One of the best things about growing in an AeroGarden is that you are able to feed yourself and your family food that is not only good for you, but safe for you. Giving people the ability to grow their own fresh lettuces, herbs and vegetables year round brings people one step closer to their food and knowing where it comes from, who has handled it, and how it’s been treated. When you watch your food grow on your kitchen counter, you’ll know that it’s as fresh and healthy as it can be, because you picked it yourself, minutes before enjoying it. Hopefully, that closer relationship with food gets people thinking about where the rest of their food comes from, and how sustainable, healthy and good for them (and the planet) all their food is.

Produce grown in your own kitchen does not carry the risk of food-borne illness via bacterial contamination that can come from commercial packaging, handling, or soil organisms (e.g., bacteria such as E. coli). (For references, click here.) During cold and flu season, or with recent wide-spread virus concerns, knowing who has handled your food is a concern that weighs heavily on our minds.

And we know that food grown in an AeroGarden can actually be better for you than produce from your supermarket. There are actually more vitamins, antioxidants and phytonutrients in AeroGrown produce than in most “certified organic” produce purchased from the supermarket: (References to studies cited below may be found here.)

Hundreds of studies have shown that many vitamins, antioxidants, and other phytonutrients degrade during post-harvest transportation and storage (average time 5-14 days) before reaching the consumer. Supermarket produce is often picked before ripe - before vitamins, antioxidants, and phytonutrients reach maximum levels.

AeroGarden produce is as “local” as you can possibly get! Keeping your food chain short maintains the nutritional value of what you eat, is better for the planet and keeps illness-causing germs at bay.