Help me design a portion plate for our community!

[Alex Brecher 10,515]

We currently sell one-dimensional Livliga portion plates as well as the portion8 plate in the BariatricPal Store. The Livliga dinnerware is great to use at home as a replacement for regular dinnerware. We receive quite a bit of positive feedback as well as quite a few complaints about the portion8 plates. Our customers feel they're a bit flimsy and they're not watertight, which causes liquids to leak from them.

We're thinking about designing our own leak-proof, microwave safe, dishwasher safe, freezable and BPA-Free portion controlled lunch or bento box. Something you can use at home or take to work that will offer a tangible demonstration of how much food we as WLS patients should eat for each meal.

I'm thinking a meal should have:

• up to 3 ounces Protein.< /li>
• up to 1 cup veggies (or you can swap fruit)
• optionally another serving of veggies/fruit.
• optionally 1/2 cup protein (cottage cheese/yogurt)
• optionally 1 ounce cheese or nuts as a secondary protein (if you opt for this, probably you would have it instead of the 3-oz protein or the cottage cheese/yogurt).
• optionally a starch (size of a slice of bread, up to 1/2 cup of cooked
• space for a condiment

So the plate would be required to have sections for protein and veggies/fruit and condiment, then you can choose up to 3 of the other options (more veggies/fruit, dairy, cheese/nuts, starch).

I'm looking for any ideas or feedback our members may have on designing this plate! I will send a free plate to anyone that provides a useful suggestion that we implement into our plate.

[PorkChopExpress 824]

I'd really like a plate that would keep my food warm, since I now have to take so long to eat. A plate that you could heat up that stays warm for 30 minutes or so would be awesome. I know that's not what you're talking about here, but something to think about

[BooBee66 104]

Awesome idea

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[4MRB4PHOTO 3,900]

[esskay77 785]

I assume since you are talking about something to take to work for lunch that it will have a cover on it--hope so. My meals vary so to me I would kind of like sections that snap together. These "sections" could be various sizes -- I"m thinking more bento box shape. Not really sure how this would work for the lid--would you have individual lids for each section? Or would they always result in a typical square/rectangle shape that has one big lid. I ask because sometimes, especially with fruit, you want to heat up some of the meal but not all of it so being able to separate it would be good.

I'm a software user experience designer so my inclination is to tell you to go follow people now to see what they are currently doing and what would make their life better, in the moment. And then mock something up and follow them again while they use it and get feedback by observing them (we call this "Users in the Mist" where we watch them in their own habitat while we observe and take field notes--lol).

But back to the design--having it be insulated in some way to keep food warm/cold would be awesome.

[Alex Brecher 10,515]

I'd really like a plate that would keep my food warm, since I now have to take so long to eat. A plate that you could heat up that stays warm for 30 minutes or so would be awesome. I know that's not what you're talking about here, but something to think about

It's not what I'm talking about but we are planning on starting to carry a plate that will keep warm for at least 30 minutes. I will let you know once it's in stock.

I assume since you are talking about something to take to work for lunch that it will have a cover on it--hope so. My meals vary so to me I would kind of like sections that snap together. These "sections" could be various sizes -- I"m thinking more bento box shape. Not really sure how this would work for the lid--would you have individual lids for each section? Or would they always result in a typical square/rectangle shape that has one big lid. I ask because sometimes, especially with fruit, you want to heat up some of the meal but not all of it so being able to separate it would be good.

I'm a software user experience designer so my inclination is to tell you to go follow people now to see what they are currently doing and what would make their life better, in the moment. And then mock something up and follow them again while they use it and get feedback by observing them (we call this "Users in the Mist" where we watch them in their own habitat while we observe and take field notes--lol).

But back to the design--having it be insulated in some way to keep food warm/cold would be awesome.

This is *EXACTLY* what I had in mind! I was thinking about designing something that's modular, like lego or the LoveSac Sactional couch concept. Where parts are interchangeable, depending on your current need. Like Google's project Ara phone I have a tech background so I'm all about UI and UX.

Keep those ideas coming!

[reree6898 1,164]

The different sections would need to be removable so that the meat could be heated up while the fruit stays cold.

[esskay77 785]

@@reree6898 Absolutely!! Not just removable, but easily removable but only when YOU want to remove them. Otherwise, they should remain stable. lol

[perspectiveiseverything 105]

This sounds fantastic. I might use a plate, but I would definitely- without a doubt- use a bento box/lunch storage container(s). My kids use lunchboxes from PlanetBox. They are pricey but I love that they are perfectly portioned out and super easy to clean. The only issue is that they are metal (fine for kids at school but a problem if an adult wants to heat something up). I would be especially interested in a product that is eco-friendly, has some cute trendy design options, and maybe even comes with a bag that you can zip it into for easy portability.

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