Summary
Gamers that enjoy playing complex and long survival games have undoubtedly playedDon’t Starvesince it’s among the best in this genre. And that’s because Klei Entertainment has created aunique survival game that puts playersin an unforgiving environment that’ll either make or break them. Furthermore,Don’t Starvelets players choose how they want to survive, whether being a pacifist survivor or a hardened hunter that wipes out every living creature on the map.
And with the release ofDon’t Starve Together, players can now join forces with their friends and see how far they can survive the wilds. But,Don’t Starve Togetherfeatures more survival mechanics than its predecessor, so players will need to learn what to do if they want to survive. One crucial feature ismanaging Hunger,which is why players will need to knowwhich food source is bestto use while surviving the unforgiving wilds.
Updated June 13, 2025, by Alexandra O’Leary:If there’s one thing players know, it’s that Don’t Starve Together is no joke. This game is infamous for its unforgiving nature, and one mistake can be the difference between surviving the night and cutting the campaign short. There are three main status effects that players need to continually pay attention to: Sanity, Hunger, and Health. If any of these statuses hit 0, bad things start to happen.
One of the main ways to restore all three of these statuses is food. Players will want to make a Crock Pot as soon as possible, which will open up a whole range of dishes that players can use to stay alive. Certain dishes will restore lots of Hunger, while others will restore more Health or Sanity – either way, there’s something for everything. In addition to this, each character has a favorite meal, and some have dietary restrictions that can impact how players operate. Having a good backlog of recipes locked and loaded can be literally life-saving, and will let players be slightly less stressed as they try to survive the Constant.
29Tall Scotch Eggs
Best for: Hunger
One of the more peculiar animals featured in this already peculiar game is the Tallbird. This freaky black bird with one eye and two long legs will attack any players that get too close to its nest, making its coveted blue-yolked eggs a challenging item to obtain. For players who manage to get their hands on these eggs, a Tall Scotch Egg will fill a hunger hole in one bite. This dish restores 150 Hunger, making it very valuable for characters who lose hunger quickly.
It’s one of the best dishes inDon’t Starve Togetherfor restoring hunger and healthbased on the ingredients it uses. Despite the challenging nature of the Tallbird, it’s one of the more common ingredients available in the game and only needs to be combined with other easy-to-find ingredients to be made. To make a Tall Scotch Egg, players should put a Tallbird Egg, a Vegetable, and two filler ingredients.
It’s important to note that Tallbird Eggsdo nothave a high Crock Pot priority, so players should be very careful about what fillers they use. It’s safest to use either ice or sticks to avoid a different dish being made. The easiest recipe to use is a Tallbird Egg, a Carrot, and two Sticks.
28Soothing Tea
Best for: Sanity
Sanity is one of the biggest challenges inDon’t Starve Together. All status effects decay over time, but only certain things will improve a character’s sanity, and it’s nowhere near as simple as restoring hunger. Luckily, there are a few dishes that will restore a good chunk of sanity and, as the name might suggest, Soothing Tea is one of those dishes.
Although it doesn’t last long and perishes after 3 days, this dish is one that players will want to have on hand during the nighttime or when undertaking any mentally challenging tasks. It will restore 15 Sanity immediately, and then continue to restore a maximum of 30 Sanity over 1 minute. It will also increase the character’s temperature, which can be instrumental during the winter. To make this warming tea, players need 1 Forget-Me-Lots, 1 Honeycomb, 1 Ice, and 1 filler, which are relatively easy ingredients to come by. Forget-Me-Lots are one of the four weeds that grow inDon’t Starve Together, which players can dig up with a shovel. Honeycombs can be found near a hive, although players should expect a fight if they come across one. Players can use two lots of ice as the last two items to guarantee the crock pot makes Soothing Tea.
27Raw and Cooked Mandrake
Mandrakes are one of the rarest mobs inDon’t Starve Together, which makes them a very valuable and useful resource. However, they’re not always the easiest to find. This is likely due to their brilliant restorative properties. The downside is that it will instantly put the player to sleep. Both Raw and Cooked Mandrake will also put surrounding mobs to sleep. They can be incredibly useful in a tight spot, especially if players are looking to restore their stats before taking down a mob.
