With everything else trying to kill you, isn't food a little overrated?

If you're playing Don't Starve, I bet you really want to know how to not starve huh?

Good news! Starving is a lot harder than the game makes it seem. However, keeping track of everything else can be a hassle. With everything else trying to kill you, steal your stuff, chase you off, and otherwise make life difficult; eating becomes the least of your worries. If you do have the time to relax and put a little effort into how to really make the most of your food, you can reap the benefits of more than just a full stomach.

This article is about Don't Starve, the base game and Reign of Giants expansion. There are a few stat changes to items in Don't Starve Together, as well as some added food types or items in further expansions like Shipwrecked or Hamlet. For more specific information regarding those, feel free to check the wiki. It has a lot of great information.

This article spells out some recipes that often call for filler items. These items are typically described as fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, or ice. Too much meat, honey, or even certain fruits will change the recipe and get you something else entirely so keep that in mind!

10. Monster Meat

Monster meat is a meat type in Don't Starve. It counts as one meat and is dropped by monster type mobs like spiders, hounds, beardlings, etc. It has negative effects for most characters, but can be found in more abundance than regular meat which is why it makes the list at number 10.

Because it's a food type, it can be tossed in a crock pot as an ingredient. Use too much and you'll end up making a monster dish, but just one can usually cook you up meatballs which are edible and remove the negative modifiers. It's also a useful resource for befriending neutral mobs in the game, so don't count it out.

Monster Meat Stats:

• Reduces 20/3 Health.
• Restores 18.75 Hunger.
• Reduces 15/10 Sanity.

What makes Monster Meat great:

• Can be found more readily than regular meat.
• Can be cooked to make meatballs.
• Can be eaten to decrease sanity.

How To Get Monster Meat:

Killing any monster mob (spiders, beardlings, hounds) will be sure to drop you monster meat.

9. Fish Tacos

Fish tacos are made when putting fish in a crock pot. You can either get a fishing pole and go fishing, or find a swamp and fight some merms. Either way will get you some fish for cooking. Fish spoils fast so naturally this dish does as well. Keep this in mind if you're playing a character like Wickerbottom who doesn't like stale food, so don't make too many. It restores more hunger and health than cooking the individual items separately.

Fish Taco Stats:

• Restores 20 Health.
• Restores 37.5 Hunger.
• Restores 5 Sanity.

What makes Fish Tacos great:

• Good use of fish.
• Spoils slower than cooked fish.
• Restores a decent amount of health and hunger.

How To Get Fish Tacos:

• Fish Tacos require Fish, Corn and two filler items.
• Corn can be picked up by crafting a farm and planting seeds.

8. Waffles

Waffles are a crock pot recipe that can be made with butter. Butter is a rare drop from butterflies at a whopping 2% rate instead of the usual butterfly wings. It's edible on its own, but more useful as an ingredient. Waffles in fact, are the best use of butter since the other ingredients are easier to get than attacking these harmless creatures. At least butterfly wings restore health as well, so you win either way.

Waffle Stats:

• Restores 60 Health.
• Restores 37.5 Hunger.
• Restores 5 Sanity.

What makes Waffles great:

• Optimal use of butter, a rare drop.
• Restores plenty of health.

How To Get Waffles:

• Requires Butter, Egg, Berries, and a filler item in a crock pot.
• Butter is a rare drop from butterflies.
• Eggs are acquired by either raiding nests or feeding meat to birds in bird cages.
• Berries are acquired through foraging.
• The filler item can be any item, including twigs.

7. Fist Full of Jam

Yup, it's just called a Fist Full of Jam. It's what happens when you cook berries in a crock pot. Which makes sense, since you're pretty much just putting wet fruit over a flame. It can be made with other fruits besides berries; berries only count as half a fruit in the game's mechanics.

Fist Full of Jam Stats:

• Restores 3 Health.
• Restores 37.5 Hunger.
• Restores 5 Sanity.

What makes a Fist Full of Jam great:

• Easy to make.
• Restores a good amount of hunger.
• Preserves berries longer.

How To Get a Fist Full of Jam:

• Adding 4 berries to a crock pot will result in a fist full of jam.
• You can add other fruits as well, but adding Dragon Fruit will give you Dragonpie and adding other fruits can result in a Fruit Medley instead.

6. Pierogi

Pierogi is a well-renowned crock pot dish made with eggs and meat. It's not a huge priority to make when starting out but is incredibly useful if you can get a bird cage which is highly recommended for renewable food since your farm won't get you through those long winter nights.

Pierogi Stats:

• Restores 40 Health.
• Restores 37.5 Hunger.
• Restores 5 Sanity.

What makes Pierogies great:

• Optimal use of eggs.
• Restores a decent amount of health.
• Takes a while to spoil.

How To Get Pierogies:

• Pierogies are made by combining one egg, one meat, and 2 vegetables in the crock pot.
• Monster meat can be used to make pierogies.
• Vegetables can be grown on farms or harvested.
• Mushrooms count as vegetables.

