Since many seem to be struggling with prices and the new Food system I thought Id give some Directions.

Furthermore returning from a Dungeon and or being caught in the Wild by injury and misfortune seems to be an issue aswell.

So I included some tips for medicine too, so you can completely live off the land and for cheap, if you need to.

With the introduction of the Rags to Ritches update and proper wonderful cooking mechanics, managing hunger and thirst by utilising Food, is a major aspect of game play in Stoneshard again and it is here to stay.

Albeit changing vastly in impact, from barely scraping by to fight hunger in the early game, to becoming a boon by offering you tremendous buffs in late game, Food will stay a thing throughout your playthrough.

You can always make a fire in the wilds and make any recipe that does not need a pot.
4 Sticks makes a brushwood that you can apply on the ground to make a fire.
Click it to light it. For further info on aquiring Sticks check Ingredients Chapter


You can also add a Pot to such Bonfire if you have one:



Towns always have a cooking spot with a Pot at their Inns,



also most Houses with a chimney do indeed have a cooking spot with a Pot.



Also all Bandit Camps and Bandit Dungeons do have a cooking spot with a Pot, you can take the Pot from there with you.

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Some of the Bandit Areas have barrels as water sources, rivers and lakes can be used as such aswell.

If you haven't got a Pot you are limited but absolutely not decisively.

To fill the pot with water, rightclick on your water bladder (or flask/bowl, whatever has water) select merge and click on the Pot.

To empty it, e.g. to fry stuff rightclick the Pot and select either merge or empty out.

Make it a habit to keep Bowls, any deep dish will do for any meal. I suggest you keep two at your toon at any given time.


They are necessary to take or "merge" certain meals from the cooking spot on to your journeys.

A variety of meals like Meat Skewer, do not require a Bowl, still the most frequently used recipes need one.

In order to cook you click the Cooking Spot, select the recipe from the menu on the left, insert the ingredients into the upper tray, fill or empty the pot of water and click cook.

The result will be in the center tray, you can eat it right away with a rightclick or take it; if its e.g. a Meat Skewer you can take it then and there, if it is a Meal that requires a Bowl you have to merge it with it.
This is also how you empty the product tray if the produce did spoil.
If a meal spoiled in a Bowl, simply select "empty out".

In the beginning it is important to keep your died cost effective and efficient.

Here are Guidelines for that:

Always use edible Mushrooms or Meat when you cook if you can,
since Veggies and Fruits are harder to come by.
Lentils are pure Gold in the beginning because they have infinite Shelf Life and create the best starting Dish, so if you can, save them for "harder times".
In a pinch they can substitute a vegetable in a recipe.
Use Leeks over other Vegetables because they take 2 space and are free.
If you buy Veg, get Onions or Garlic because they are the cheapest and have the best shelf life.
This is an eastern European game afterall <3
Use worse meat in dishes before the better meat,
sinewy meats negatives get softened by using them in a dish,
good meat is always also very nutritious and good to just roast.

I will discuss where to get Ingredients later,
first we will have a look at cost efficient beginner/midgame dishes
and what ingredients are most efficient to cook them:

Peasant Stew
Ideal: Leek, Leek, Mushroom

Lentil Soup ++
Ideal: Lentil, Lentil, Leek

Daytaler Stew (Bought for around 130 from the Miller) +++
Ideal: Leek, Leek, Mushroom, Meat

and to not keep the ham from you:
Honey Glazed Ham (Bought from One-Eyed Wigmar at the Weeping Willow after respect)
Ideal: large meat, honey, leek

Mushroom Salad
Ideal: Mushroom, Mushroom, Leek, Rubarb

Green Sallad
Ideal: Leek, Leek, Leek

Fruit Salad
Never made one but know its there, because if you happen to loot or stumble upon 2 fruits its easy to get 2 Berries and u have a dish

Fried Eggs ++
2 eggs good shelf life

Meat Omlette (bought from the retired Mercenary Homeowner near Denbree) +++
2 eggs and 1 meat

Meat Skewer ++
1 Stick, 1 Meat, 2 Mushrooms

Hold the alt key to highlight interactables like Sticks, Mushrooms, Herbs etc.

