the top sheet thence into the large feed opening of the bottom wall portion of the top sheet.  
         [0019]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the food package of  FIG. 1  positioned in a microwave oven.  
         [0020]      FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  5 - 5  in  FIG. 4  showing the pressure cooking effect within the food chamber and pocket between the upper and lower wall portions of the upper wall.  
         [0021]      FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  6 - 6  in  FIG. 1  showing the feed openings in the lower wall portion of the top wall being sealed by the pressure created within the food chamber.  
         [0022]      FIG. 7  is a top perspective view of food packaging including a pair of sheets of film material secured together along radial lines thereby forming a plurality of food chambers.  
         [0023]      FIG. 8  is a top plan view thereof.  
         [0024]      FIG. 9  is a top perspective view of a pie piece shaped food packaging tray.  
         [0025]      FIG. 10  is a top plan view thereof.  
         [0026]      FIG. 11  is a top perspective view of a pie piece shaped unitary tray having multiple food chambers.  
         [0027]      FIG. 12  is a front perspective view of a plurality of pie piece food packages requiring different cooking times ready to be placed in the microwave oven.  
         [0028]      FIG. 13  is a view similar to  FIG. 12  showing the second step in the cooking method wherein the food item having the second longest cooking time is being placed in the microwave oven.  
         [0029]      FIG. 14  is a view similar to  FIGS. 12 and 13  but showing the last pie piece shape food package being inserted into the microwave oven.  
         [0030]      FIG. 15  is a front exploded perspective view of a pie piece shaped tray having the top film sheet secured to the top edges of the tray side walls by downwardly facing U-shaped clips.  
         [0031]      FIG. 16  is a top perspective view of the tray of  FIG. 15  fully assembled. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0032]     The food packaging of this invention is generally referred to in  FIG. 1  by the reference numeral  10  and as seen in  FIGS. 2A and 5  includes a top sheet of film  12  sealed at its peripheral edges  14  to a bottom sheet of film  16  creating a food chamber  18  therebetween.  
         [0033]     The top sheet of film  12  includes a patch  20  forming a lower wall portion of the top sheet  12  including a top wall portion  22  creating therebetween a pocket  24 . The patch or bottom wall portion  20  is sealed at  26  around its peripheral edge to the top sheet  12 .  
         [0034]     The bottom wall portion  20  includes a vent hole  28  centrally positioned and in vertical alignment with a fill hole  30  in the top wall portion  22 . As seen in  FIG. 1 , a plurality of small fill holes  32  are provided around the periphery of the bottom wall portion  20  among which is a larger fill hole  34  all of which are remotely located relative to the centrally located vent hole  28 . As seen in  FIGS. 2, 2A  and  3 , flavoring additives  36  from a pitcher  38  are added through the fill hole  30  into the pocket  24  which in turn allows passageway through the fill holes  32  and  34  into the food chamber  18 . It is seen that the large fill hole  34  will allow for larger size additives to be added to the food chamber  18 .  
         [0035]     The flow of liquid including water  40  is facilitated by lifting a tab  42  on the top wall portion  22  overlapping the fill hole  30  via an enlarged pocket  24 .  
         [0036]     In  FIG. 2B  an alternate embodiment of  FIG. 2A  is shown differing only in the placement of a patch  21  on the top side of the top packaging wall of film material  13  as opposed to the patch  20  in  FIG. 2A  being on the bottom side of the top film wall  12 . In the embodiment of  FIG. 2B  the patch  21  includes the fill opening  31  in communication with a vent hole  29 . Small fill openings  33  are provided in the bottom wall portion  23  along with a large fill opening  35 .  
         [0037]     During the microwave cooking as seen in  FIGS. 4-6 , the heat generated inflates the food chamber  18  spreading the top sheet wall  12  from the bottom sheet wall  16  producing steam and vapor  42  which presses the bottom wall portion  20  against the top wall portion  22  thereby sealing the fill openings  32  and  34  leaving open the vent hole  28  in communication with the fill hole  30  in the top wall portion  22 . Excess steam  42  is allowed to vent as indicated by the arrows  44  in  FIG. 5 .  
