Patent Application
20240262599
The present invention relates to multi-compartment sealable bags.
The problem with household vacuum sealers is when drawing vacuum on a bag containing liquid marinade and food, the liquid marinade will be drawn out along with the air inside the bag. However, generally, it is only the meat component (or solid food component) of the mixture that is required to be vacuum sealed for preservation.
What is required is an improved heat sealable household bag that can store both vacuum sealed ingredients and non-vacuum sealed ingredients.
The various embodiments of the present invention may, but do not necessarily, achieve one or more of the following advantages:
These and other advantages may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification, claims, and abstract.
A storage bag for particular use with home based vacuum heat sealing devices includes nested bags. An outer bag may store substantially dry foodstuffs such as meat, and/or crunchy items. A smaller bag, pouch or sachet may store a liquid marinade, sauce or similar flavoring. The smaller bag may be sealed and then sealed within the outer bag which be vacuum sealed. Channels may be embossed into the bag layers of the outer bag to facilitate evacuation of the outer bag by the vacuum sealing device prior to heat sealing. The smaller inner bag may include a frangible outer seam that can be manipulated through the outer bag to cause the seam to rupture, thereby allowing the contents of the inner bag to mix with the contents of the outer bag, e.g. to cause a meat product to marinate prior to consumption.
In one embodiment, there is provided a heat sealable bag system for food storage. The system comprises a first bag comprising a first opening on a first edge for receiving a first material into the first bag and a second bag receivable into the first bag. The second bag may comprise a second opening on a second edge for receiving a second material into the second bag and an at least partially frangible outer seam. The outer seam can be manipulated to rupture a frangible portion of the frangible outer seam while the second bag is sealed within the first bag to allow mixing of the first material and the second material within the first bag.
In one embodiment, there is provided a method for storing foodstuffs within a heat-sealable bag. The method may comprise providing a first foodstuff into a first opening of a first bag and providing a second foodstuff into a second opening of a second bag. The second bag may comprise an at least partially frangible outer seam. The second opening may be heat sealed and the first opening may be heat sealed either in a the same operation or in a separate operation, to heat seal the first opening with the first foodstuff and the sealed second bag inside the first bag.
In one embodiment, there is provided bag for use as an inner liquid food bag of a food storage system. The bag is configured to be received within an outer bag that is subsequently vacuum sealed. The bag may comprise a plurality of edge seams that define a perimeter of the bag and an internal volume of the bag. One or more of the plurality of edge seams may comprise a frangible portion. The bag may have an opening for filling the internal volume with a liquid foodstuff. The frangible portion may be configured to be ruptured by manipulation of the bag once the bag has been heat sealed and disposed within a sealed outer bag containing a dry food product.
In one embodiment, there is provided a method for food storage using a food storage bag. A first foodstuff may be placed into a first opening of a food storage bag and a sealed rupturable liquid flavor sachet may be placed into the food storage bag. The food storage bag may then be vacuum sealed and stored. At a later time, e.g. at a time of consumption, the liquid flavor sachet may be ruptured without opening the bag to allow the contents of the liquid flavor sachet to mix with the first foodstuff.
The above description sets forth, rather broadly, a summary of one embodiment of the present invention so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and contributions of the present invention to the art may be better appreciated. Some of the embodiments of the present invention may not include all of the features or characteristics listed in the above summary. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and will form the subject matter of claims. In this respect, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or as illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The present inventors have realized that household food storage systems do not necessarily require all ingredients of a mixture to be vacuum sealed. Generally, meat or other solid foodstuffs require vacuum sealing so that bacteria and similar within the foodstuff cannot multiply and lead to spoilage. Other foodstuffs, particularly liquid marinades and the like, may have preservatives (natural or added) and may have been cooked or mixed in a way that naturally kills most of the bacteria that could lead to spoilage. However, it is difficult to vacuum seal marinated meats and the like using conventional household vacuum sealings systems and bags because the liquid component can be extracted into the sealing area of the bag, effecting the quality of the seal and also potentially causing damage or contamination within the vacuum sealing apparatus.
