Players will need to eat regularly in 7 Days To Die. If they don’t, then they will begin to suffer some pretty devastating consequences that can end with the player dying. So, being well-fed is one of the keys to survival. During the early stages, it can be hard to find enough canned goods to stay well-fed. Also, hunting down animals with primitive weapons can be quite tricky. But, as the player goes through the first few days, they will begin to get the hang of keeping on top of their food and drink needs.

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During the late stages of the game, players will begin unlocking all sorts of dishes that not only keep the player’s hunger and thirst levels topped up but also provide the player with some unique bonuses that can be very beneficial for survival.

Updated February 6, 2025 by Benjamin Joe: 7 Days To Die is a big game with lots to do. Keeping well-fed is crucial for survival. Without food, players aren’t going to get very far. While the original list covered some of the best foods in the game, it did miss out on a couple of things that are perfect for the early stages of a playthrough.

As the player makes their way through the game, food will gradually get easier to come by. It is the first few days that are typically the most challenging when it comes to gathering food and water. This update will add three new entries that may come in handy for newer players.

1

Mushrooms

Easy To Grow And They Help To Fill You Up

Mushrooms don’t offer a lot of food per unit. However, they are among the best foods to chow down on during the early stages of the game. Mushrooms are found in abundance inside caves. Also, unlike things such as raw meat, there’s no chance of the player getting sick when consuming mushrooms raw. More often than not, players on the Navezgane map will spawn pretty close to a cave. Not only that, but Trader Rekt tends to hand out a job centered around clearing Mushroom Cave pretty early into the player’s game.

As its name suggests, Mushroom Cave has plenty of mushrooms dotted around inside. This isn’t the only cave that has mushrooms growing inside. They can be found inside every cave and most underground locations in the game. One other thing that sets mushrooms apart from many other food types in the game is the fact that they can be planted anywhere. All other crop types can only be planted in a farm plot block. Mushroom seeds will grow anywhere. If the player can grab hold of a few mushroom seeds early on, then they will be swimming in mushrooms in no time.

2

Raw And Cooked Eggs

Easy To Find And Can Be Eaten Raw

• Food: 5 Uncooked And 10 Cooked
• Health: 3 Uncooked And 5 Cooked
• Stamina Bonus: 0 Uncooked And 10 Cooked

Similar to mushrooms, eggs can be eaten raw with no negative side effects. While they don’t offer a lot, they are pretty easy to find. Eggs can be found inside bird nests. Players will constantly be on the hunt for bird nests during the early stages of the game, as they’ll need to gather feathers to craft arrows.

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While a cooked egg is better than a raw egg, cooking an egg costs 1 water. During the first few days, it is much better to consume an egg raw to save on water. Raw eggs are fantastic at keeping the player’s hunger level satisfied just enough to keep them moving.

3

Canned Food

Crucial Parts Of Various Recipes

• Number Of Different Canned Goods: 15
• Nutritional Value: Depends On The Can

As the player makes their way through various POIs, they will pick up all sorts of canned goods. Not only that, but canned goods can often be purchased from traders, given out as early-game mission rewards, and found inside various loot crates and airdrops. For the most part, canned goods don’t offer that much for players. While some offer water as well as food, cans typically give out between 5 and 15 points of food.

Unfortunately, none of the canned foods in the game give any type of additional benefits, such as a temporary boost to stamina. However, cans are commonly required to craft certain recipes, many of which are featured in other entries on this list. Some of the more notable recipes and their required canned products can be seen below:

• Can Of Chili: Chili Dog
• Large Beef Ration, Can Of Pasta: Spaghetti
• Large Beef Ration, Can Of Pears, Can Of Stock: Gumbo Stew
• Can Of Salmon: Fish Tacos
• Lamb Rations, Can Of Peas: Shepards Pie

For those who may be struggling to find enough food to keep them going, investing two points in the Master Chef skill increases the amount of food the player will find while searching dumpsters. Maxing out this skill also reduces the amount of ingredients required for cooking by 40%. While this skill isn’t particularly useful during the late stages of the game, during the early stages, a couple of points in Master Chef can come in very handy.

4

Bacon And Eggs

A Nutritious Early Game Meal

• Food: 36
• Health: 18
• Max Stamina Bonus: 10

A hearty meal of bacon and eggs isn’t the best food in the game. However, during the early days, it is among the best foods that the player will have access to. It’s cheap to make, and it doesn’t require any particularly costly resources.

The player will need to read a total of 10 Home Cooking Weekly magazines before they will be able to make this dish. They will need to have access to a campfire with a cooking pot, 5 raw meat, and 2 eggs. That said, if the player invests some skill points in the Master Chef perk, then the cost of cooking any food is reduced. As for bacon and eggs, this dish can be incredibly useful during the first couple of weeks as the player tries to survive day to day.

5

Spaghetti

Costly Yet Effective

• Food: 122
• Health: 61
• Max Stamina Bonus: 40

This recipe takes a while to unlock. Players will have to read a total of 90 Home Cooking Weekly magazines in order to be able to make this dish. While it does provide players with a lot of food, and it heals 61 health points, it is quite costly to make.

