You walk in, knowing the vegetables are prepped, the curry is portioned, the sauces are labelled, and you’re on track for the shift.
Then you reach into the freezer and find that a plastic container has cracked. It’s ruined the prepped ingredients, and probably your day. Now you’ve lost that food, doubled the prep time, and your workflow has been interrupted.
In a busy commercial kitchen, meal preparation containers influence how easily food can be stored, frozen, identified, reheated, and moved through service.
Your choice of containers can also affect food safety. The FSANZ Standard 3.2.2 – Food Safety Practices and General Requirements states:
A food business must, when packaging food: (a) only use packaging material that is fit for its intended use; (b) only use material that is not likely to cause food contamination; and (c) ensure that there is no likelihood that the food may become contaminated during the packaging process.
So, your choice of meal prep containers will depend on what you’re preparing, how you’ll store it, and what happens to it before and during service. Here’s how to choose.
How Do I Choose the Right Meal Prep Container?
First, you need to match your container to the ingredients you’ll store in it. For example, salad greens benefit from a little room and aeration, so choose a container with enough space to avoid crushing the leaves.
For liquid ingredients like gravy, soup, or salad dressing, the shape of the container doesn’t matter, so you can choose what fits best in your fridge.
But if you’ve got prepped meat or vegetables, you may prefer a rectangular container for the extra room. Rectangular containers are popular for a reason – they’re easy to line up for mise en place, and are cost-effective for short-term storage and quick prep. They work for a large range of food, and stack well on shelves.
But if you’re freezing desserts or prepped ingredients for later use, then freezer-grade (ribbed) containers are the way to go.
Finally, to pass food safety inspections and prevent contamination, make sure all your containers are food-grade, and seal tightly to keep food protected.
How Do I Keep Prepped Ingredients Fresh for Service?
Imagine you’ve prepped tomorrow’s lunch and left it in a container in the cool room.
The next day, someone pulls out the whole lot at 10 am to start assembling meals. Some of it sits on the bench. Some goes back into storage, then it comes out again for lunch service.
How long has that food really been out of refrigeration?
To make time and temperature tracking easier, you can portion food into smaller containers.
For example, if you’ve got 40 chicken pieces portioned into smaller quantities, your team won’t have to keep on moving the whole batch in and out of refrigeration.
According to Standard 3.2.2, potentially hazardous food like raw meat and poultry should generally be stored at 5°C or colder, with frozen food kept frozen hard. When this food sits between 5°C and 60°C, the 2-hour/4-hour rule applies:
Less than 2 hours: use, sell or return to refrigeration.
2-4 hours: use or sell, but don’t refrigerate again.
More than 4 hours: discard.
(Remember, this time is cumulative across preparation, storage, transport, and display.)
Your storage setup plays a food safety role as well. FSANZ’s usual storage controls apply, such as:
- keep uncooked ingredients separate from ready-to-eat food,
- store raw meat and seafood below other food so juices don’t contaminate it, and
- make sure lids match the container and are correctly fitted, to provide an extra barrier against contamination.
When prepping ahead, figure out which ingredients are potentially hazardous, and when they’re needed for service, then portion accordingly.
What About Food That’s Still Cooling?
Under Standard 3.2.2, cooked potentially hazardous food should be cooled from 60°C to 21°C within two hours, then from 21°C to 5°C within another four hours.
Say you’ve cooked a large batch of curry and want it cooled for tomorrow. Putting a large container of hot curry straight into the cool room isn’t ideal, because the centre takes longer to cool than the outside.
FSANZ suggests dividing food into smaller portions in shallow containers as one way to help it cool quickly, making your process safer.
What’s the Best Way to Label Meal Prep Containers?
Good food storage practices don’t end with temperature control.
Some kitchens have a mystery container sitting at the back of the fridge. Nobody remembers exactly what it was for, who prepared it or when it was prepared. Finally, someone decides it’s not worth the risk and discards it.
