The first graham cracker company that produces decent packaging will win my loyalty forever. There is very little as frustrating as breaking every cracker in the package as a by-product of opening the package—especially when you’ve got a yowling one-year-old watching impatiently as you do so. The plastic envelope around each set of crackers is all but impossible to open cleanly, and you can forget about it being “resealable”. Once open, you have to resort to a plastic bag to prevent the crackers from going stale in a hurry.
I won’t go so far as to say how hard could it be?, but this can’t be the best possible solution, can it?
Saltines could definitely use some packaging love, too, but graham crackers are the worst.
Tim Jahn
on 27 Oct 08Does make ya wonder though how this same thought hasn’t gone through somebody’s mind in that company.
And if it has, why has no action been taken?
Joe Mako
on 27 Oct 08Not graham crackers, but a simular cracker packaging problem was solved by Ritz FreshStacks.
Lorenzo
on 27 Oct 08Just copy the paper tissues.
L.
Creativity Quiz Wiz
on 27 Oct 08Couldn’t agree more. The cardboard packaging works fairly well to keep the crackers intact, but once the crackers leave the box and are left in their weakened state… all packaging (and crumbly) hell breaks loose.
No fun.
Rick
on 27 Oct 08Ok, thank you. Ridiculous Honey Made packages suck.
Try opening one while holding a baby. IMPOSSIBLE.
Chad Wright
on 27 Oct 08Yes, but you’re forgetting the fact that graham crackers are better after they are stale.
Ian
on 27 Oct 08Trader Joes sells some of the best graham crackers I’ve ever tasted, and they are in a resealable plastic container.
Tom
on 27 Oct 08Invest in a pair of scissors.
idont
on 27 Oct 08When I will get old, my best friend will be the scissors.
99% of the packaging cannot be opened easily by old people… What a shame…
Jamis
on 27 Oct 08@Tom, unfortunately, the packages aren’t scissor friendly, either. The plastic envelope is flush with the crackers on all sides, so again you risk breaking the crackers just trying to find a gap where you can start the scissors.
@Ian, I’ll definitely check out Trader Joes. Thanks for the tip.
Jeff
on 27 Oct 08Thank you! This has been a frustration of mind for so long. It’s comforting to hear that others were having the same problem as well.
I too have resorted to using scissors, but it doesn’t always work well. Besides, this should be designed to be much easier to open by hand.
Bob
on 27 Oct 08I think it first hit me when I found the “blue chips” at our local Target and noticed they had a resealable bag after I already cut the thing open.
So many uses.
andrew
on 27 Oct 08Ditto Trader Joe’s Kettle Corn. Although this is less of a problem because once you open the bag it’s instantly gone anyway.
Very dangerous being half a block from Trader Joe’s, btw.
Another Jeff
on 27 Oct 08We’re talking about crackers. Not the economy, not the environment, not education, not poverty, not crime, not [insert a million other things here]. Crackers?
Benjy
on 27 Oct 08I second the TJ’s graham crackers… they’re awesome and probably much closer to what they originally were before the industrial bakeries began churning them out. But I could see a 1 year old liking the ones he’s used to…
Would it be that hard for them to pack them in some sort of Ziploc type sleeve? I can imagine that parents who could easily open them and who could take them along w/out having to then use a Ziploc would be willing to pay more for the product in excess of the actual packaging cost. Say it costs $0.25/box to switch… wouldn’t many people pay and extra $0.50 for the convenience and less waste?
matt
on 27 Oct 08@Jamis:
Why don’t you make your own graham crackers? They’re super simple and then you can make them how you want (more molasses, less honey? More cinnamon?) It takes longer to let the dough chill / relax than it does to mix it or bake it (probably 10 mins to make, 15 mins bake…i tend to chill ‘em for an hour or so to let the dough settle).
Also, they’re way better than any store bought ones (although the TJ ones are tasty).
Rob
on 27 Oct 08Ditto for Pancake mix boxes – cut a flap in the package, and the flap always get’s stuck on the inside.
Scissor Girls, Girls!
on 27 Oct 08If you don’t think you can apply scissors to the situation you are just looking for reasons to fail.
Maybe you need to find the most beautifully designed scissors in the world. Put the whole 37s team on it!
EH
on 27 Oct 08I think a more interesting take on this would be to examine the ethics and policies of cost and shipping concerns vs. usability. Between the customer and the bottom line, the latter tends to win out.
Laurel Fan
on 27 Oct 08Or you can get really opinionated and just declare that all snack food should be bunny shaped: http://www.annies.com/bunny_grahams
Paul
on 27 Oct 08Do take notice of the new (to me) open-top-and-reseal “Chips Ahoy” packaging.
Emily
on 27 Oct 08I love this blog, but when i read this entry, i got the distinct impression i was reading something by Andy Rooney. This entry was one of the most crotchety i ever recall having read.
Bryan Sebastian
on 27 Oct 08Damn, this post really hit home… had me laughing, because I thought this only happened to me. My 3 year old daughter would absolutely scream if I broke a graham cracker as I delicately tried to extract it from the stupid wrapping. It was like playing operation on a box of crackers. I am going to have to look into the Trader Joe Grahams as well.
Ryan Heneise
on 27 Oct 08@Ian, Oh how I miss Trader Joe’s
Jamis
on 27 Oct 08@Emily, “crotchety” is what happens when you have a one-year-old screaming for graham crackers that you cannot seem to open. :)
Crackwhore
on 27 Oct 08Broken or not, they taste the same.
Emily
on 27 Oct 08@Emily, on the flip side, why not point out that instances where there has to be a better way than how it’s always been done. Identifying these opportunities and solving them = progress.
When Sargento and Kraft can progress and put zip closures on their bags of cheese, then why can’t Nabisco do so on their graham crackers? If Keebler were smart, they’d pounce on the opportunity to grow their market share by realizing that with the toddler demographic and their parents, functionality is a bigger selling point than taste.
Robert Einspruch
on 28 Oct 08Doesn’t it seem like graham crackers go stale the moment they interact with air? Maybe they need an oxygen pure environment? Or the other way around? I need to try a brand with a re-sealable bag.
Vlad
on 28 Oct 08Take some advice from the Europeans, they have McVitie’s Digestive Biscuits. I learned about them through an English industrial designer we have at work; he would always invite me for tea and biscuits. I can safely say that they are the tastiest “crackers” I have ever had.
Not only that, but I also found a funny video to go along with them. These things sound creepy, but really are the best.
Jamis
on 28 Oct 08@Vlad, I totally agree re: digestives. Those things are awesome. They had them when I lived in South Korea, too, and I went through a few packages of them each week for a couple of years. :)
gene
on 28 Oct 08I seem to recall getting all excited when I was little about tearing into the wax paper that some brand (or probably generic black and white box) used to package my graham crax in. I suppose pining for those days is futile, but I’m gonna go pour myself a glass of milk right now!
Lisa Rex
on 28 Oct 08You should see how smashed up they get in suitcases of American expats…. ;)
In the UK, you often can purchase cookies/biscuits in branded tins. These tins are reusable and fairly air-tight. That doesn’t help with the initial opening of the packaging though…
Nick Fortescue
on 31 Oct 08Is it possible more thought has gone into it than you think? I don’t live in the US, so haven’t experienced this packaging, but I know research has been done to show that if packaging makes a “crackly” sound the perceived contents taste better (fresher).
paper
This discussion is closed.