Custom Frozen Food Boxes
Custom frozen food boxes built for the freezer aisle and the home freezer, from 100 units. Board that stays rigid at -18 °C, a coating that shrugs off frost and thaw, glue that does not let go in the cold, and print that still reads under a layer of ice crystals.
Everything a carton does, it does worse when frozen
- Board
- Freezer-grade SBS or CUK, 18–24 pt, wet-strength; E-flute laminate for heavy packs
- Coating
- Aqueous or poly outside; non-fluorinated food-side barrier
- Adhesive
- Cold-resistant on all seams and auto-lock bases
Get a price for Frozen Food Boxes
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
Board that does not crack at -18
Standard SBS folded at freezer temperature cracks along the crease, and the crack shows as a white line through the print. Freezer-grade board is a solid bleached or unbleached sulfate with higher long-fiber content and a wet-strength additive, which keeps it flexible cold and stops it delaminating when it thaws and sweats. It costs a little more per sheet and it is not optional.
For anything heavy — a family-size lasagna, a bag of frozen fruit — we step up to a heavier caliper or a micro-flute laminate rather than relying on the board alone.
| Single-serve meal | 18–20 pt freezer-grade SBS, aqueous coat, tuck end |
|---|---|
| Family tray meal | 22–24 pt or E-flute laminate, auto-lock base |
| Bagged frozen goods | 20 pt carton around a poly bag; the bag holds the frost |
| Ice cream and desserts | Poly-coated board both sides, wet-strength glue |
Coating, and the thaw
A frozen box is wet twice: frost forms on it in the freezer, and it sweats when it comes out. An aqueous or poly coating on the outside keeps the print from smearing and the board from wicking; on the inside, a barrier stops the food moisture soaking the board from within. We use non-fluorinated barriers for both, for the reasons set out in our note on food packaging without PFAS.
Matte coatings hide frost scuffing better than gloss. A glossy frozen carton looks tired after a week in the aisle; a matte one does not.
Glue that holds in the cold
The most common frozen carton failure is not the board — it is the side seam opening because a standard hot-melt went glassy in the freezer. We use a cold-resistant adhesive on every seam of a frozen box, and on auto-lock bases where the weight sits. It is invisible in the finished carton and it is the difference between a box that survives a month in a chest freezer and one that does not.
Print that reads through frost
Microwave and oven instructions need their own clearly boxed panel. Those instructions are the part of the artwork most likely to be changed, so we keep them on a panel that can be reprinted without touching the rest of the design.
- High contrast — dark type on light ground or the reverse. Mid-tones vanish under frost.
- Type at 8 pt and above for anything the shopper needs; cooking instructions are the text people read with cold hands in a hurry.
- A large product photo, because the food is invisible until cooked.
- A gloss varnish over the photo only, so it pops without the whole box going shiny.
Frozen Food Boxes — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Board
- Freezer-grade SBS or CUK, 18–24 pt, wet-strength; E-flute laminate for heavy packs
- Coating
- Aqueous or poly outside; non-fluorinated food-side barrier
- Adhesive
- Cold-resistant on all seams and auto-lock bases
- Styles
- Tuck end, auto-lock, tray and sleeve, full-overlap for heavy packs
- High-contrast, matte finish, boxed cooking-instruction panel
- Minimum
- 100 boxes
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo in one to six colors, printed on the outer face only and before any lining goes on.
- Color
- Food-safe inks throughout. Kraft mutes color; a white board or liner is needed for anything photographic.
- Tolerance
- Cutting plus or minus 1 mm, and fit confirmed by filling a plain sample from your own kitchen or line.
- Tooling
- A cutting die per size, kept. Molded pulp needs a tool per shape, which is a longer lead and a larger one-off.
- Food contact
- Every board food-contact grade, with grease resistance built into the sheet and never a PFAS treatment.
- Sustainability
- Aqueous linings and unlined boards repulp with ordinary paper. PE-lined cups need cup collection, and we say which you have.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build frozen food boxes on
Food packaging is chosen for what the food does to it: grease, steam, heat and time. Every board here is food-contact grade, and none of them uses a PFAS treatment for grease resistance.
Food-grade virgin board
Bleached board made for direct food contact. Clean, bright, no recycled fiber and no mineral-oil risk from recovered paper.
14–24ptGrease-resistant board
Resistance built into the sheet rather than sprayed on. Holds fries, pastry and butter without darkening. PFAS-free.