Furthermore, the present inventors have realized that meats do not require marinading for their entire shelf life, but may be combined closer to the time of consumption, typically within approximately 24 hours. However, there is currently no household heat sealable bag available that allows different food components to be stored separately and later combined.
Further still, if dried or semi-dried meats are used in combination with vacuum sealing, it may be possible to extend the shelf life even longer.
With these realizations in mind, there will be described herein a two pouch vacuum sealable bag for food storage that allows separation of different foodstuffs, particular wet and dry ingredients, and later mixture of the ingredients within the bag.
The bag 200 may include an open edge 216 through which material may be added to an internal compartment or volume 204 defined by the edges 212, 214, 216, 218 of the bag 200. The open edge 216 may be heat sealed using a heat vacuum sealing device to form a sealed bag having an internal volume 204.
Each bag 100, 200 may be filled with a material by the user and then heat sealed using any of a known variety of bag sealing systems. The bag sealing system may further incorporate vacuum elements for vacuum sealing one or both of the compartments.
The bags 100, 200 will, by necessity, be of different sizes so that the second bag nested within the first bag as will be described below. The relative sizes of the bags may be dependent on an intended use of the bag and thus each bag may be labelled with that use.
The user may provide different food materials into each of the bags 100, 200, seal the second bag 200, e.g. by placing the open end 216 of the bag 200 into a vacuum sealing device and operating the device in a heat-seal only mode. The sealed second bag 200 may then be placed into the first bag 100 before sealing the first bag, e.g. by placing the open end 116 of the first bag into the vacuum sealing device. One or both of the bags 100, 200 may have a vacuum applied to vacuum seal the respective bag.
In one embodiment, the multi-bag system may be utilized to store foodstuffs. For example, a meat product may be stored in the outer bag 100 and a marinade for the meat product may be stored in the inner bag 200. The marinade may be filled through the opening 216 and sealed shut with minimal amount of air bubbles. The outer bag 100 filled with the meat or food product that is to be marinaded and the sealed marinade pouch 200 may be vacuum heat sealed for long preservation and shelf life. When the user desires to use the product, the user may break the frangible seal 218 to allow that marinade to leak into the outer bag 100 to thereby mix with the meat product.
In an alternative example, the outer bag 100 may be filled with a dry product, in particular a crunchy product while the inner bag 200 may be filled with a wet product. The compartments may be combined just prior to serving by breaking the frangible seal, thereby allowing the food product to remain crunchy up to the time of consumption.
The bags 100, 200 may be configured for use with a vacuum sealing machine such as the range of FoodSaver™ machines provided by Newell Brands™. These machines typically include a heat sealing bar that when pressed down upon the open end of a plastic bag will heat seal the two layers of the bag to each other. The machines can typically be operated in a heat sealing only mode, a vacuum mode only or a combined vacuum and heat sealing mode.
The frangible seal 218 may be formed in a variety of ways. In one embodiment, the frangible seal may be made by printing an adhesive on to the inner surface of the film during manufacturing. The pattern and density of printed adhesive determines how strong the seal is. The printing could be done with a dot matrix printer, wheel, screen (like a silk screen), spray, etc.
In one embodiment, the frangible seal may be formed by creating voids in the standard strong heat seal. As shown in
In one embodiment, the frangible seal may be formed using high and low areas in a seal bar. Higher points on the seal bar would create stronger seal while the lower points on the seal bar would create weaker seal, thereby producing a frangible characteristic. By varying the pattern, depth of highs and lows, percentage of high areas and shapes of the high areas different frangible characteristics can be created.
In one embodiment, the frangible seal is made by using different sealing parameters than the non-frangible seals. The parameters may include temperature, pressure and exposure time. For example, a seal bar with a lower temperature is applied to the frangible area with less pressure and time than is applied to the non-frangible areas (edge seams) or strong seal portions of the compartment seals.
In one embodiment, the plastic film may include a layer of weaker material for the frangible seal. Specifically, a polybutene material may be used. In one specific embodiment, polybutene/polyester or any two or more blends of polyolefin may be used to create a peelable film.