Sticks
Apart from the obvious, you can find Sticks at Cemetery's, the Shore and in the Steppes you can Attack a dead tree to get 5 sticks. You need to choose the attack command from the actions in order to attack the trees:


Mushrooms
are all over the Place in Leaf Forrests, less so in Pine and non in Tundra or Steppes
DO NOT USE THE POISONOUS ONES FOR COOKING

Lentils, Leeks and Rhubarb
are abundant in Meadows (u need to harvest the lentils from the plant after u gathered it)

Eggs
can be stolen (dont get seen or caught) or acquired from the Caravan upgrade, if food gives u pain, rush that upgrade

if you want to rush the coop, the brewery might have a ladle for the big kettle and some grain for the coop somewhere

Meat

acquire a dagger and throw it at ravens found at cemeteries, crypts and enemy corpses after some time passed:
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ducks at rivers and lakes which now yield 2 drumsticks,
seagulls at the coast and doves in Brynn!

Loot the birds and pluck them for their meat.

If you are cunning you can also hunt rabbits with dagger throws with any toon from day 1:

You can buy a Shiv at level one at the Blacksmith for 25 gold.

Go to the meadows and do your thing until you spot a rabbit.
Now, dont walk to it, instead see if there is a bush that obstructs view close to it.
Then circumnavigate the rabbit generously, out of view distance type of space,
until you are in the view shadow that the bush creates for the rabbit to see you
and slowly approach from that angle unseen.
If you think you are close enough, step out of the shadow and take your chance.








meats back on the menu

Requires a sword, an axe, a dagger, a two-handed sword, or a two-handed axe. In your Inventory.
If you successfully hunted an animal and want its meat or pelt,
you need to use the Butchering skill on its Remains.
You find the skill in the Survival Skill-tree.
In order to put it into your action bar leftclick and hold the Butcher skill
drag it over to one of your empty action bar slots and release the click.
(drag and drop)


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To Butcher, step next to the Remains, select the skill and click on the Remains to Butcher it.

Originally posted by Owlie:

I have a good rule of thumb to get meat and mushroom to last longer. I usually wait till it is one day till expiration to roast it which reset the timer again. If it's about to rot, I would be forced to cook it which further extend the shelf life of the food. I usually have many plates on my caravan.

The upgrade that quadruple the shelf life of all food item is a good upgrade. I'd recommend getting it right after you built the coop

Later you can Salt it and use it in recipes to forgo the thirst.

A small section for things that you can find in the wild that will help you in a pinch

Pain

Fly Agarics

in Forrests, at Cemeterys





Smoke Mix

Recipe bought from Osbrook Herbalist,
1 Hemp
1 Stick




Intoxication

Rhubarb
in Meadows



Leeches
in rivers/lakes



Water
yes, chugging a lot of water

You can also overeat too:



Limb Damage

Leeches
in rivers/lakes

The keen observer might have realised by now, that the forest hospital is basically standing at the rivershore covered in leeches and frantically gobbling fly agarics while cleaning the palette with the occasional Rhubarb and staying hydrated....
stay hydrated Brothers and Sisters.....

Splint
1 of any Bandage (even 1 charge), Cloth and 2 tile cloth u can repair with
2 Sticks

Honey is found in Beehives that mostly are in the tiles next to towns.
Although recipes with honey appear later, they are actually really nice to eat raw, have amazing shelf life, you get a lot and they offer additional benefits.
Make sure to mark them on your map and return to them whenever you pass by again since they refill after while. If you set up your caravan on a tile with honey, they refill as do all other resources on that tile.


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But I'm just content with time well spent
Savour the taste of sugar
But all you want is milk
More than you can drink
All you want is honey
You can't take the sting
You live for over-kill, but you're ungrateful still
All you want is honey, well honey, I tried
You just want more
And now it's all gone

Billy Marten - Milk & Honey
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Enjoy your Journey to Stoneshard!