Healthy food is harder to come by in our society because junk food is everywhere.
Enter "Food", a self-contained healthy meal. The recipe would be created by nutritionists to be a foodstuff that completely satisfied the body's need for nourishment, as close as is possible. It could be a nutrition bar or biscuit or TV dinner, but the most important aspect is the nutritional value.
Different formulas could be developed for different body types- for example "adult male" or "adolescent female". Different flavors offer obvious diversification, as well as the potential for accompanying lines of beverages.
Initial target demographics are singles and college students.
This could be marketed for people on the go, travellers, campers- anyone who wants to eat healthy but doesn't want to go to a lot of trouble. Perfect placement of this would be in vending machines and grocery check-out lines, where the contrast with the junk food will emphasize the product's strengths as well as take advantage of the guilt people feel as they lust for the candy bars.
It's no-brainer food. It's the choice you know you're supposed to make. And it's so easy why not eat healthy?
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Although there is no doubt that people are machines that require basic compounds for proper fueling, as someone who enjoys both cooking and eating a wide variety of meals I find the concept of slipping a standard slug of nutrients into my digestive system no substitute for the enjoyment of what eating can contribute to my life. This does not mean I should eat an improper diet but like many of the pleasures available to living, there is a very wide variety of choices which permit me to experience all sorts of healthy choices. Military and emergency rations are probably already under proper dietician control.
With all due respect, Sand- this idea is not aimed at people who go to any lengths to prepare meals. As someone who is constantly on the go, I can attest to the fact that there is no option for healthy dining other than brown-bagging it, which most people don't do. There are many people (like myself) who don't have any knowledge, patience or the facilities to cook. If it didn't come in a box or bag ready-to-eat, we don't eat it. And all these options are high in fat, salt, sugar, additives and calories.
I'm no nutritionist, but I want to eat healthier than I do. Balancing vitamins, calories, fiber, oxidants, fat intake and all is also more than I even want to think about. Usually I have 15-20 minutes to grab lunch as I run through my day and wind up either grabbing fast-food drive-thru or something horrible from the office vending machine.
This isn't intended to be a replacement for regular meals, rather it is intended to be like a "spare tire", use when needed. With all the choices we have, there is no true "healthy" option. If such an option existed, I would go for it rather than choking down another Big Mac.
With all due respect, Scabble, Anyone who has spend a reasonable time in the world and is unacquainted with the small variations involved in boiling water required to cook a decent hot meal in about 20 minutes is, to use current terminology, intellectually challenged and astoundingly lazy and uncurious to boot. Eating is somewhat less critical than breathing as a body function but vital nevertheless, and so much good, nourishing and easily prepared food is available in developed nations in wonderful varieties that to rely on industrial equivalents of dog food for humans is a disgrace. I pity you.
Rather than dismiss the idea, pity me, and offer vague condescensions regarding supposed intellectual inadequacies perhaps you should actually read the idea and think about the demographic and placement.
Someone on the go (who would be looking for food in a vending machine) DOES NOT have the option to "take 20 minutes to boil something up." If you look at the options available for someone in that position, they are junk food, fast food, or overpriced. Even healthy options don't offer adequate nutritional value.
I see this product available in bus stations, offices, subways, convenience stores and the myriad other places people "pop into" during their busy days, where they are looking for a quick bite. Millions of people do this every day, and they usually wind up with garbage.
If this dynamic of the day is alien to you, may I suggest that YOU AREN'T THE TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC. I appreciate your insight but it has zero to do with anything I have mentioned here.
OK. I'll accept that there is a need for nutritious emergency rations in available slot machines that now offer mere sugary quick energy sources. Whether they are a sustainable market product may be doubtful but your personal problem of perpetually eating on the run looks to me like living in ulcer country. I'm still sorry for your life style and would like to encourage you to set aside time to pick up the very simple procedures necessary for quick decent preparation and consumption of good meals.
Ya know, there are vending machines that can have apples, bananas & oranges in them . . .just the sort of thing that's easy to eat on the go. And if you are on the run from the first thing in the morning you could buy enough of them at the first store you pass to last a few days.
Why aren't current healthy snack bars sufficient? There's a bunch of them, and they are becoming rather mainstream, and some of them even taste good!
Try Powerbar and Cliffbar. If there's a vending machine at your institution, ask them to stock some of these.