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Healthy Vending in the Workplace

Vending machines offer convenient, readily available food. Unfortunately, vending machines are also notorious for offering almost exclusively unhealthy selections. Some workplace vending machines offer more nutritious variety, though, and others can be converted to healthy options with minimal effort.

  1. Fruit and Fruit Bars

    • Fruit products are a favorite item among vending machine operators because they are low-cost, high-profit, and naturally appealing. Vending machines that lack refrigeration sometimes stock fruit bars as a room-temperature alternative to sugary candies. Refrigerated machines may vend healthy fruits like bananas, apples, oranges and pears, while unrefrigerated vending machines may offer fruit products from a variety of manufacturers.

    Trail Mix and Nuts

    • Despite their high fat content, nuts are a popular and healthy alternative to sweet treats in the vending machine. A variety of manufacturers offer prepackaged selections of nuts, seeds and trail mix combinations that are valued for their long shelf life. A vending machine operator may also elect to simply purchase a bulk bag of these products and create his own low-cost vending products.

    Breakfast Foods

    • Employees of workplace vending machines may find the selection lacking in the morning hours, as many machines fall short on breakfast food selections. Healthy breakfast selections may include prepackaged, individual servings of cold cereals, hot cereals, oatmeal, or granola or breakfast bars. For a truly healthy vending selection, sugary cereals should be avoided in favor of healthier, more natural selections that include granola, raisins, and other natural ingredients.

    Beverages

    • Many workplace drink machines rely solely on sodas and high-sugar energy drinks as their primary vending products. These dietary nightmares can be easily replaced with healthier options like tea, natural juices, weight-loss drinks and supplement drinks. In many workplace vending machines, bottled water is a healthy alternative, though it is generally sold at a considerably higher price, sometimes twice as much as sodas. In some refrigerated vending machines, whole or skim milk might also be a healthy selection, though some vendors shy away from milk products due to their relatively short shelf life.

    Crackers

    • Crackers are another perennial favorite of workplace vending machine operators, as their long shelf life and low acquisition cost make them highly profitable items. Animal crackers and graham crackers are some of the healthiest options available in many vending machines and peanut butter sandwiched between two crackers is a vending machine selection that is not only healthy but packed with essential proteins.

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