That’s why it’s worth having a labelling system – you don’t have to rely on memory.
DayDot labels are a simple option to tell between containers. Depending on your kitchen’s food safety process, a prep label might include:
- what the food is
- when it was prepared
- its use-by date or time, and
- any allergens in the food.
Labelling also makes the First In, First Out rule easier to follow. Instead of relying on a chef to remember which food was prepared first, your team has an easy visual.
(Keep in mind, there are different requirements for labels on packaged food for retail sale. Refer to FSANZ Standard 1.2.5.)
DayDots on their own won’t fix your entire compliance system. But a consistent labelling system strengthens your food safety process, and makes shift handovers much easier.
Can I Reuse Meal Prep Containers in a Commercial Kitchen?
You’ve washed the container. Can you use it again? It depends.
Was the container:
- frozen? It might be brittle and prone to breakage.
- microwaved, put through a dishwasher, or filled with hot food? This can warp some plastics.
- used for oily or acidic food? This can erode the container’s surface.
Don’t assume that because a plastic container survived one use, it was designed for ten more – check what it was actually designed to do.
FSANZ says to check the manufacturer’s instructions or symbols before you put a container in the freezer, microwave, or dishwasher.
If a container’s being reused, manufacturer’s instructions become especially important.
Freezer-grade containers are often better suited to reuse, because they’re made of tougher plastic and have a corrugated surface that adds structural integrity and strength. But reusable doesn’t mean indestructible.
Every time a container comes back, take a look at it:
- Is it cracked?
- Has the lid warped, so it doesn’t seal?
- Is the surface scratched or otherwise damaged?
If the answer is yes to any of these questions, replace the container. Damage can trap food residue and bacteria, making effective cleaning and sanitising difficult.
After replacing your container, check if you can recycle the damaged one. Kitchens with a sustainability focus should choose containers made of food grade polypropylene, which is suitable for recycling after use.
But Aren’t Cheaper Containers Better Value?
In a commercial kitchen, you have to be practical. If you’re prepping chopped vegetables at 11am for that night’s service, you don’t need to pay extra for a high-quality container. A standard rectangular container will probably be fine.
But what if you’re storing seafood or dairy products, transporting liquids or freezing valuable ingredients?
A standard container is less expensive per unit. A high-quality container might cost more but is less likely to spill or crack.
If the cheap container leaks, other food in the fridge may be contaminated. You’ll have lost the few cents you saved, plus the time someone spent preparing the food.
Now the cheaper option doesn’t look quite so good. So, factor in the cost of failure, and don’t base every decision on the unit price.
Extra Tips for Using Meal Prep Containers
1. Standardise your common sizes.
A smaller core range can make stacking, restocking, and choosing easier.
2. Keep containers with their correct lids.
If lids aren’t stored with the containers they fit, finding the right match wastes time. Keep in mind that freezer-grade and standard lids aren’t interchangeable.
3. Store clean packaging properly.
Keep food containers in clean storage areas, off the ground, and away from contaminants such as cleaning chemicals.
4. Don’t overcrowd your cool room.
Refrigerated air needs to circulate around the food to cool it.
5. Use labels consistently.
A DayDot system only saves time if everybody follows the same process.
6. Keep raw and ready-to-eat foods separated.
Your shelving and handling processes matter just as much as your container choice.
Choose the Container for the Job, Not Just the Price
Meal prep containers are a fairly small part of a commercial kitchen’s budget, and your customer will probably never see them.
But they will notice the results. They’ll notice if their meal isn’t fresh. They’ll notice if service is slow. They’ll definitely notice if something goes wrong. And those results will impact your customer satisfaction, reviews, and repeat business.
Meal prep containers are involved in almost every culinary stage between prep and service. Choosing the right containers can help your team speed up prep, cut avoidable waste, and keep service moving.
So, choose the container that best fits the job.
See Veridia’s food packaging range to choose the right containers for your kitchen.
