I'm not gonna lie, I thought the biscuits were a weird idea at first, but now I'm won over. It's a surprisingly strategic mechanic, forcing you to trade time in front of the vending machine for more stamina in a pinch or on an away mission. Note that while it doesn't cost stamina to take a biscuit from the machine, you can't still block it off with boxes and softlock yourself if you don't have enough health to make a path.
Making the junk give fuel (and thus less stopping time) was a cool intangible to distinguish it from the other missions. It, along with the captain's chair being the best food source, also encourages doing the flying minigame more, which I'm not sure is good. I don't know where the story is supposed to fit in to all this.
I turned the floaty notifications (thanks for that, and the shoutout), but if you still had them on I think the angry emotes with dirty components are kind of obsolete now.