Because the frangible bag 200 is located, in use, within the outer bag, the frangible seam is configured to be broken by manipulation through the outer bag. In particular, the strength of the frangible seam is designed so that the frangible seam may be broken by manipulation through the outer bag. In one embodiment, the manipulation may be performed by the user by squeezing the frangible bag to increase the liquid pressure within the inner bag 200 until the frangible seam ruptures. In one embodiment, the manipulation may be performed by the user feeling for the walls of the inner bag through the outer bag and then forcing the walls of the inner bag apart until the frangible seam ruptures. This latter method may be more difficult than the squeezing method and made more difficult if the outer bag has been vacuum sealed.
In the embodiment depicted by
An advantage of the embodiment of
A particular example described above is to include relatively dry, solid, or particulate material into the outer bag and to provide a wet material into the inner bag. The bags may be specifically designed and labelled for this purpose. In one embodiment, the inner surfaces of the open edge of the outer bag may be embossed with one or more grooves that facilitates vacuum sealing of this edge. However, the inner surfaces of the inner bag may remain unembossed as such grooves can cause liquid to be drawn out of the bag and into the vacuum sealing machinery during vacuum sealing. The liquid can also be caught in the seal area and adversely affect the sealing operation. By maintaining the inner surfaces of the inner bag as smooth, these surfaces will block off at the opening when a vacuum is applied at the opening, thereby preventing any evacuation of the inner bag.
While a two bag system is shown, the person skilled in the art will recognize that a greater number of inner bags with frangible seals may be provided within the outer bag. Such multiple bags could allows for staged marination and addition of ingredients.
A method 900 for using the multi-compartment bag is illustrated in
As previously discussed, the inner bag may be used to store a liquid, e.g. a marinade, flavored sauce, etc. while the outer bag may be used to store a product to be marinaded, such as a meat product. Once both bags are sealed, the outer bag containing the inner bag may be stored until required, with refrigeration or freezing if necessary. To access the contents of the bag, the bag may be thawed if frozen until the contents of the liquid compartment 104 are again liquid. The inner bag may be manipulated through the outer bag to break the frangible seam 218. For example, the two layers of the bag may be pulled apart in the region of the seam 218 to break the frangible portion 226 of the seam. Alternatively, the inner bag may be squeezed until the pressure forces the frangible seal 218 to rupture. Once the frangible seam is broken, any vacuum in the outer bag 100 will draw liquid from the inner bag as the two compartments equalize. The bag may be shaken or otherwise manipulated to mix the contents of the two compartments. Once sufficient mixing has been achieved and, optionally, sufficient marination time has elapsed, the user may open one or more of the outer edges 112, 114, 116, 118 of the outer bag 100 to access the mixed contents within. One or more of the outer edges may be provided with a destructive peel seal or a tearable edge, as is known in the art, to facilitate opening of the outer bag.
In one embodiment, the inner bags may be provided as sealed sachets containing a particular liquid foodstuff. In one embodiment, the liquid may be marinade intended to be added to a raw meat package. At the time of consumption, the marinade sachet can be ruptured within the meat package to marinate the meat prior to cooking. Alternatively, the liquid may be a sauce intended to be added to a cooked meat or similar. At the time of consumption, the sauce sachet can be ruptured to flavour the contents of the outer food package which may then be eaten raw, re-heated or cooked further.
The flavoring sachets may be sold as kits with multiple flavors in a single kit. Alternatively, a user may make their own flavor sachets, including creating their own liquid flavorings, by adding a liquid flavoring to an unsealed rupturable sachet, heat sealing the sachet using a vacuum sealing device, and then adding the sealed sachet to the food storage bag prior to vacuum sealing.
The use of a sealed but rupturable flavor sachet allows a liquid flavoring to be incorporated into a food storage bag while still allowing vacuum sealing of the food storage bag without drawing liquids into the vacuum sealing device.
An additional method for food storage is depicted in the flowchart 1000 of
Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the embodiments of this invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples given.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/443638 filed 6 Feb. 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63443638 | Feb 2023 | US |
