Reusable Meal Package with Collapsible Inserts

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Solution Overview

Problem

Ready-made meal packaging solutions fail to effectively prevent food spillage and provide a reusable option for customers, especially during holidays when pre-ordered meals require minimal preparation and organization.

Innovation Solution

A meal package comprising a reusable bag with two inserts that form compartments, allowing for the secure storage and transport of meal components, preventing spillage and enabling reuse for future shopping.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a reusable bag is used to carry ready-made meal components, then sustainability and reusability are improved, but food spillage occurs due to lack of compartmentalization

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefood spillage preventionVSAvoidpackage structure

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The reusable bag is divided into multiple compartments using separate inserts for different meal components (appetizer, main course, side dishes, dessert). This segmentation prevents food spillage by containing each component in its own designated space while maintaining the simplicity of a single reusable bag structure.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Collapsible inserts are nested within the reusable bag when not in use, allowing the compartments to be stored compactly inside the bag itself. This nesting approach adds compartmentalization functionality without permanently increasing the device's external complexity or requiring additional storage space.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #7Nested doll (Nesting)

2Reliability

If single-use plastic or paper bags are used, then ease of disposal is improved, but sustainability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovesustainabilityVSAvoiddisposal convenience

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of discarding single-use bags, the invention implements a reusable bag with collapsible inserts that can be recovered and reused for future shopping trips. The inserts collapse flat when not in use, making them easy to store and retrieve, thus balancing sustainability with convenience.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #34Discarding and recovering

3Reliability

If rigid compartments are used to prevent spillage, then food containment is improved, but ease of storage deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefood containmentVSAvoidstorage space

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSVolume of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The inserts are designed to be collapsible rather than rigid, allowing them to transition from an expanded state that provides effective food containment to a collapsed state that minimizes storage volume. This dynamic design enables the compartments to adapt between providing structural support during use and compact storage when not in use.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Data Source

PatentUS8910823B2Ready-made meal package

Publication Date: 2014.12.16 TARGET BRANDS INC

AI summary

A meal package includes a reusable bag and first and second inserts arranged in the reusable bag to form compartments. The first insert has a first side edge and a second side edge and includes bottom and top portions bent out-of-plane from a side portion at first and second score lines. The second insert has a top edge and a bottom edge and includes two side portions bent out-of-plane from a middle portion at first and second score lines. The bottom portion of the first insert is located adjacent a bottom of the bag and the side portion of the first insert is located adjacent a first side of the bag. The bottom edge of the second insert abuts an interior surface of the bottom portion of the first insert. An interior surface of the top portion of the first insert abuts the top edge of the second insert.