Tetra Pak

[Alexia]

Fabulous invention. It's a box and a bottle in one.

So why is it the most irritating thing in the kitchen? Far more than ringpulls on beans tins that are so tight I have to spend two minutes forcing a knife under them to pull them up, when in 30 seconds I could have cut it open with a can opener. Even more irritating than 6-packs of crumpets (so with a conventional 2-slice toaster do you have three lots of two, by which time they've gone off, or one lot of 4 and then one lot of 2 leaving you feeling dissatisfied). Slightly more irritating than in-fridge drinks dispensers which need cleaning and rinsing every two days.

What is wrong with snipping a bit off the side? Why the hell are retailers giving us plastic flippers and seals which you end up breaking and spilling orange juice all over you? Why is there a different flipper on the apple juice to the orange juice?

The juice doesn't taste any different to the Basics, and that lets me snip bits of card...and saves me money

[Nini]

Wait... you're saying the whole thing of cutting off corners is more problematic than tearing off a plastic tab? I have never enjoyed cutting the corner of Tetra Paks as for me it was losing half the carton because of how the cut I made happened to make this lovely lower spout which everything spilled out from.

Seems your experiences with things are the opposite of mine there.

[Netizen]

Separate flaps and pinch to open.

Opening milk just isn't as fun with these plastic bottles and screw tops.

[Pete]

I've noticed that Tropicana and some of the pricier ones have caps that simple snap off when twisted, lacking the silly ringpull underneath. These are vastly superior. It's the cartons of concentrated orange juice that are the worst, with the foil thing. urgh.

[marksi]

Welch's have started using a lift up/spouty/closing thing that is (a) hard to open in the first place and (b) has too small an opening resulting in the juice not pouring properly without splashing all over the place. It's not big enough to let in air at the same time as letting out juice.

I do like their purple grape juice though.

[cdd]

I'm glad these cartons have remained popular, a lot better than plastic bottles. That said many supermarkets stock plastic bottles of milk. I don't agree that tearing off carton corners is easier than putting a lid on the carton, maybe it's a generational thing.