Food and Water Guide - How to Never Go Hungry

Eat, Drink, Survive

Food and water are the two basic needs you have to manage constantly. Starving or dehydrating is a real risk, especially early in the game.

This guide covers all the ways to get food and water, from basic hunting to advanced farming.

Food Sources

Early Game: Hunting and Gathering

In the beginning, you catch fish by hand or with your knife and cook them in a fabricator.

• Peepers: Common, decent food value. The staple.
• Bladderfish: Not great food, but gives water too.
• Garryfish: Good food value, common in many areas.
• Reginald: Best food value of common fish. Worth catching.

Cooked vs Raw

Always cook fish before eating them. Raw fish gives less food and can make you sick. Use the fabricator to cook them.

Water Sources

Bladderfish

The easiest early water source. Catch a Bladderfish, put it in the fabricator, get water. Not the most efficient, but reliable.

Water Purification Tablets

Found in wrecks and supply crates. Turn salt water into drinkable water. Good in emergencies.

Water Filtration Machine

Late game luxury. Build it in your base and it generates fresh water automatically. Uses power but very convenient.

Still Suit

A suit upgrade that recycles your body water. You barely need to drink at all with one of these. Great for long expeditions.

Farming: Become Self-Sufficient

Hunting and gathering works, but farming is more reliable. Build an aquarium and growbeds and you will never go hungry again.

Aquarium

Breed fish in an aquarium. Put two of the same kind in and they will multiply. You can have an endless supply of food.

• Best fish to farm: Reginalds (highest food value)
• They breed automatically
• Take them out and cook them as needed

Plant Farming

Grow plants in exterior or interior growbeds.

• Creepvine: Fiber and samples
• Acid Mushrooms: Battery materials
• Melons and Fruit: Food and water

Most Efficient Foods

Survival Strategy by Game Stage

Early Game (0-2 hours)

Catch fish as you find them. Use Bladderfish for water. Do not wander too far until you have a good supply built up.

Mid Game (2-10 hours)

Build an aquarium and start farming fish. Build a water filtration machine or use the still suit. You should be self-sufficient by now.

Late Game (10+ hours)

Multiple farms, vending machines if you find them, still suit for exploration. Food and water are basically non-issues anymore.

Pro Tips

• Always carry emergency rations. A couple of cured fish and a water bottle in your inventory can save your life.
• Farm Reginalds. They give the most food of any farmable fish.
• Build outdoor growbeds. More space than indoor ones.
• Use a Still Suit for exploration. It eliminates the need to carry water with you.
• Do not let yourself get too low. Eat and drink before you are starving/dehydrated. It is easier to stay topped up than to recover from low levels.