Food heating container

Abstract

According to the present invention, the package including a centrally-cored, dish-like container of food having a cover sealed across its mouth is provided in a carton, e.g. made of paper, which encloses a larger space than that occupied by the container of food. The cover of the container of food has regions which may be easily fork-pierced and the carton has apertures overlying these fork-pierceable regions of the container cover. Accordingly, the food may be warmed from a chilled or frozen state by fork-piercing the container cover through the carton apertures for permitting the escape of steam that will be generated in the food during the heating process, and then placing the package, still in its carton, in the microwave oven. As heating proceeds, steam escapes from the food through the pierced holes in the cover and then from the carton through the apertures which overlie the pierced holes. For further permitting the escape of steam from the carton, one or more additional vent openings, not aligned with fork-pierceable regions in the container cover are provided through the carton wall. The bottom of the carton, at a site in line with the container core, may be provided with a further opening through which the person who is warming the food may insert a finger for manually testing whether the food seems to be sufficiently heated.