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To make one portion, the player will need 1 can of large beef rations, 1 can of pasta, 1 mushroom, 3 animal fast, and 1 water. The costly ingredients are the canned foods. Players can’t craft cans of large beef rations and pasta. The only way to obtain these ingredients is by looting or purchasing them from traders and vending machines.

6

Meat Stew

A Relatively Simple Early Game Meal

• Food: 50
• Health: 25
• Water: 20
• Max Stamina Bonus: 20

Meat stew is a simple dish that players will unlock after reading 22 Home Cooking Weekly magazines. The ingredients to craft this dish are very easy to come by. Without investing any perks in Master Chef, this dish costs 5 raw meat, 2 potatoes, 2 ears of corn, 1 animal fat, and 1 water. These ingredients can all be obtained through farming and by killing animals.

Unlike a lot of other early-game dishes, this meal fills players’ thirst bars as well as their hunger bars. This can save the player a space in their inventory, as they won’t need to carry water along when they venture out to complete missions or explore POIs.

7

Sham Chowder

A Questionable But Nutritious Meal

• Food: 53
• Health: 80
• Water: 10
• Max Stamina Bonus: 30
• Fortitude: +1 (10 Minutes)

Sham chowder is unlocked after the player reads 59 Home Cooking Weekly magazines. It not only gives players food, health, water, and a boost to their stamina, but it also grants the player a +1 to fortitude for 10 minutes.

It’s a fairly cheap dish to make. Without any cost-reducing perks, crafting a bowl of sham chowder costs 1 can of sham, 2 potatoes, 2 ears of corn, and 1 water. Since it is possible to learn to craft cans of sham, this is a great, cheap dish that can be very beneficial to most players.

8

Vegetable Stew

Cheap To Make, Great For Both Thirst And Hunger

• Food: 31
• Health: 15
• Water: 20
• Max Stamina Bonus: 20

Vegetable stew is unlocked relatively early on. Players unlock the ability to craft this dish after reading 22 Home Cooking Weekly magazines. While it doesn’t offer as much as some of the other dishes on this list, its cost makes it an ideal choice for farmers.

Crafting 1 portion of vegetable stew costs 2 potatoes, 2 ears of corn, 2 mushrooms, and 1 water. All of the ingredients to craft this dish can be grown and collected at the player’s base with a couple of dew collectors and a few farm plot blocks. Provided the player has a set of farmer armor and maybe a point in Living Off The Land, they can end up having a sustainable food production facility right inside their base.

9

Shepards Pie

A Classic Dish

• Food: 104
• Health: 52
• Max Stamina Bonus: 40

Shepards Pie is one of the dishes the player will unlock further into the game. Cooking this dish requires the player to read a total of 70 Home Cooking Weekly magazines. It’s a fairly costly dish as it requires a couple of ingredients that can’t be crafted by the player. 1 portion of Shepards Pie costs 1 lamb ration, 1 can of peas, 1 ear of corn, 3 animal fat, and 1 potato.

While the dish doesn’t offer any water, and it doesn’t provide players with a lot of health when compared to some other dishes, players do receive a whopping +40 to their max stamina. This can be very useful when doing things like mining and chopping down trees.

10

Gumbo Stew

A Late-Game Delicacy

• Food: 112
• Health: 56
• Water: 20
• Max Stamina Bonus: 40

Like the previous entry, this dish gives players a +40 to the player’s max stamina. However, unlike the previous entry, this dish also satisfies the player’s thirst. The downside to this dish is that players will need to read 100 Home Cooking Weekly magazines before they will be able to make it.

This is a late-game dish, but it is one of the best dishes in the game as it is an all-in-one meal that gives the player all they need to survive while out clearing POIs. Cooking this stew costs 1 large beef ration, 1 can of peas, 1 can of stock, 2 animal fat, and 1 water. It’s a costly dish to make. But by the time the player has read 100 Home Cooking Weekly magazines, they will already have a decent stockpile of canned food that they can use to cook up plenty of gumbo stew.

11

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Great For Saving Dukes

• Food: 42
• Health: 21
• Max Stamina Bonus: 20
• Bartering (Buying): +5% (5 Minutes)

Pumpkin cheesecake can be made after the player reads 18 Home Cooking Weekly magazines. While this dish isn’t the best in terms of food, health, and stamina bonus, it gives players a boost to their bartering while buying items from traders.

During the early stages of the game, it can be hard to make large amounts of Dukes. Saving up enough Dukes to buy certain things from traders can take some time. But, if the player eats a slice of pumpkin cheesecake before speaking to a trader, they will get a 5% discount on anything they buy. Making a slice of pumpkin cheesecake costs 1 pumpkin, 1 egg, 1 cornmeal, 1 animal fat, and 1 beer. This dish is great for those wanting to become wealthy in 7 Days To Die.

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Released

December 13, 2013

Developer(s)

The Fun Pimps