초록 ▼

Pre-frozen complete dinners are packaged in a compartmented tray which is formed from a material transparent to microwave radiation of a frequency which would be employed to heat or partially cook the food. The tray, with the various foods of the dinner in separate compartments, is taken directly fr

Pre-frozen complete dinners are packaged in a compartmented tray which is formed from a material transparent to microwave radiation of a frequency which would be employed to heat or partially cook the food. The tray, with the various foods of the dinner in separate compartments, is taken directly from a freezer storage and is placed in a specially designed shielding box which in turn is placed in a microwave oven to heat the food. Means are provided on the box to control the degree to which each tray compartment, and the food contained therein, is exposed to the radiation, thus controlling the degree of heating or cooking of each of the foods independently of each other. Means are provided for isolating each of the compartments fully from each other while the food is being heated to preclude contact between the separate foods and gases generated during the heating or cooking process. The shielding box is intended to be used repeatedly as in mass feeding environments and is adapted to enable repetitive insertion and removal of food bearing trays. Each tray is of the same configuration and means are provided to insure proper orientation of the trays in the shielding box. Means also are provided for supplementally shielding a selected of the tray compartments from stray internally reflected radiation.

대표청구항 ▼

An apparatus for heat conditioning a meal with microwave energy comprising, in combination: a tray formed from a material which is transparent to said energy; means defIning a plurality of compartments in said tray for retaining a plurality of different foods in predetermined relative locations on s

An apparatus for heat conditioning a meal with microwave energy comprising, in combination: a tray formed from a material which is transparent to said energy; means defIning a plurality of compartments in said tray for retaining a plurality of different foods in predetermined relative locations on said tray; a control box having a pair of opposite walls and formed from a material which is opaque to said microwave energy, said control box being receptive to said tray between said walls; means forming at least one aperture in each of said opposite walls of said control box, said apertures in said opposite walls being in registry with each other and with one of said tray compartments when said tray is contained in a predetermined orientation within the box, said apertures in said opposite walls being aligned with each other and being adapted to pass said microwave energy in substantially equal amounts therethrough; said control box being constructed to provide access to the interior thereof to enable a plurality of said trays to be sequentially inserted into and removed from said control box one at a time; and said control box and said tray including interfering means cooperative to substantially preclude insertion of said tray into said control box when said tray is in other than said predetermined orientation. A tray adapted to contain various foods of a complete meal comprising: a bottom wall and a sidewall surrounding said bottom wall and extending upwardly therefrom; said bottom wall being formed to define at least one upwardly extending ridge within said tray to define a plurality of tray compartments, said walls and ridges being formed from a material transparent to energy of a character adapted to heat condition foods; a film transparent to said radiation and extending over said tray and being connected to said tray at least along the upper surface of said sidewall; said ridges being of a height which is less than that of said sidewall, said film being sufficiently flexible to enable it to be pressed downwardly into said tray and against the upper surfaces of said at least one ridge thereby to isolate each of said tray compartments from each other when desired.