The story mode has no true ending because the game isn't finished yet, but there should be an indicator when the story is completed in the form of a deep "roar" sound across the whole map.
The broom can help get items unstuck in this situation, so try that if this happens again.
I imagine some experimental settings will eventually be set to be on by default. Velma mode not working is because of your render settings, think you need post processing set higher.
Do agree with the drone suggestion, it should just generally be made easier to use because it doesn't feel that worth it currently.
The MREs were heavily buffed in a recent update, but their high food tolerance wasn't adjusted alongside it, making them extremely strong compared to before. Food tolerance is also just generally kind of hard to get if the item doesn't have it extremely high, you basically have to just exclusively eat one item and pretty much nothing else to experience it.