Clever Packaging Tricks Let Out Of The Bag
By Elena Langlois
General Australian Soft Delicious Strawberry Liquorice Gatorade Pepsi PET shopping bags Smuckers Foods•••
After I recently resorted to a daily regimen of an hour on a treadmill to help burn all those licorice calories off, I got a chance to ponder the thoughtful packaging evolution of the Gatorade Thirst Quencher sports drink, distributed here by Pepsi-QTG Canada. A long-enduring favorite of athletes and sporting enthusiasts for its rapid electrolyte replenishing properties, the beverage has undergone a plethora of package design changes over the years–with the latest version deserving some genuine high praise from yours truly. Whereas most plastic drink-bottles feature some sort of a four-divot-design feature which has the consumer gripping the bottle in one particular way, the new design of the 710-ml bottle features columns of divots to allow consumers to hold the bottle in whichever grip best suits their style, with the ridges between the columns helping ensure virtually slip-free ‘grippability.’ That said, I have mixed feelings about the drinking spout–a pseudo-adult, sippy-cup-style top requiring the consumer to twist it to open, place the lips around it, and suck in the drink. With no protective overcap covering the top–as you would find with many squirt-bottles–I just can’t help wonder about the general cleanliness of the closure at it makes its way through all the manufacturing and distribution stages.
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Using vegetable shortening or lard for baking is often a unfailing recipe for a messy kitchen experience. Typically sold in one-pound (454-gram) blocks–the equivalent of two-and-a-third cups–that are wrapped in parchment paper inside a paperboard box, the product requires all sorts of careful handling, measuring and repackaging manipulation to carve off just the right amount for the job at hand. Despite my best efforts, I’ve not been able to master the art of doing all those things without smearing the greasy stuff all over the package or myself. So many thanks to the Markham, Ont.-based Smuckers Foods of Canada Co. for making my life in the kitchen simpler with its brilliant new Crisco All Vegetable Shortening Sticks. Pre-cut into three one-cup measures–precisely the amount most often called for in my recipes–and wrapped in the parchment-lined foil similar to that used in old-style butter packages, the sticks boast handy markings to help the wannabe bakers quickly figure out the right amount for their purposes. With the sticks packed in individual plastic containers–held together with cello-wrap and flowwrapped in decorative folding cartons loaded with all the essential brand recognition pizazz–the attractive package gets full marks for consumer-friendliness and convenience.
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