Multi-compartment ovenable food container

摘要

A package particularly useful for either conventional oven or microwave heating of refrigerated or frozen foodstuffs includes a lower paperboard tray, an upper frangible paperboard cover, and an intermediate compartmentalized plastic food tray. The bottom of the plastic tray food compartments rest on the tray bottom. The plastic tray side edges are clamped between laterally extending side flanges on the lower tray and edges of the top cover. The top cover is removed by ripping along tear lines. After consumption of the food, the plastic tray is readily removed to thereby facilitate separation for recycling. The package construction also facilitates the use of relatively thin plastic for forming the compartmentalized plastic tray because the weight of the foodstuffs in the plastic tray components is partially borne by the lower tray. In an embodiment, the plastic tray is inserted into the either end of a paperboard rectangular sleeve or tube and the tube ends closed, with only the two ends of the plastic tray supported by the paperboard lower tray portion.