Overview
Good news for both established and emerging brands, the frozen food category continues to heat up. Growth is steady, and opportunity is real for those investing in the best frozen food packaging design. In this highly competitive space, visual impact matters. Even the best packaging for frozen food must go beyond aesthetics to deliver clarity, crave appeal, and credibility at first glance.
Strong frozen food branding effectively connects emotion with functionality, helping shoppers feel confident about the quality, convenience, and taste of their products. For startups, creating effective frozen food packaging for small business means focusing on design systems that scale, staying true to your identity while building shelf recognition.
When brainstorming frozen food packaging ideas, prioritize visibility through color contrast, photography, and appetite appeal that can break through frosted glass doors. Equally important, frozen food label design should clearly communicate key product benefits without overwhelming the shopper.
In today’s FMCG frozen food market, success demands more than a great recipe. It requires packaging that captures attention, communicates trust, and drives trial in one frozen moment.
Why Frozen Food is Alive and Well
Statistica reports they expect the size of the global frozen foods market to increase by over 40 percent from 2018 to 2026. In 2018, the frozen food market was valued at $260.8 billion. By 2026, they forecast the demand for frozen food to reach $366.3 billion. Being halfway through this market expectation, we clearly see the growing trend of purchasing food items with indefinite expiration dates.
It isn’t just preventing food waste that keeps the frozen food aisle busy with consumers. Frozen foods are a compromise between fresh foods you prepare and paying top dollar for food prepared by a chef.
While frozen fruits and frozen vegetables once were the predominant products in retail freezers, times have definitely changed. Now, chef-inspired meals and desserts, featuring unique packaging designs, line the shelves, enticing us to try them.
What Retailers Are Looking For
A product that showcases its goods with the right design and packaging solution stands a chance of succeeding in the frozen aisle. But since consumers are more inclined to try products from this CPG category, brand recall and product experience are critical for frozen food products.
Flashy designs and trending ingredients are enough to create an initial purchase, but you need more if you hope to keep customers coming back time and time again.
Brand resonance needs to be a top priority in your packaging design strategy. Due to the recent trend, you are likely open to the idea of sustainability in your packaging strategy, but this is not enough. Does sustainable packaging separate you from thousands of ice cream or prepared meal competitors? Doubtful.
For frozen food items to become a staple on grocery lists, the purchase drivers must resonate with a particular audience. Once you achieve acceptance from a more niche shopper profile, then look to increase market saturation with your frozen food brand.
Enter with a “takeover” strategy and expect to be removed entirely from the store.
Frozen Food Packaging Options
In case you are new to the frozen food industry, let’s briefly go over some of the standard frozen food packaging options. It is essential to consider each option carefully before implementing our package design strategy.
Tin Cans
Tin cans have been a reliable option in food packaging for frozen food for decades. While lighter materials now dominate the frozen CPG space, metal still offers durability and a premium feel that many brands overlook.
A well-executed frozen food package design, featuring a tin can, signals quality and heritage while standing out in a sea of plastic. With modern sealing systems and efficient frozen food packaging machines, it’s more practical than ever to revive this format.
For brands exploring frozen meals packaging, metal delivers both shelf impact and product protection. The right balance of tradition and innovation can turn a simple can into a competitive advantage in frozen packaging today.
Cardboard Boxes
The cardstock used for making folded boxes is strong, but it has one drawback: it has a limited life span after being taken out of the freezer. This type of packaging is not well-suited for temperature transitions.
The reason cardboard remains popular is that it is cost-effective compared to other types; however, in most cases, there’s no going back once you’ve already opened your product.
PET
PET is one of the most versatile materials in frozen packaging, known for its strength and resistance to temperature shifts. Its durability makes it ideal for packaging for frozen food that needs to move seamlessly from freezer to microwave or boiling water.
Brands exploring plastic packaging for frozen food often opt for PET due to its clarity, recyclability, and ability to preserve freshness without compromising convenience. When considering types of frozen food packaging, PET stands out as a reliable, cost-effective choice for performance and shelf appeal.
For teams learning how to package frozen food, PET offers flexibility for everything from ready meals to sauces, making it a staple in modern packaging design for frozen food and adaptable even for box packaging design applications.
Plastics
HDPE, LDPE, and Polypropylene are the most commonly used plastics in the manufacture of frozen food packaging. These types of plastic can withstand a wide range of temperatures, making them ideal for storing perishable goods, such as groceries or meat. They also prevent them from being damaged by outside elements during transportation to and from the grocery store.
PE
Polyethylene (PE) films are a good choice for food distribution during transportation, handling, and storage. Not only do they offer significant resistance to low-temperature conditions, such as -40 degrees Fahrenheit, but they also provide high mechanical strength with puncture resistance during cold weather seasons.
