Packaging

I never know where a blog post will go when I write it. This may well turn into a rant.

I am so fed up with everyday packaging I can't open. Everything - tins, cardboard boxes, plastic film covered food containers, blister packs. I have a drawer in my kitchen with 2 gizmos to help me open tins & 4 to help open jars. There is nothing to help peel the film back from plastic food containers or to prize open cardboard packaging. The problem with both of those is the glue. It's too strong. So I end up jabbing at it with a sharp knife.

In all honesty I will admit that my hands are not as strong or flexible as they were. But I really can't believe that it is beyond the wit of man to use a glue which allows people to open the package. As for opening child proof medication - I had to ask someone to do it for me with one bottle. 

The problem seems to be that manufacturers design packaging to solve business problems like theft, damage & tampering, rather than ease of use. Heat sealed plastic edges & rigid cardboard are cheap & fast to run on automated machinery compared to user friendly designs. Products often have to survive long distance shipping. 

We all want to be sure that what we buy is tamper proof, especially food. So I do understand this from the industry point of view. But not all packaged food is impossible to open without a knife, some is relatively easy, so  glue that seals but doesn't frustrate must be available. Why isn't it universally used? 

There are several cook your own food from fresh companies now. I tried one that has 3 small packs of the flavouring / seasoning & you supply your own fresh ingredients. I thought the recipes were very good. But opening the seasoning packs was a nightmare. They are small & round & difficult to hold while tearing off the film lids. Impossible to open without a knife because the glue is really strong. Lethal. I love the fact that these companies encourage cooking with fresh ingredients, but I stopped my subscription because of the packaging.

Packs of cake with instructions to "open here" with a tiny tab, but the glue is so strong you can't. On the other hand cereal boxes that have the same thing but open easily. Getting into blister packs of toothbrush heads. It's all about the glue strength.

We have just accepted that assembly lines churning out heat sealed, plastic to plastic, is the optimum method of transporting & buying food. Well it isn't. I remember a time when most food was not packaged at all. I remember fruit & veg shops, butchers & fishmongers. I remember when biscuits were displayed loose in big tins & you took how many you wanted & put them in a paper bag. Broken biscuits were sold off cheaply, not included in the packaged ones as now. 

Why on earth is fruit & veg packaged at all? I don't need 4 apples or pears in a tray wrapped in plastic. I don't need potatoes in a plastic bag. All of this has happened insidiously over time perhaps because we no longer eat food we have produced locally, in season. The "convenience" is to fit in with an industry that we actually don't really need & which produces mountains of waste.

I won't buy grapes when they are transported from Peru or Africa. I only eat grapes when they are in season in Europe. I won't eat French beans when they have been transported for thousands of miles. They grow really well in the UK & are seasonal. I'm tired of fruit that has been deep frozen, travelled miles, looks perfect & goes off really quickly, or is rotten inside or uneatable because it is so hard.

We have been conned by the food industry.