Before, food in Valheim was pretty straightforward, you go pick which had the biggest health because it also comes with decent stamina gains for your Viking to survive or run away from foes (or that tree you cut down). However, with the introduction of the Hearth and Home update, Valheim has now classified each food item into different categories, health-based, stamina-based, and balanced food. With that change, you can’t just spam meat and mushrooms anymore and expect to survive a Black Forest invasion without punishment, which is why the important question goes back to the beginning of every new character creation, what is the best food items I can get in the game?

In this list we’ll tackle what the best early game food items are the most viable, how to get it and why is it great.

As with all Valheim lists, this was written at the time of the games’ latest version (Hearth and Home Update, version 0.203.10) with the premise of the early game being the period of the start of the game up to exploring the Black Forest. Visual graphs from the Wiki are unavailable due to them using older, outdated data.

5. Honey - Best Standalone Early Stamina Food

Ready to increase the sweetness of your tastebuds with this powerful early stamina food. (YouTube Channel: Khonziel)

Honey used to be one of the food sources that was considered an afterthought or only useable when combined with other food options, but with the changes to the structure of stamina amount, it’s the go-to stamina food for when you want that sugar rush to move or battle. Given how running and attacking relies on stamina to spam more of them, it’s a great idea to have a few of these in your inventory, if not a whole stack by now. It’s also a food source that replenishes, so you’ll not have to look too far when you get the core task of finding a bee has been done, which we’ll talk about later.

In my opinion, this is a no-brainer for the early game, given your reliance on stamina to be able to run, use attacks, and parry (assuming you also have the health to boot). Again, once you build the beehive for your captive bee, you’ll be farming a lot of these ‘bee’utiful golden food sources.

If you want to learn what Honey gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:

Honey Details:

• Max Health Gained: 8
• Max Stamina Gained: 35
• Healing: 1hp / tick
• Duration (seconds): 900 sec. (15 mins.)

What’s Good About Honey?

• A renewable source of food
• Can hold 50 per slot
• Good stamina gain

​How to Make It

To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:

• Find a beehive, usually found in abandoned structures
• Hit it or shoot with a bow and arrow to collect the queen bee
• Create a Beehive using the Hammer and place it where it is allowed
• Wait until you see the hives have honey to collect and press E to claim

4. Cooked Deer Meat - Best Standalone Early Health Food

Hunting deer manually is still the most reasonable method, but this boar farm example can also work if you wish to guarantee more of it. (YouTube Channel: Kysen)

A quick and easy food source that you get as the main drop, or byproduct depending on if you need Deer Trophy or Deer Hide more. This is a very easy or challenging food item to obtain, depending on if you rely on melee weapons or a bow and arrow. Deer is also notorious for being easily spooked, so even if you sneak behind if an enemy spot you, it could make them get up and run off.

This is another no-brainer for the early game, as it’s plentiful to have around and you’re most common entry point into higher health. This is an immediate thing to stockpile, so grab as much as needed and take a chunk off the cooked meat to gain a chunk back yourself.

If you want to learn what Cooked Deer Meat gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:

Cooked Deer Meat Details:

• Max Health Gained: 35
• Max Stamina Gained: 7
• Healing: 2hp / tick
• Duration (seconds): 1200 sec. (20 mins.)

What’s Good About Cooked Deer Meat?

• Also has a chance to drop other useful things while hunting deer
• Can hold 20 per slot
• Can be made anywhere with a Cooking Station and a Campfire

​How to Make It

To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:

• Find a deer and kill it using your weapon/s
• Collect the meat and make a Campfire using the Hammer
• Place it on the ground and make a Cooking Station and place the meat
• Wait until you see it change color and press again to collect and prevent it from burning

3. Boar Jerky - Best Balanced Early Food Option

Boars are the few tameable mobs in Valheim and that, alongside a boar farm like this, can make farming their meat a whole lot easier. (YouTube Channel: SlipSlopTV)

This is the first of many food sources you can make in the early game level Cauldron. Here you’ll be required to make certain foods by combining cooked food items. The important thing to note is that, unlike previous patches where deer and boar meat are the same, here, it’s separated and way different from each other, in terms of value and usefulness. With that in mind, the Boar Jerky that was introduced in the Hearth and Home Update serves as a filler food to the other two food sources you’ve gathered and one of the plentiful options you have in the beginning.

Personally, the Boar Jerky is as mixed of a priority as the stats it brings in terms of getting it. While the balanced stats are nice, you have to put in a lot of thinking into how you can utilize it, as it doesn’t give much of either, and given how the change can sometimes make boar meat, and boars, in general, a commodity, I’d personally think twice about rushing to get it, as boar meat is very important toward later game food sources. To summarize, unless you have a boar farm or a plentiful supply of boar meat to get and take, you should save it as later game items can do more for you.

If you want to learn what Boar Jerky gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:

Boar Jerky Details:

• Max Health Gained: 2
• Max Stamina Gained: 23
• Healing: 2hp / tick
• Duration (seconds): 1800 sec. (30 mins.)

