---
title: 🍱 Selecting Suitable Packaging
description: Choose the right boxes, insulation, and padding to keep your products safe and intact in transit.
---
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# 🍱 Selecting Suitable Packaging
## Choose the right boxes, insulation, and padding to keep your products safe and intact in transit.
### Why packaging mattersÂ
Good packaging:
- Protects your products during transport.
- Keeps food at safe temperatures for as long as possible.
- Reduces the chance of complaints and refunds.
- Makes it easier for couriers to handle boxes safely.
### Step 1 – Understand your product types
Group your products into simple categories:
- **Ambient / room temperature** (e.g. biscuits, dry goods).
- **Chilled** (e.g. cream cakes, deli items).
- **Frozen** (e.g. ice cream, frozen pastries).
- **Fragile or soft** (e.g. pastries, decorated cakes, glass jars).
Each group usually needs different packaging, insulation, or extra padding.
### Step 2 – Choose the right outer packaging
Use strong, stackable outer packaging:
- Sturdy **corrugated cardboard boxes** sized to your products.
- Avoid boxes that are too large (items will move and can break).
- Seal all edges with heavy‑duty tape.
Label boxes clearly where needed, for example:
- “This way up”
- “Fragile”
- “Keep refrigerated on arrival”
(Confirm with your carrier whether they honour these labels.)
### Step 3 – Protect the contents
Inside the box:
- Use **dividers or inserts** for jars, bottles, or cakes so they can’t collide.
- Fill gaps with padding such as paper, bubble wrap, or food‑safe fillers.
- Keep items snug so they don’t move when the box is lifted or tilted.
For layered products like cakes:
- Consider cake boards and inner boxes.
- Avoid heavy items on top of delicate pieces.
### Step 4 – Manage temperature (chilled and frozen items)
If you ship chilled or frozen products:
- Use **insulated liners** or **thermal boxes**.
- Add the right amount of **ice packs** or **gel packs** based on the courier’s transit time.
- Check how long your packaging keeps items within safe temperature limits — run a small internal test if possible.
Add simple instructions for the customer, for example:
- “Refrigerate immediately on arrival.”
- “Best consumed within X days.”
### Step 5 – Test before going live
Before offering a new product for delivery:
1. Pack a few test boxes exactly as a customer order.
2. Send them to:
- Yourself, or
- A colleague at another address.
3. Check:
- Product condition.
- Temperature on arrival (if applicable).
- Whether anything leaked or shifted.
Adjust your packaging based on what you see.
### Step 6 – Keep a packing checklist
Create a short checklist for your team, for example:
- Correct box size chosen.
- Inner packaging and padding added.
- Ice packs added (if needed).
- Label attached with product name and any storage instructions.
- Seal checked.
This keeps packing consistent, even when different staff are working.
---
### **Can you recommend any packaging suppliers?**
We like to act with a conscience and consider our impact. We believe your customers will have this same mindset and appreciate any effort to use sustainable packaging too. We recommend using eco-friendly packaging where possible. Here are some suppliers that offer such services:
- [https://www.sourceful.com/](https://www.sourceful.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=slerp+intro)
- [https://www.vegware.com/](https://www.vegware.com/)
- [https://www.eco-craft.co.uk/](https://www.eco-craft.co.uk/)
- [https://www.biopac.co.uk/](https://www.biopac.co.uk/)
And for bespoke branded options, we recommend contacting Chris at Promo Catering who may be able to help:
Chris Cooper, Operations Manager
[cooper@promocatering.co.uk](mailto:cooper@promocatering.co.uk) , [https://www.promocatering.co.uk/](https://www.promocatering.co.uk/)
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