The good thing about Mandrakes is that they should spawn together, but it’s important to note that they cannot be picked during the night. Picking them during the day will instantly kill them, but picking them at night will cause the Mandrake to uproot and follow the player around while screaming. All a player has to do to make Cooked Mandrake is put a raw Mandrake over a fire.
26Cooked Eel
Fishing inDon’t Starve Togetheris one of themost effective ways to stock up on food, since there are numerous food sources that players can fish out of the water. Eels are among the best foods to fish for inDon’t Starve Together, since they can be found in nearly any Pond, especially the Wild Pond.
Players only need to place aRaw Eel onto a Fire Pitto make Cooked Eel without needing to add any other ingredient. Moreover, players can take advantage while farming Eels to trade them with the Pig King since he exchanges five gold nuggets for a single Eel. So, even if Cooked Eel doesn’t replenish Sanity, it still is worthwhile to make it as a quick meal or trade for some gold.
Best for: Health
24
Surf ‘n’ Turf is one of the more normal dishes available inDon’t Starve Together,and doesn’t require any extreme or difficult-to-find ingredients. Players only need to combine Fish with a minimum value of 1.5 and Meat with a minimum value of 2.5, and they’ll have this tasty meal on their hands. It restores all three statuses and is Wickerbottom’s favorite food.
A big benefit of Surf ‘n’ Turf is its long life, since it lasts ten days before spoiling. It also has a higher priority than Monster Lasagna, so Monster Meat can be used without the risk of ruining the dish. It only takes 20 seconds to cook in the Crock Pot and has a wider variety in its recipe that makes it one of the more accessible and repeatable dishes. As with all Fish dishes, Wurt will not eat this.
23Roasted Juicy Berries
Even though Roasted Juicy Berries only fills up +3 Health, it still merits being mentioned in thisDSTbest food sourcelist as it’seasy to create a farmfor it. Players can easily plant and harvest several Juicy Berry bushes around their base, and since they grow relatively quickly, players will have an unending source of them.
Unfortunately, due to its quick Perish Rate (2 Days), players must ensure they only harvest the amount they need since harvesting too many at a time will waste a lot of Juicy Berries. But, on the plus side, any Perished Juicy Berry can be used as a Fertilizer for other plant-based farms.
22Frozen Banana Daiquiri
While getting the ingredients to craft the Frozen Banana Daiquiri isn’t easy since it involves traveling to the frozen glaciers, it’s well worth the effort since it’s one of the best food sources to cure Insanity. It’smade with 1 Banana, 1 Ice, and 2 fillers. Players should not add twigs, or else they will make a Banana Pop. As players will notice, the Frozen Banana Daiquiri replenishes Sanity by 15 points, which is useful if they useranged weapons that decrease Sanity like the Fire Staff.
On top of that, the Frozen Banana Daiquiri has a special perk that lowers a player’s temperature by 15 degrees over 15 seconds, which will come in handy during summer.
21Asparagus Soup
The Asparagus Soup is a great food source in the Vegetable Food category since it’s quick and simple to craft.Players will only need 1x Asparagus and 1.5x Vegetable Filler; after that, players can place it inside the Crock Pot and wait 10 seconds.
On top of that, the Asparagus Soup is one of Wormwood’s (one of the best starting characters inDon’t Starve Together) favorite meals, which means they’ll reap other benefits from consuming it. This food source also lasts up to 15 days before perishing, which is high despite its low stats.
20Roasted Potato
The Potato is a cheap and effective food players can eat to restore a huge chunk of Health and Hunger. But, if players want to get the most out of it (and avoid losing Sanity and Health), they’ll need to cook it on a Fire Pit. Players who enjoy playing as Wolfgang will be happy to know that eating Roasted Potatoes fills him up twice as much (40 Hunger).
Normal Seeds have a slight chance of turning into Potato plants, but the most effective method to get Potato Seeds is by feeding Normal Seeds to a Bird in a Birdcage as it will drop a Potato Seed. Players can also use potatoes to make Creamy Potato Purée, Grim Galette, and Puffed Potato Soufflé.