What’s Good About Boar Jerky?

• Rations double from the meat gathered
• Can hold 20 per slot
• Balanced stats, good as a filler 3rd food source

​How to Make It

To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:

• Collect 1 Raw Boar Meat and 1 Honey
• Go to the Cauldron to combine

2. Carrot Soup - Best Overall Early Stamina Food Option

This also applies to other plantables as well. (YouTube Channel: Jiroc the Viking)

Another food from Valheim that was adjusted was the Carrot Soup. Usually, this is taken in tandem with mid-game food items, but ever since the recipe has changed to stamina-based scaling, it has now become much better as an early game item. Given how attainable it is to make, even before the changes, it’s an absolute must-have food source, and with the changes, the early game has made it the best if you want the absolute max stamina you can do, without needing to upgrade the Cauldron.

My take is that this should be you go to stamina source as, like Honey, it’s renewable, but unlike Honey, you can easily lose the resources when the area you cultivated it on is unprotected. The biggest offender to your carrot farm’s survival is the Greydwarf Shaman, which spews poisonous gas, that not only damages you but crops. Think of it as a reverse pesticide, where the pest lives and the crops die, so with that in mind, you should build a fence to ensure its survivability, and in turn, a larger Carrot farm in the long term.

If you want to learn what Carrot Soup gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:

Carrot Soup Details:

• Max Health Gained: 15
• Max Stamina Gained: 45
• Healing: 2hp / tick
• Duration (seconds): 1500 sec. (25 mins.)

What’s Good About Carrot Soup?

• Good stamina gain for early game standards
• Can be easily stockpiled with enough farmed carrots
• Doesn’t require upgraded Cauldron for stats given

​How to Make It

To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:

• Gather Carrot Seeds from the Black Forest biome
• Make the cultivator and plant the seeds to grow carrots
• Create the soup by combining it with Mushrooms on the Cauldron

1. Minced Meat Sauce - Best Overall Early Health Food Option

Many of these food sources are part of the new Hearth and Home update and this video covers them and a few other later game food sources. (YouTube Channel: StyledSnail)

Last on the list is the best health-based food source you can craft early on, the Minced Meat Sauce, granting a lot of health and making things a bit more survivable when going out and about. Going back to the list, this is the most tedious to create as it uses up 3 items in the Cauldron but makes it up by giving that flat amount of health back while being a great food source to combine with. While the ratio of health and stamina has changed, what hasn’t changed is being able to eat up to 3 distinct food items, and having the top 3 of this list at your disposal, it amounts to some great numbers that, paired up with weapons you’ll have by this point, makes you strong enough to fight most filler mobs, and an absolute must-have if you intend on taking on the first two bosses.

The opinion still stands that most people would go for this when resources are plenty to create this. As I said before, boar meat is a commodity that needs to be used wisely, and for the early game, the Minced Meat Sauce makes the most sense. It’s got the highest base health for the early game, with the only thing matching it in that period in the game being the Cooked Fish. The reason why that isn’t featured here is that, as of the current time, you cannot get fish without the Fishing Rod, which is only bought through Haldor (the Trader), so getting fish that has somehow washed up onto shore is just by luck, and isn’t a stable resource, therefore making it more in line as a mid-game item. The other sources are more manageable with Neck Tail and Carrots being the other ingredients needed to create this delicious-looking orange soup.

If you want to learn what Minced Meat Sauce gives in stat form and how to make it, check the bullet points below:

Minced Meat Sauce Details:

• Max Health Gained: 45
• Max Stamina Gained: 9
• Healing: 3hp / tick
• Duration (seconds): 1500 sec. (25 mins.)

What’s Good About Minced Meat Sauce?

• Good health gain for early game standards
• Stats give the best survivability against bosses
• Doesn’t require upgraded Cauldron for stats given

​How to Make It

To be able to make it, you’ll need to do the following:

• Gather Carrot Seeds from the Black Forest biome
• Make the cultivator and plant the seeds to grow carrots
• Hunt Neck nearby waterside areas and obtain Neck Tail
• Kill boars to get Boar Meat
• Create it by combining in the Cauldron

Conclusion:

While the Hearth and Home Update shook up how the early game is approached, fundamentally it’s still the same song and dance as it has always been, which is to get the 3 highest food sources you can get at the given time. Now if you’re still on the fence on what to get, the basic rule of thumb is as follows.

For Melee Attackers: 2 Health-Based and 1 Stamina-Based Food

For Bow and Arrow Users: 1 Health-Based and 2 Stamina-Based Food

For Purely Defending: 2 Health-Based and 1 Stamina-Based Food or 3 Health-Based Food

Valheim still encourages choices on approach, so you can do any route you wish to take, as long as you know that you may put yourself in a handicap at the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, this list should be able to give you an idea of what the revamped food system can do for you during the early game and allows you to save up on those important resources.

Again, eat well and kill better.

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• Valheim Best Food (And How to Get Them)
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• Valheim Review - Is It Good or Bad?