Microwave food heating package with serving tray

A microwave heating and serving package for food sticks comprising, a carton that is at least partially transparent to microwave energy to enable the microwave energy to enter the package for heating the food sticks, said carton comprising two separable carton portions including an inner sleeve portion having a pair of broad opposing front and rear walls, a pair of opposing side walls on opposite sides thereof and top and bottom ends, one of said top end and said bottom end having a vent means defined therethrough and the other end being open, at least one microwave heating susceptor element within the sleeve portion for interacting with microwave energy to produce heat for heating the food sticks to crisp or brown the surface thereof, a quantity of food sticks within the sleeve portion positioned adjacent to the heating susceptor element, said sticks being substantially aligned between the top and bottom ends of the sleeve portion and being exposed through said open end, the other portion of the carton comprising a tray including a wide rear panel and four low sidewall panels projecting forwardly therefrom to provide a wide mouth for the tray corresponding in shape to the front and rear walls of the sleeve portion and said tray being telescopically mounted to the sleeve portion with the wide rear panel against the rear wall of the sleeve portion and one of the four low sidewall panels of the tray substantially closing the open end of the sleeve portion and a second of said sidewall panels of the tray opposite said one sidewall panel being constructed and arranged to expose the vent means at the one end of the sleeve portion to allow moisture vapor generated during microwave heating to escape through the vent means, said second sidewall panel being characterized by a) a cutaway portion, b) said cutaway portion having a free edge that is sufficiently low that the sidewall panel does not overlap the vent means, and c) the vent means is thereby exposed at all times to permit the escape of moisture vapor during heating even with the tray telescopically mounted to the sleeve portion, whereby when the sleeve portion is removed from the tray the food sticks are free to slide out of the open end of the sleeve portion and to enter the tray through the open wide mouth of the tray which tray can then function as a serving dish from which the hot food sticks can be directly eaten.

A microwave heating and serving package for food sticks comprising, a carton that is at least partially transparent to microwave energy to enable the microwave energy to enter the package for heating the food sticks, said carton comprising two separable carton portions including an inner sleeve portion having a pair of broad opposing face panels, a pair of relatively narrow opposing side walls on opposite sides thereof and first and second opposing ends, a vent passage defined through the first end thereof and an opening defined through the second end, at least one microwave heating susceptor element within the sleeve portion for interacting with microwave energy to produce heat for heating the food sticks to crisp or brown the surface thereof, a quantify of food sticks within the sleeve portion positioned adjacent to the heating susceptor element therein, said sticks being substantially aligned between the vent passage and the opening of the sleeve portion and being exposed through said opening, the other portion of the carton comprising a tray including a wide face panel of substantially the same size as the face panels of the sleeve portion to serve as a base and four low, upright sidewall panels providing a wide mouth for the tray, said mouth corresponding in shape to the broad face panels of the sleeve portion and said tray being further characterized by having:

• a) a telescopic sliding fit onto the sleeve portion along an axis substantially perpendicular to the broad face panels of the sleeve portion to maintain one face panel of the sleeve portion exposed when the tray is telescopically mounted on the sleeve portion;
• b) the tray being open at the top so that the wide mouth of the tray provides a relatively large opening to facilitate transfer of the food from the sleeve portion into the tray;
• c) one of the four low sidewalls of the tray substantially closing the opening in the second end of the sleeve portion;
• and
• d) said tray being constructed and arranged to expose enough of the sleeve portion to facilitate manual removal of the sleeve portion from the tray;
• e) whereby when the sleeve portion is lifted manually from the tray, the food sticks are free to fall out of the second end of the sleeve portion and to enter the wide mouth of the tray which can then function as a serving dish from which the hot food sticks can be directly eaten.