Farmer's Fridge — Restaurant in San Antonio

This is a vending machine with fresh, healthy foods. If you've ever made a jar salad with layers to pack for lunch, that's mostly what they have in the machine. They also have sandwiches, pastas, quinoa bowls, overnight oats, chia seed puddings, chips and guac, cheese cubes, chocolate covered pretzels, and even hard boiled eggs from Vital Farms (local!). Everything I've had there is delicious, and there are a lot of gluten free options. The chicken caesar salad that I had today had toasted chickpeas instead of croutons, for instance. They let you know the allergens on the screen menu too.

The convenience is amazing, and I like that their system leads to less waste. They have a little section on the side of the machine where you can pick up paper bowls and plastic forks and spoons. If you get a jar salad, you can just dump it out in the bowl and recycle the jar in the front of the machine. I wouldn't call it a bargain, but I think that the prices are fair. I will pay $11 for a salad that has such good ingredients and is ready right when I get to the machine.

There is a finite number of items in the machine, and they can run out of your favorites. They have some kind oan app where you can pay for and reserve an item in advance. I just tried it, and it was so easy! You can basically reserve an item until midnight by paying on the app, and they take PayPal.

The machine is in a pretty low-traffic area of the Student Union by the bookstore and some other machines. I've encountered lines for the machine, but nothing out of hand yet. If you have nowhere else to eat, there are several tables right by the machine. You will have to hunt for napkins though because they don't have any nearby.

These machines have been saving me in airports for years! Sometimes they're the only place with really decent gluten free options. I'm thrilled that they're at UTSA for those days when I haven't packed a lunch or just need a snack. I'm hoping that enough other people will try this machine so that it will stay at UTSA as long...