Corrugated boxes for frozen and refrigerated food

What gets packed, and how it travels

Frozen meals and vegetables in printed retail cartons, packed into shipping cases; meat and poultry in heavy cases with liners; ice cream and dairy in stackable RSCs. Refrigerated warehousing employed 73,136 people across 1,811 establishments in 2025.

USDA counted 3.99 billion cubic feet of gross refrigerated warehouse space in the US on October 1, 2025. California, Georgia, Washington, Wisconsin and Texas had the most.

Where the wrong box goes wrong

Condensation is the enemy. A case that moves from a freezer to a warm dock picks up moisture, and wet board loses stacking strength fast. Cases at the bottom of a frozen pallet stack carry the whole column for weeks. Choosing a board on its dry rating alone is the common mistake.

Cold rooms and condensation

When a cold case comes out into warm, humid air, condensation forms on it and the board softens. That happens on docks, in trucks and in stores. Cases designed for frozen food often use moisture-resistant adhesives and coatings, or simply a heavier grade to leave a margin. Tell us the temperature, how long product is stored, and whether it is blast frozen in the case.

Ice cream, frozen meals, seafood and meat each behave differently. Ice cream is light but sits deep-frozen for months; meat is heavy and may arrive warm before blast freezing. Seafood is often wet. The right case differs for each, so say what the product is, its temperature, and how long it is stored.

Questions buyers ask

Which board holds up best in a freezer?

It depends on the load, the stack height and how long cases sit. Tell us all three and we will quote a grade; moisture-resistant options can be quoted where they are available.

Are frozen food boxes always double wall?

No. Light retail cartons often ship in single wall cases. Heavy meat cases and tall stacks are where double wall earns its cost.

Do you quote liners?

We quote corrugated boxes. Mention liners in the notes and we will say what we can include.

Are waxed cases recyclable?

Wax-coated board is harder to recycle than plain corrugated, and many recyclers do not accept it. Some newer coatings are designed to repulp; ask about them if recycling matters to your customers.