Skip the Snickers and Go for the Superfood Salad at These New Healthy Vending Machines

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By Aimee Millwood

In Chicago, vending machines are no longer just for chips, granola bars, and sodas. Farmer’s Fridge is transforming the way we look at on-the-go food, with eco-friendly, healthy vending machines serving up organic, vegetarian snacks. Their food is made from scratch every morning in a local, fully licensed, shared-use kitchen. At 10 a.m., the fresh food is delivered and unsold salads from the day before are removed and donated to a local pantry (which would probably get our Slow Food friends at the Disco Soup parties dancing).

Farmer’s Fridge isn’t only serving up nutrition-packed fast food such as their raw, tasty salads packed with local and organic ingredients, superfoods, nuts, seeds, and more goodness, but their vending machines are also working to support a healthy lifestyle for their customers and the environment. Each of their one-of-a-kind SPE-certified vending machines is made from reclaimed wood (provided by Modern Urban Woods of West Chicago) and recycled materials and uses less than $10 worth of electricity per month. The vending machines aren’t just eco-friendly they’re also astonishingly high-tech. Each is temperature controlled, accepts all major credit cards, and has touchscreens, bar code coupon scanners, and the option to email receipts.

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When you buy a salad, you can rest assured all of your packaging – including bags, utensils, and salad dressing containers – is recyclable and BPA and phthalate free. With napkins made of 100% recycled paper and biodegradable corn-based PLA packaging, your stomach and conscience will be happy. Farmer’s Fridge even has on-site recycling at each kiosk, so you can bring your packaging back to be recycled when you return for seconds. Although their food is made fresh on a daily basis, they chose packaging with a low oxygen diffusion rate so your snacks will stay fresh if you decide to keep them in the fridge an extra day or two. Farmer’s Fridge carefully handpicks their suppliers – such as the LEED Platinum certified electric delivery truck company Testa Produce, which supports their love for all things green.

Hopefully, this new trend spreads across the United States because many of us would definitely replace our mid-day snacks with these healthy treats. Chicago residents — check out the innovative eco-vending machines and let us know what you think. If the windy city has you cooped up inside the house, don’t despair – Farmer’s Fridge also offers catering and delivery in downtown Chicago as well as a weekly meal plan to stock your pantry with wholesome goodness.

Happy munching!

aimee milwoodABOUT THE WRITER

Aimee Millwood is a writer with wanderlust who currently lives in Hanoi, Vietnam. She graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she received her BA in Literature with an emphasis in creative writing. She believes everyone has a story to tell and is interested in the use of personal narrative to give voice to people whose stories are not always heard. She credits growing up in both Hawaii and Georgia with her constant desire to explore the concept of home and how places shape who we become. Although she has spent the past two years traveling in South America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, she believes a physical trip is not the only means of travel – at times, just the wind on your face during a long drive or the scent of a campfire can rejuvenate the soul. You can check out more of her work on her blog,www.stopdroptravel.com

Photos courtesy of Farmer’s Fridge

 

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