16–24ptPE-lined cupstock
Board with a polyethylene film for hot and cold liquid. Microwave-safe for reheating; recycled only where cup collection exists.
260–350gsmAqueous-lined cupstock
A water-based lining instead of PE. Repulpable in ordinary paper recycling in more places, and compostable; a slightly shorter hold time.
260–320gsmGreaseproof and glassine
Dense, calendered paper that resists fat through the fiber. Wraps, liners and interleaves; breathable, so pastry stays crisp.
30–55gsmFood-grade corrugated
E and B flute with a food-contact liner, vented where steam has to leave. Pizza, catering and anything hot and heavy.
E and B fluteMolded pulp and bagasse
Fiber pressed into a shape. Holds heat, resists grease with no lining, composts, and takes only an embossed or one-color mark.
Molded to shapeRecycled board
Post-consumer fiber. Used for outers, sleeves and anything that does not touch food directly — not for direct contact.
Non-contact onlyNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Food finishes are limited by what may touch food, and that is the point.
Food-safe inks
Printed on the outer face only. Every food pack we make uses them, laminated or not.
Uncoated kraft
No coating at all. Breathable, so pastry stays crisp, and it takes one or two colors.
Aqueous varnish
Scuff resistance without a plastic film, so the pack still repulps.
Molded emboss
A logo pressed into pulp or bagasse. No ink, nothing to rub off, and it survives grease.
Grease-resistant face
Not a finish you can see. It is in the sheet, it is PFAS-free, and it is why the print stays clean.
Matte lamination
Available on outers and sleeves that never touch food — a cake box lid, a carrier, a gift sleeve.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing food packaging around a portion, hot: frozen food boxes
Food is sized by serving, not by dimensions, and it is served hot, heaped and in a hurry. Send us the portion — or better, the box you use now with the food in it — and we size to how it is actually filled.
- Portion, heaped
- Fries, popcorn and salad are served above the rim. A box sized to a level fill looks mean and spills in a bag.
- Lid clearance
- Enough that a loaded burger or a topped cake does not touch the lid. This is the single most common complaint about a food box.
- Venting
- Hot food steams. Vents in the lid keep pastry and fries crisp; a sealed box is right only for cold food.
- Grease path
- Where the fat sits decides the board. Say if the food is fried, buttered or sauced, and whether it is held for minutes or an hour.
- Stacking in a bag
- Delivery boxes are stacked five high on a bike. The lid has to hold the box above it off the food below.
- Sample fill
- A plain box filled from your kitchen settles the size in one try, and we send one before the run.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Build your Frozen Food Boxes in 3D
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a board and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about frozen food boxes? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
Will the box crack in the freezer?
Not freezer-grade board. Standard SBS cracks at the creases at -18 °C; the wet-strength grade we use stays flexible and does not delaminate on thawing.
Does the glue hold when frozen?
Yes — we use a cold-resistant adhesive on every seam. A standard hot-melt goes glassy in the cold and the side seam opens, which is the usual frozen-carton failure.
Is the coating food safe?
Yes, and it is free of fluorinated chemistry. The food-side barrier is an aqueous or PLA grade; the outside is aqueous or poly to stop frost smearing the print.
Can the box go in the microwave?
The paperboard can; a poly coating and some inks cannot. Tell us whether the food is cooked in the box and we spec it accordingly.
What about the oven?
Ovenable board exists, with a heat-stable coating and no lamination. It is a different spec from a freezer carton, and it is possible to have both if the food is cooked in the tray.
Why matte rather than gloss?
Frost scuffs gloss so the box looks worn after a week in the aisle. Matte hides it. A spot gloss over the photo alone gives the shine where it helps.
Can you make a box for a heavy tray meal?
Yes, in a heavier caliper or a micro-flute laminate with an auto-lock base. The weight sits on the base, so that is where the strength goes.
Is it recyclable?
With an aqueous coating, yes, as paperboard. A poly coating is harder to recycle, which is why we use aqueous unless the product needs the extra barrier.
What is the minimum order?
100 boxes. Cartons run many-up on a sheet, so short runs are practical even in the freezer grade.
Can I change the cooking instructions later?
Yes. We keep them on their own panel so a reprint does not touch the rest of the artwork.
How long does production take?
It depends on the board and the quantity. We give a date with the quote rather than a number before we have seen the spec.
Will you send a sample?
A white sample in the freezer grade, so you can put it in your freezer with the product and see how it behaves before print.
Same range
