Hot Food Vending

Vending machines have evolved over the years from selling food items such as crisps to being able to sell you a hot meal.

The benefit of food vending machines is convenience both for vendor and buyer. The buyer can quickly and easily get some food and the vendor can quickly and easily sell with no need for staff to be present (which would add cost). The only man hours needed are those to refill the machine and collect the money.

Hot food vending machines are particularly useful because they allow people to grab a hot meal. This is useful in cold weather because a cold meal isn't warming to eat.

Plenty of foods can be sold hot from these machines such as hot-dogs, burgers and ready-prepared microwave meals. Even national treasures such as pizza for the Italians and baguettes for the French are now sold in vending machines and it's all because we want things fast and with the minimum of hassle.

Some machines will keep food hot whereas others will cook it to order. Meals can be air-blast frozen to retain nutrition and taste and then heated in a microwave to ensure they are piping hot before dispensing. Another method is steam fresh cooking where food is cooked in its pack and then rapidly chilled before re-heating in just 90 seconds. Food is therefore nutritional which is good for the buyer and has a good shelf life which is good for the vendor.

These days, food found in hot vending machines is more likely to have no E-numbers or preservatives and be nutritionally balanced. There are also vegetarian options commonly available.

In the UK, food safety laws will have to be adhered to which control the temperatures in which food can be stored and how often they need to be checked so you can be confident that your hot food vending machine will provide a quick, but good meal for you.

In places where you normally wouldn't be able to get hold of hot food, you can now have a hearty, warming meal because of advances in technology that allow the quick chilling of food and the ability to safely heat and dispense it.

Obviously it isn't a good idea to eat food from a vending machine all of the time but as part of a healthy, balanced diet you can't beat them for convenience for today's hectic lifestyle.