Custom Packaging Solutions
It’s important to remember that, at one point, all packaging solutions were custom. The standard cardboard box, stand-up pouch, and air-tight barrier films we see in the freezer today required creativity and ingenuity to build such innovations. But to win anywhere in the grocery store, we can’t rest on our laurels, limiting ourselves to the innovations of yesterday.
When considering any food product design, think of ways to build a better mousetrap with your product. You won’t need a radical change for it to make an impact. In fact, subtle changes often yield the best results for packaging.
At SmashBrand, this is and always will be a part of our design-to-print process. Let’s give you a taste of what that looks like.
What are you freezing?
What do you think of first in your design process, the consumer or the product itself? Honestly, it’s not one or the other; it is a synchronistic activity. Your frozen food packaging strategy begins with the product and its impact on the consumer.
To separate yourself from the competition, you first need to have a deep understanding of the food journey. It can be found in the grocery freezer, consumer freezer, microwave, or oven, and on a plate at the table. Frozen food has numerous opportunities for improvement, so be sure to take it step by step, identifying the problems your frozen food brand can solve along the way.
Here are some examples to stir your appetite.
Frozen Meat Packaging
It is easy to see how frozen meat gets a bad rap (not in packaging) with campaigns such as Wendy’s “Fresh Never Frozen.” While fresh is almost always good, frozen is not always bad. Would you rather have a cut of meat that’s been sitting in a fridge for a week, or flash-frozen meat packed one month ago?
A frozen meat brand can compete with the butcher in the meat department by using this approach and highlighting how they process and freeze their meat quickly, thereby protecting the macro- and micronutrients the meat contains.
Frozen Produce Packaging
Same story with a different twist. Fruits and vegetables spoil at different rates, often at varying times. It’s frustrating to plan a meal three days ahead only to have the required avocado ripen at the wrong time.
Frozen produce allows you to schedule your meals in advance without worrying about timing each piece of produce in the recipe perfectly.
How can you convey this as a purchase driver on your packaging? The perfect message will take more thinking than the article provides. However, consider ways to ensure that each fruit and vegetable is frozen at its peak flavor.
Frozen Meal Packaging
Even in this world of meal prep foods, a stigma persists that frozen meals often taste like the cardboard that holds them. Imagining that jumps off the packaging, showcasing deliciousness, may not be enough for the preexisting idea in the consumer’s mind.
Instead, focus on your product packaging design. While cardboard is an inexpensive solution that provides ample room for graphic design, it still conveys a bland message. Instead, go against the grain and choose unpredictable packaging, as seen with brands like Primal Kitchen.
Frozen Pizza Packaging
Did you know that take-and-bake pizza places still exist? I know, shocking right? Why would you pay a premium only to go home and do more work? Why would you want to increase your gas costs and wait longer for the food to be done? It all seems silly…
The reason is that take-and-bake suggests extra-fresh ingredients, whereas a frozen pizza suggests mediocrity. The answer to this problem isn’t embracing “good enough” products but including exclusive ingredients in your pizza product that take-and-bake or commercial pizza shops cannot match.
We’ve seen this with gluten-free cauliflower crusts, which is a needed category, but it isn’t the point we are making. Instead, look at brands like Trader Joe’s, which created an imported organic pizza.
Tell a story about the origins of your wheat, oil, and cheese. Maybe it’s stone-ground flour or perhaps it’s grass-fed cheese… dig deep and bring to the surface what makes your product special.
Frozen Dessert Packaging
There’s no shortage of creativity in ingredient usage in today’s ice cream packaging designs. Unfortunately, most wild flavors seem a better fit for ice cream shops than for the CPG market. Unless you want a fast track to outlet grocery retailers, think beyond the ingredient variations your product line has.
Try this: Go back to the basic chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors. Then, go through a package testing process to determine the purchase drivers that are strong enough to compete against both basic and abstract flavors. For ideation, look at CPG categories where a product is what it is, and use them as swipe files for your packaging, copy, and design.
Keeping Your Consumer in Mind
The cost of a frozen food category is wider than most imagine. You can buy a Lean Cuisine for $2.99, or you can buy a similar Annie’s product for $9.99. This is a more straightforward example to see, as parents will pay the premium to put healthier ingredients into their children’s bodies. However, it highlights how you can pay over 300% more for nearly the same product.
Going beyond the price difference, understanding your consumer is more than how much they will pay.
Here’s a scenario: You offer a cheap bulk product to a thrifty consumer on a lower-middle-class budget. How much space does this person really have in their freezer? If your packaging is not space-saving, expect a frustrated consumer when it doesn’t fit alongside eight other bulk items.
