US20160137364A1

US20160137364A1 - Food container

Info

Publication number: US20160137364A1
Application number: US14/756,943
Authority: US
Inventors: Kimberly Pirrella
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-11-17
Filing date: 2015-11-02
Publication date: 2016-05-19

Abstract

A food container for the storage of left over food or unused portions of food in a refrigerator for subsequent use, the food container having a base member and a securable lid member of semi-rigid material, the lid being snap fit or hingeably secured to the base member, the lid member having indicia incorporated therein identifying the days of the week which allow the user to identify the day upon which food was introduced in the container for storage, which indicia can be reset when the contained food is consumed and the container is reused at a later date.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

Applicant claims the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 62/123,386, filed Nov. 17, 2014.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a food container for the storage of food, either freshly prepared, or leftovers, or unused portions, in a refrigerator. More particularly, it addresses a food container, the lid of which contains the days of the week indicia allowing the user to identify the day in which the food stuff was placed in the container for storage and refrigeration.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Left over food from a meal or unused portions of food present daily predicaments to homemakers, cooks, and chefs. Depending upon the number of people consuming the food, the portion may be too large for complete consumption and result in leftovers to be stored and refrigerated for later consumption. Alternatively, many cooks prepare meals in advance and wish to refrigerate this food until use. These cooks many times include working mothers who prefer to cook meals on the weekend for storage and consumption during the week because of their work schedule. Still further, with many families being dual income families having both parents working outside the home and the youth of today being involved in multiple activities, sports, and the daily grind of school work, many families do not get to sit and eat a daily meal together, thus forcing the homemaker, cook, or chef to store food stuff in a container for later consumption.
In any of these instances, the homemaker, cook or chef often resorts to a storage container for storing the food for a future date or for a subsequent meal. These containers vary from wrapping the product in aluminum foil or in plastic bags, or in some instances, the use of storage containers. These storage containers as opposed to foil or plastic wrap are semi-rigid and are formed of a base member having a container cavity portion and a lid member which is secured to the base portion in a snap fit manner or other similar sealing means. These type of containers can be transparent, translucent, or opaque. More often than not the homemaker, cook, or chef does not take the time to stop and accurately mark the container, noting which day the leftovers were placed for refrigeration. Thus, a homemaker, cook, or chef will go through the refrigerator, oftentimes finding a food product that has overstayed its welcome and has gone bad.
Applicant's invention incorporates an indicia which allows the homemaker, cook or chef to identify the day of the week in which food was placed in the particular container.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention to provide for a novel food container for use in a refrigerator which incorporates an indicia which allows the user to identify the day of the week in which food was placed into the container.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel container for food for use in a refrigerator which is easily cleaned and is dishwasher safe.
A further object of the present invention is to provide for a novel food container for use with food stuffs for the refrigerator in which the user can easily and clearly identify the day of the week of introduction of food stuffs into the container and the indicia thus used provides the user the ability to determine if the food stuffs are still edible for consumption or if the food stuffs must be discarded.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent, particularly when taken in light of the following illustrations wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the food container and indicia of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the food container and the indicia of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a food container 10 of the present invention. Food container 10 comprises a base member 12 having a bottom 14, and four sides 16, 18, 20, and 22 (not shown). Base member 12 has an open top defining a cavity (not shown). Securable to the base member is a lid 30. Lid 30 may be hingeably secured to the base member and have snap fit securing means, or the lid 30 may be completely separate from the base member 12 and have snap fit securing means 32 around all four of the upper peripheral edges of the base member 12. The base member 12 and the lid 30 are made of semi-rigid material such as plastic, and they may be transparent, translucent, or opaque.
Incorporated into the lid 30 of the food container 10 is a weekly calendar indicia 34. The calendar indicia 34 comprises seven raised, resilient depressible buttons 35 through 41, each button having a day of the week or the first letter of the day of the week embossed or imprinted thereon. As illustrated in FIG. 1 the depressible buttons 35 to 41 are embossed from left to right with the letters S, M, T, W, Th, F, and S representing the days of the week, Sunday through Saturday.
This aids the user in knowing how long the particular container has been in use for the particular food items contained therein. The user now can identify the exact day in which the food stuff was placed in the container for refrigeration. This allows the homemaker, cook or chef more control over the advanced prepared food, leftovers or unused portions of food which are contained in the refrigerator.
The depressible buttons 35 through 41 indicating the day of the week are integral with lid 30 and formed thereon unitarily. The buttons extend upwardly away from lid 30, and if one were to inspect the interior underside of lid 30, they would see corresponding complimentary indentations in the interior surface of lid 30 corresponding with the upwardly extending depressible buttons 35 through 41 visible on the exterior surface of lid 30. When the food stuffs stored in the container are utilized, the user, be it the cook, chef, or whomever, resets the depressible button by merely pressing on the depressible button 35 through from the underside of the lid 30 thereby returning the selected depressible button 35 through 41 to an erect orientation on the outer surface of the lid 30. The next time that the container is used and food stuffs are stored therein for refrigeration, the cook or chef would merely press down on the selected depressible button 35 through 41 which corresponds to the day of the week in which the food is being stored. The depressible button 35 through 41 would then remain in a depressed state identifying the day the food stuffs were stored therein until reset in the manner heretofore set forth.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the container 10. It is identical in all respects with the exception of the manner in which the calendar indicia is secured and positioned on the lid 30. To that end, the same reference numerals utilized in FIG. 1 apply to FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, the resilient depressible buttons 35 through 41 are not raised and embossed from the lid, but are separate from the lid and contained in a separate designated section. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the buttons are flush with the top of the lid and are depressible as illustrated with button 35 representing the day Sunday, which is shown in a depressed state, which would indicate when the food stuffs contained in the container were stored therein. Resetting of the buttons would be in the same manner as discussed with FIG. 1, the user would merely push the button from the reverse side of the lid to reset it to a position of being flush with the outer surface of the lid. Again, all of the reference numerals associated with FIG. 2 are identical to the reference numerals utilized with FIG. 1.
Therefore, while the present invention has been disclosed with respect to the preferred embodiments thereof, it will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is therefore manifestly intended that the invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalence thereof.