5. Fishsticks

Fish sticks are made with just that. Fish and sticks. Yes, sticks! You can put sticks and a few other inedibles and a crock pot. Be careful when experimenting so you don't waste food. It's kind of in short supply. Fish sticks are just one of the few useful things you can get out of it.
Fish Stick Stats:

• Restores 40 Health.
• Restores 37.5 Hunger.
• Restores 5 Sanity.

What makes Fish Sticks great:

• Optimal use of fish.
• Spoils slower than fish.

How To Get Fish Sticks:

• Fish sticks are made using fish and sticks and two filler items.
• The two filler items can be anything, but if you use mandrakes or corn you have a chance of making Mandrake soup, or Fish tacos respectively.

4. Honey Nuggets

Honey Nuggets are really useful because they restore more health than easier recipes such as Meatballs or other foods roasted over a fire. And if you're playing as Woodie it even refills extra hunger. You just need to have access to some honey and try not to lose extra health to all the bees in the process. While Honey Ham is a better use of your honey;restoring more hunger and health, if you're struggling to get a lot of meat, honey nuggets will do a good job in keeping you alive as well.

Honey Nuggets Stats:

• Restores 20 Health.
• Restores 37.5 Hunger.
• Restores 5 Sanity.

What makes Honey Nuggets great:

• Restores a decent amount of health.
• Easy to make.

How To Get Honey Nuggets:

• To make Honey Nuggets in the crock pot you need meat, honey, and two fillers.
• Can be made with monster meat, morsels, or frog legs.
• The fillers can be berries or mushrooms, twigs will make kabobs and other inedibles will make wet goop.

3. Mandrake

Mandrakes are spawned in the world. They are unique, because they're pretty rare and nonrenewable. Meaning once you pick them all, they're gone for good. I think they're cute but many characters in the game find them annoying upon examination. If you pick them during the day, you can put them in your inventory with no problem. During the evening or night, the Mandrake will come alive and follow you around making noise until morning or until killed.

Mandrake Stats:

• Restores 60/100 Health.
• Restores 75/150 Hunger.
• Restores 0 Sanity.

What makes Mandrakes great:

• Never spoils.
• Puts nearby mobs and the player to sleep when eaten/cooked.
• When left on the ground mobs such as pigs or spiders, will eat the mandrake and put neighboring mobs to sleep but not the player.
• Can be cooked in a crock pot to make Mandrake Soup which will not put you to sleep, if you need to neutralize that effect.

How To Get Mandrakes:

• Mandrakes are rare items that spawn in the world, only a maximum of five per world but usually less.
• When picked during the day, you can put them in your inventory.
• When picked at dusk or at night they will follow you around and hop and make a noise. You won't be able to collect them without killing them, but they run fast so you'll have to catch them first.
• It's recommended to just wait until it replants itself in the daytime to harvest it so another creature or mob will not kill it and eat it before you can collect it.

2. Dragonpie

Dragonpie is a super useful recipe to have. When farming you can occasionally grow dragon fruit. Dragon Fruit is decent on its own with a pretty low growth chance when farming. But when cooked into dragon pie it increases the stats significantly.

Dragonpie Stats:

• Restores 40 Health.
• Restores 75 Hunger.
• Restores 5 Sanity.

What makes Dragonpie great:

• Optimal use of dragon fruits.
• Restores a good amount of health and hunger.

How To Get Dragonpie:

• Dragon Fruit and three filler items in a crock pot.
• Dragon Fruit can be grown in farms, they're rare when planting any seed, but you can feed a Dragon Fruit to a bird to get Dragon Fruit seeds.
• The filler items can be twigs or other odd food items, but if you use Mandrakes, Meat, or Eggplant you're more likely to make another recipe that's not as hearty.

1. Meatballs

Anyone who plays this game regularly knows Meatballs will always be number one on the list of food to have and to hold. The easiest recipe to craft in a crock pot and an essential starter for every character except the vegetarian. Doesn't do much for health but will definitely keep you from starving. And as the game will remind you often, that's pretty important.

Meatball Stats:

• Restores 3 Health.
• Restores 62.5 Hunger.
• Restores 5 Sanity.

What makes Meatballs great:

• Easy to make.
• Works for most characters.
• Restores a lot of hunger.
• Can be made with monster meat.

How To Get Meatballs:

• Meatballs can be made in the crock pot by adding meat and 3 filler items, fruits or vegetables or mushrooms.
• Each of these items can be acquired by foraging except meat which comes from killing mobs.
• You can use Monster Meat to make Meatballs, meaning it will no longer hurt you when eaten.

Also Be Sure To Read:

• [Top 25] Don't Starve Best Mods You Must Have
• [Top 10] Don't Starve Best Armor
• [Top 5] Don't Starve Best Food
• [Top 10] Don't Starve Best Characters
• [Top 5] Don't Starve Best Weapon