Here is one more scenario for good measure: You are selling a 3lb bag of frozen organic chicken. Most likely, this product ends up in a deep freeze rather than the fridge freezer combo. Does your packaging make it easier to fit at the bottom of the deep freeze or is it a better fit for the top? If it sits at the bottom, expect your sales to plummet as repeat purchases will be infrequent.
Where Does Your Product Live?
There are often numerous frozen and cold sections in a grocery store. Understanding where your product lives helps you better understand how to create packaging. Exactly why, at SmashBrand, we go through product testing in a simulated buying environment where we place products next to real-life competitors.
Behind the Glass Packaging
Remember, your product may sit behind foggy glass. If this is the case, your customers enter the evaluation phase twice. The first is when looking through the glass. The second is once they open the door.
Your packaging needs to appeal to consumers, keeping their focus through the glass filter as well as when their body temperature changes due to cold air exiting the cooler.
Packaging Considerations For Open Floor Freezers
In an ideal world, your product would always be positioned at or near eye level. But we do not live in a perfect world. A consideration few frozen food brands make is the shelf-stable products within the vision of a consumer. For open floor freezers, retailers will use the median to separate the two sides and place lower-cost items, such as snacks, teas, and superfood products, at the top.
Packaging That Can Stand the Cold
Just like ingredients, products undergo a testing process to determine their expiration date. Your packaging needs to be tested for how long it can withstand the cold. A brilliant design and custom package will be ineffective if your packaging changes (for the worse).
Let’s examine some testing requirements to ensure your packaging remains visually appealing throughout its entire lifespan.
Stick to Sticky Labels
You have a few label options for packaging frozen food. You can use vinyl sheet labels that are resistant to cold water. Remember that condensation often occurs when the door opens and closes or when chilly air meets room temperature.
You can also use thermal or direct transfer for roll labels, but be sure to test them to ensure they can withstand cold climates and potential dampness. Some may use freezer adhesives by coating them on either paper or vinyl stock.
Temperature-Resistant Packaging
Nothing looks worse than a soggy, peeling cardboard box. If using cardboard or any other hard surface, ensure that it doesn’t absorb moisture. Absorbing moisture will likely cause the packaging to lose its shape and surface integrity, affecting the design.
Resealable Packaging
Creating a seal that lasts is even harder for frozen food products. While you might do the right thing by making your packaging resealable, expect delayed disappointment if hopes of frustration-free packaging end up fizzling out with your sticky zipper.
Ensure your zip-lock bag keeps the frozen food fully sealed. Whether it is a sliding zipper, press zipper, or hooded zipper, it must seal completely and consistently.
Durable enough to take mishandling
People make some pretty dumb mistakes when they are cold. One of those dummy moves is dropping the product they pulled out of the freezer. How will your packaging withstand these accidents? If it becomes dented and is placed back in the retail freezer, your packaging will immediately experience a drop in buyer consideration.
Frozen Food Packaging That Performs
Want a best-selling brand? Our brand development and packaging design agency will help you create frozen food packaging that will outperform the competition. Book a time to discuss your project with our team.
Kevin Smith is the founder of SmashBrand, a brand development agency specializing in the CPG and FMCG sectors. Under Kevin's guidance, SmashBrand seamlessly integrates brand strategy, design, and detailed consumer testing, ensuring impactful market outcomes and enhanced sales velocities for its clients.
Key milestones in his career:
Before establishing SmashBrand, Kevin ventured into entrepreneurship with Nutri-Sport at 21. Recognizing the untapped potential in sports nutrition, he rapidly expanded to seven retail locations within a year. This success led to the formation of a distribution company serving all nutrition stores throughout Arizona.
Subsequent ventures included pioneering e-commerce stores and launching Athletic Xtreme, a globally distributed sports nutrition brand. Notably, Athletic Xtreme won BodyBuilding.com's Brand of the Year in 2006 and found its place on the shelves of major retailers, from GNC and Vitamin Shoppe to Walmart successfully exiting in 2014.
Apart from brand milestones, Kevin's journey includes commendable service as a Marine Corps veteran, where he was honored as a DOD Marine of the Year in 2001.
While leading SmashBrand and investing in budding brands, Kevin is committed to mentoring aspiring CPG entrepreneurs. His profound industry knowledge, from grasping retail trends to understanding shelf dynamics, serves as invaluable guidance for brands striving to carve out their niche.
Central to Kevin's approach is a consistent philosophy: Marry actionable, data-centric findings with proven strategies to ensure brands stand out and succeed in retail.
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