My tip? Don't make lots of food at once...

[Broccoli Clock]

POV: Vanilla and SP.

When people get to the point in the game where they are cooking/baking/etc food production they tend to go from a few pieces of meat on a fire pit spit to making multiple meals and transferring them into crock pots. I did this, and it's brilliant fun, especially if you are aiming for things like pies, so the urge to knock out lots in one go is huge. Plus, who can't love the pixel art of any meal, they are undeniably cute (af!).

The problem I have run into is that after some months of sitting in storage, almost all of the items are going rotten at the same time. I had many crocks (all with 4 servings - and it was good food too, meat/mushroom/veg stews) and all of them were about to go bad within the day. I can't eat that much, so most if it went to waste*.

So if you want a tip for food, then it would be don't make multiple meals in one day, make them over a period of a week. That way you won't be faced with the problem. I don't think many people think ahead, because without the experience of large amounts of your food all going bad at the same time you wouldn't realise that is a possibility.

If you are on MP, then there is far more reason to make food in bulk, this tip is only really meant for the lone player.

 

(* waste is relative here, the rot goes to make compost)

 

 

[Thorfinn]

MP is much worse for that, because the rot clock is running anytime anyone is logged in. It's possible to take off for a few days holiday and come back to find all the crocks gone to rot. Particularly as many players seem to choose to unseal a new crock rather than use the one that's already open.

But, yeah, watch the rot clock. It makes sense to put up things like berries and meat, but properly stored, veggies last many months, maybe over a year, and grain for several years. Converting all your grain and veggies to veggie pie gets rid of the advantage you had that some foods cache better. 

Personally, I make up all the meat stew ASAP, as (it used to be anyway) any freshness loss in the raw meat is compounded in the freshness multiplier -- if it's down half its freshness, whatever you make will be half its maximum freshness. Since sealed crocks can last a long time, starting out with half that costs you months of freshness.

[LadyWYT]

Sealing crocks will extend the shelf life, but otherwise my strategy is to just...eat crocks of food, if I have them. Storing food up for winter is fine and all, and you need to if you live in a climate where it gets cold, but if you never use that food then it's practically the same as having never stored it at all. Most things will keep for a while as raw ingredients--meat, eggs, berries, and some dairy are the only things that don't really keep without processing.

1 hour ago, Thorfinn said:

MP is much worse for that, because the rot clock is running anytime anyone is logged in. It's possible to take off for a few days holiday and come back to find all the crocks gone to rot. Particularly as many players seem to choose to unseal a new crock rather than use the one that's already open.

Depends on the multiplayer setup, really. For a big server it would be a definite problem. For a small server where the players are working together, not so much. I play with one friend, and while it's not uncommon for only one of us to be on at a time, food spoilage isn't really a problem since we're working as a team. The food that does spoil gets turned into compost, and whoever's online has the responsibility of making sure there is always some kind of food available so that neither one of us starves.

[Broccoli Clock]

13 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Sealing crocks will extend the shelf life..

You are completely right about sealing food, as it really extends it's lifespan, but not all food can be sealed.

The main reason for this post is, when I got myself an oven, I batch baked tons of pies (they look lovely and the process is very rewarding - imo) but those can't be sealed. They can be stored in vessels to extend the life, which is something like 30 odd days (iirc).

Fast forward 30 days or so, and I'm now looking at a load of pies that are going stale very quickly and I have no way (nor desire) to eat them all up before they do.

Overall my post is more a 'cautionary tale' rather than some big brain moment regarding food preparation.

[Steel General]

Each stage of pie baking resets its spoilage. Even your fully-cooked pies can be charred to reset their spoilage (at the cost of some nutrition). That's on top of the raw pie's spoilage being independent of its ingredients. Altogether, it can stretch things out nearly as much as sealing a crock.

[LadyWYT]

6 hours ago, Broccoli Clock said:

Fast forward 30 days or so, and I'm now looking at a load of pies that are going stale very quickly and I have no way (nor desire) to eat them all up before they do.

If you play multiplayer, get yourself a Blackguard friend or two and I guarantee those pies will disappear.

[Broccoli Clock]

20 hours ago, Steel General said:

Each stage of pie baking resets its spoilage. Even your fully-cooked pies can be charred to reset their spoilage (at the cost of some nutrition). That's on top of the raw pie's spoilage being independent of its ingredients. Altogether, it can stretch things out nearly as much as sealing a crock.

That's a good tip. Didn't realise that.

I wonder if I can cheese that (metaphorically, not literally!) where I create a part baked pie, store it and if it gets to a point of degrading I could then bake it to completion resetting the spoilage. If that's how it works we technically have 4 stages of pie (raw, part baked, baked, charred) to offset spoiling.

[Maelstrom]

On 3/16/2025 at 2:30 AM, Broccoli Clock said:

Overall my post is more a 'cautionary tale' rather than some big brain moment regarding food preparation.

With the massive increase in sales recently, maybe it's time to post another "Things I wish I had known" thread to help newbies get over that initial learning curve frustration.

[JessieImproved]

I do this.  Make one fruit pie every other day.  Bake them one stage when they are fresh for 2 days or less.  When they are fully cooked, move them to my "finished food" storage.  I have fruit satiation all winter, even if I haven't found fruit trees.  Put a table in your cellar and make pies right there.

[Cattastrafy]

Few days before winter, I just bake a lotta pies. Like 3 or 4 stacks of each satiety type (minus dairy until I get to that point).

Half the fruit pies are regular, half are charred. Sometimes if I have a lotta meat I'll char some of those too, but can usually slaughter some pigs mid winter for fresh ones year round.

Once ya get fruit trees, no need to char berry pies anymore since fruit stays fine all winter.

Pies are just op! Literally never used crocks, but I think they're good for long expeditions (that I have yet to make)? I like cooking pot prior to making quern and ovens though. Wish there was more non modded food options, maybe more healing food under the cooking pot to balance things out. Or other neat benefits.

[Broccoli Clock]

28 minutes ago, Cattastrafy said:

Pies are just op!

Not just for the food content, but it's "peak RP" grinding the flour, mixing the dough, firing the oven, etc.. all that and to end up with undeniably cute pixel pies is a joy in itself!

Now a question to you and others... what style of crust?

For me, if it's a fruit pie, it's diagonal, while a savoury is horizontal.

[Cattastrafy]

2 hours ago, Broccoli Clock said:

Not just for the food content, but it's "peak RP" grinding the flour, mixing the dough, firing the oven, etc.. all that and to end up with undeniably cute pixel pies is a joy in itself!

Now a question to you and others... what style of crust?

No doubt at all! I thoroughly enjoy the process too.

I'm WAY to lazy to add a crust style lol, all default. But I respect it and love that it's an option.