Container for freezing and storage of foodstuffs

Claim 1

An article for use in the packaging, freezing and storing of fluid foodstuffs comprising: an open-topped elongated rectangular container molded of extensible sheet plastic material to be closed by a substantially rectangular lid; said container having a body defined by generally parallel, slightly downwardly convergent side walls and generally parallel, slightly downwardly convergent end walls, the depth of one end wall being substantially greater than the depth of the other end wall; and a corrugated bottom joined with the side walls and end walls and defining with the side walls and said one end wall at least two downwardly depending transverse substantially parallel pockets of equal depth spaced from each other and from said other end wall and having downwardly convergent walls; said bottom defining with the side walls and said other end wall at least two generally horizontal transverse ledges spaced from each other and disposed in the same horizontal plane, one of the ledges being disposed between a pair of said pockets; whereby when empty, a plurality of said containers may be nested in one another, and when filled, one container may be inverted and reversed end for end so that a second similar filled container may be superposed thereupon with a ledge of the second container supported upon the apex of an upwardly projecting pocket of said one container and with the margins of the respective tops in vertical alignment with each other; the plastic being of a type which is extensible in response to the expansive force of the foodstuff during the freezing process and of a thickness sufficient to allow rapid transfer of heat and extensibility; the space between a pair of said pockets exceeding the space occupied by an interfitting pocket of a superposed package sufficient to allow for the expansion of the pockets during the freezing of the contents and to permit the circulation of cooling fluid during transport or storage.