When the restaurant you’ve been craving isn’t open, a convenience store like QuikTrip can be the easiest answer to your hunger pangs. Benefits of building your lunch at the local QT include the likelihood of keeping your meal under the $10 mark and the choose-your-own-adventure level of variety.
I was supposed to eat at Garcia’s Mexican Food for this week’s Budget Bites, but I didn’t realize the restaurant was closed for a summer holiday when I set out to visit. While I am elated to hear that the Michelin-recognized San Antonio eatery is giving its hard-working staff time off to enjoy the season, I still had to find somewhere to eat. That’s where QuikTrip came in handy.
The QT off Fredericksburg Road and Loop 410 was bustling with all sorts of people stopping by for gas, snacks and various necessities. When I entered the QuikTrip, I was surprised to see a knee-high robotic custodian mopping the aisle near the fountain drinks, where I would eventually wander for a 32-ounce Big Q soda, which runs about $1.50 each.
Wanting to avoid the splash of robot-mop water, I headed to the hot dog grill roller and grabbed an encased bun from the steamer drawer to start. The dogs available ranged from a simple frank to a jalapeño-cheddar smoked sausage, the latter of which ended up in my bun. A 180 pivot brought me to the condiments station, where I loaded up on pickles, mustard and ketchup.
I knew a hot dog alone wouldn’t satisfy my appetite, so I moved to the grab-and-go shelf stocked with prepared hot foods and snagged a box of waffle fries for $2.79 before moseying over to the fountain drinks. At last, I was ready to select my custom soda from the high-tech dispenser, opting for Coke Zero with a splash of cherry flavor. Then it was time to check out…