Waste not…
The can is a master at storing food. It’s the ultimate packaging option in my opinion, offering a safe, easily stackable, long-term storage solution for over 1,500 different kinds of food items. But are there steps that could be taken to improve them still further?
One thing that occurred to me recently was that people – not all people of course, but some – can be quite lazy.
When it comes down to it, people generally choose the path of least resistance, and when it comes to cans it struck me that there is something that we are told we cannot do with them – put them into the refrigerator.
Picture the scene, it will be familiar I’m sure. You open your can of beans, for example, pour out the desired amount of product into your saucepan, heat them up and enjoy. But what you have left is a quantity of beans in the can that you now have to do something with.
You cannot put the can in the fridge – according to the NHS website in the UK, the advice is: “Never put open cans in the fridge, as the metal may transfer to the can’s contents – place the contents in a storage container or covered bowl instead.” So the remainder either has to be transferred and covered as advised here, or, as I suspect is very often the case, thrown directly into the bin with the thought hanging in the air that “I just can’t be bothered with that, it’s only a small amount anyway.”
I may be a cynic and I’m sure many people are very conscientious about using up everything they can, but it would be interesting to see the figures, if they were available, as to how much food is actually wasted in this manner.
So, I’m asking you, the industry experts, is there a way to make cans safe to put into the refrigerator? Would this, in your opinion, be cost effective enough considering the appeal this may add to the container? Or is it just not worth looking at?
Please let us know your thoughts by responding below.
Thanks,
Richard