         [0038]     In  FIGS. 7 and 8  a modified embodiment of the invention of  FIGS. 1-6  is shown and is referred to generally by the reference numeral  46  and includes a top sheet  48  of film material secured to a bottom sheet of film material  50  along radial lines  52  creating individual food chambers  18 A formed by individual top wall sheets  12 A and  16 A. The top wall sheets  12 A include the patch or bottom wall portion of the top wall  20 A.  
         [0039]     The individual food chambers  18 A upon being filled with food items by the grocer or the consumer, are sealed along their peripheral edges  14 A. It is seen in  FIGS. 7 and 8  that the vent holes  28 A,  28 B and  28 C are progressively larger in size to allow for all food items to be cooked at the same time but with varying cooking pressures depending on the vent hole size. The smaller the vent hole  28  the larger the cooking pressure.  
         [0040]     In  FIGS. 9 and 10  the packaging concept of this invention is incorporated into an alternative embodiment referred to generally by the reference numeral  54  and includes a bottom wall comprising a tray  56  having side walls  58  and  60  configured to form a pie piece shaped tray. A top sheet of film material  12 B is sealingly engaged along its peripheral edges to the top edges of the tray sidewalls  58  and  60 . The patch or bottom wall portion  20 B of the top wall is shown secured to the bottom side of the top wall of film material  12 B. The patch  20 B includes a vent hole  28 B in communication with a fill hole  30 B.  
         [0041]     In  FIG. 11  an alternative embodiment of the packaging concept of this invention is referred to generally by the reference numeral  62  and is comprised of a pie shaped tray  64  including pie piece shaped chambers  66  covered by top wall film sheets  68  including triangular shaped patches  20 C. Different food items can be packaged and cooked appropriately as discussed with regards to the embodiment  46  shown in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . It is seen that the tray  64  includes radially extending walls  70  which cooperate with the peripheral circular wall  72  to create the chambers  66 .  
         [0042]     In  FIGS. 15 and 16  is an alternative embodiment to that shown in  FIGS. 9 and 10  and is referred to generally by the reference numeral  54 A and includes the tray  56  to which a top sheet of film material  12 C is attached by downwardly facing U-shaped clips  74  having legs  76  engaging the opposite faces of the tray side walls  58  and  60  as seen in  FIG. 16 . The patch  20 C is of the same construction and functions in the same manner as previously described. By the way of example, potatoes  78  are seen being packaged in the embodiment  54 A of  FIGS. 15 and 16 .  
         [0043]     In  FIGS. 12-14  a method of cooking is illustrated utilizing the packaging concept of this invention and a microwave  80  having a turn table  82 .  
         [0044]     The food trays  56 A,  56 B and  56 C are shown containing food items requiring different cooking times and thus the timer  84  on the microwave oven  80  is set at 15 minutes which is the cooking time for the food item in tray  56 A. The tray  56 A is first placed in the microwave oven on the turn table  82  and allowed to cook until 10 minutes shows on the timer as seen in  FIG. 13  when the tray  56 B is then placed in the oven  80  as its food item requires the second longest cooking time. The microwave cooking is restarted allowing the timer to count down to 5 minutes as shown in  FIG. 14  whereupon the tray  56 C is then placed in the microwave oven  80  as it requires only 5 minutes of cooking, the least amount of time for the three different food items. The microwave oven is restarted and allowed to cook until the timer  84  terminates the cooking when the full 15 minutes have expired. All food items will have been cooked precisely as has been determined is appropriate. Maintaining a record of information including microwave wattage, food item description, weight of item, liquid to be added, cooking vessel and time of cooking allows for consistent repeatability of successful cooking.