Claims

I claim:

1. An improved food container with weekly calendar indicia for preservation of foods by refrigeration or freezing, the improved food container comprising:

a base member having a base wall and four upstanding peripheral side walls defining an upper peripheral edge, said base wall and said four upstanding side walls defining a cavity for the receipt of food stuffs;

a lid member having an upper outer surface and lower inner surface, and having a peripheral edge cooperable with said upper peripheral edge of said base member affecting air tight closure of said cavity of said base member; and

a weekly calendar indicia positioned on said upper surface of said lid member, said weekly calendar indicia sequentially identifying the days of the week indicating the day of placement of said food stuffs in said improved food container, and closure day of said food container.

2. The improved food container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said weekly calendar indicia comprises a plurality of embossed protrusions unitary with said lid member construction and extending upwardly from said upper outer surface of said lid member, each of said indicia sequentially identifying a separate day of said week.

3. The improved food container in accordance with claim 2 wherein each of said embossed protrusions aligns with a complimentary depression on said lower inner surface of said lid member.

4. The improved food container in accordance with claim 3 wherein said weekly calendar indicia is activated by applying selective fingertip pressure to said embossed protrusion identifying a select day of said week protrusion depressing said select calendar indicia day protrusion into said aligned depression formed on the lower inner surface of said lid member.

5. The improved food container in accordance with claim 4 wherein said weekly calendar indicia is reset by applying select fingertip pressure to the select depression on said lower inner surface of said lid member.

6. The improved food container in accordance with claim 1 wherein said weekly calendar indicia comprises a button strip area secured in said lid member, said weekly calendar indicia having a separate depressible button corresponding to each day of said week, said depressible button activated by fingertip pressure depressing said select button.

7. The improved food container in accordance with claim 6 wherein said weekly calendar indicia depressed button is reset by reapplying fingertip pressure to said depressed button releasing said depressed button to an undepressed orientation.