This guide is made for players who are new to Don’t Starve series and/or Don’t Starve Together. I hope that throughout the content of this guide, you, my readers can receive some knowledge about ways to obtain food in game and get to choose them, then eventually can get to discover more content without getting starved.
Introduction
In this guide, I may mention several ways to obtain food depends on their accessibility. In general, a more accessible food resource means it is less risky when you obtaining food, but the consistency/efficiency of this food resource may vary. A less accessible food resource means it is riskier when you obtaining food, but the consistency/efficiency of this food resource is usually more rewarding since that’s the reason they are risky.
Additionally, I may rate every method with my own suggestion and give them a rating (it will be 10 at maximum) depends on their accessibility and consistency/efficiency.
Note that I may only mention methods that I recommend of, methods excluded in this guide are rather not recommended by me or I don’t even know their existence.
Additionally, none of the methods are perfect, and most of the time people won’t choose only one method, I’m here to list them out, you are free to choose any of them to make a combination.
1. Picking up berries, carrots, butterfly wings, etc.
Accessibility: 10/10(not risky at all);
Consistency: 4/10(relatively poor);
Efficiency: 6/10 (standard);
(* this method also includes replanting berry bushes in base.*)
This is probably one of the most common methods in game people would use in the first autumn.
***Pros:***
Wild crops are separated in most area on the map; you can access them very quickly.
There’s no risk to get food like that since the berry bushes and carrots won’t bite you 🙂
(P.S.: birchnut trees can be poisoned, which it can attack you, but it is avoidable.)
***Cons:***
You can only rely on it during the very early stage of the game since health regeneration you can get from these food are a problem unless you eat blue mushrooms and trail mix, which either needs you to trade off with sanity or unlock crockpot.
The biggest disadvantage should be its consistency. Most of the wild crops stop growing in winter, if you only rely on this, winter will cut off your food resources and make you in danger.
Conclusion: Picking up wild crops may be easy and chill, but it won’t help you in winter, this method may work for everyone especially new players at the very beginning.
2. Replanting spider eggs (and/or hunting hounds) & pig houses
This is another well used and consistent method to get meats/monster meats and other byproducts. It does require at least some level of combat skills, and armors will be an expense during the fight. Monster meats can be used in many food recipes, it can also help make pigs insane and drop more loots.
***Pros:***
This method can be used at any season, with strategies like food trap; you can farm pigs at both daytime and night time.
This method also helps you to obtain other important byproducts such as pig skins, silks (it’s common but the need is no end), which is very helpful.
Pigs can help you to chop trees and assist you during a fight; they can help you rather than dropping meats and pig skins. (Although you can still kill them when you don’t need them.)
***Cons:***
The efficiency is little poor comparing to the consumption, especially when you are playing alone, this situation will worsen if the day is too short when you plan to kill spiders, you may find yourself in trouble when you aggro a bunch of spiders at dusk.
At the end of the day, you may find yourself hard to do anything else because killing a dozen spiders (hounds) and werepigs takes you a lot of time.
The method makes armors under the consumption, it may be the least risky method if to ignore those advanced meat farms but indeed, when there’s a fight, there is risk more or less.
Conclusion: This is actually a great method to get food if you are new but you know how to fight spiders, hounds, & werepigs. I found it very useful when I’m new to DST and it helped me survived every season easily and met the basic needs.
*This is probably how people plant their spider eggs near their base:*
*This is how a pig farm probably looks like:*
*Here’s a bigger one:* (This one is more luxurious and I doubt if anyone will build like this)
3. Pond fishing & sea fishing
*(* Note that this method also includes frog hunting, as you will see them near ponds during daytime, and wobster fishing, as it is a part of the sea fishing *)*
Accessibility: 7/10 (not very risky);
(This rating does include the risk of the boat sinking but it excludes the upcoming beta update since everything is still uncertain, but in general, it will only be lower rather than higher.)
Consistency: 7/10 (can be used at most of the time);
Efficiency: 3/10 (poor);
I wasn’t planned to list this one out on my list since fish are frog legs are not efficient to get, but considering fish is rare to have a method to obtain, I decide to write it anyway.
This is a method you can get fish in the early stage, which can help you to make powerful food such as surf n’ turf.
***Pros:***
* Surf n’ turf & fish stick are powerful.
***Cons:***
* Seafaring is getting dangerous, after the “troubled water” update, there will be nightmare horrors, sharks, shadow hands(unlike the one on ground, this one can break your boat) on sea, you are going to take much more risks.
* Fishing is honestly not efficient if you want to make it as a major food resource.
Conclusion: I personally don’t fish a lot, since I don’t think fish is necessary, but it’s fun to sail out and go fishing sometimes. Rather than a way to survive, I would treat it as a way to chill out in late game.
4. Farming
Accessibility: 9/10 (not risky at all, but it may take time to gather materials to make a decent farm)
Consistency: 7/10 (can be used at all seasons except spring)
Efficiency: 1~10/10 (you get more if you give more)
Farming is also a good way to get food especially when you have dragon fruit and many improved farms.
***Pros:***
* Crops grow very fast, and it is even faster in spring, as long as you build enough farms, you can start produce crops massively.
* No danger at all, crops won’t bite you or either run away, just have fun and start your farming life.
***Cons:***
* It doesn’t work in winter.
* A few improved farms won’t give you much good.
* You need to fertilize the farm from time to time, otherwise they won’t be able to grow crops.
Conclusion: Farming doesn’t need me to credit it more reputation than it currently has, your life will be much easier when you can start planting a lot of stuff.
5. Bee Box (B-Box)
Accessibility: 8/10 (nearly not risky if to pick up honey unless in spring, potential risk when gathering honeycomb)
Consistency: 7/10 (can be used at all seasons except winter.)
Efficiency: 3~10/10 (depends on the amount of flowers and bee boxes)
Another good method to get food, while honey has a very long spoil time, Bee boxes can make sure it can be produced at a decent speed.
***Pros:***
* Honey is produced at a decent speed if there are flowers nearby the bee box.
* Bees are not very dangerous in game, you can start making a honey farm very quick even in the first autumn, and every food kind related to honey is useful, and this is a great advantage.
***Cons:***
* Bees in spring are definitely want to tear you apart.
* Too many bee boxes will kill your performance.
Conclusion: Bee boxes are useful both in early game and late game, it may be a challenge for new players to give it a try, but the reward will worth it.
6. Stonefruits (Avocado!)
Accessibility: 6/10; (not risky at all to collect those, but finding moon island is not an easy work)
Consistency: 10/10; (it works at all time)
Efficiency: 10/10; (Avocados are abundant)
I would say stonefruit is one of the most insane crops in DST, it provides 1 unit of veggie, it grows during winter, and it’s where you get rocks in late game, even Wigfrid loves stonefruits! (Just joking, she won’t eat them)
***Pros:***
* It grows during winter.
* It is one of the most abundant veggie in DST.
***Cons:***
* It needs to be fertilized every 3 times you collect avocados from it.
Conclusion: If you have a Woodie, you should ask him to find moon island if he’s able to do that, your life will be easier with that.
7. Bunnyman fire farm
If to build bunnyman fire farm completed all at once:
Accessibility: 5/10 (risky to build, since you need to get down to cave and hammer dozens of bunnyman houses.)
Consistency: 8/10 (It works at dusk and night)
Efficiency: 10/10 (you don’t worry about food at all if you build this.)
If to build bunnyman fire farm partially and complete later:
Accessibility: 8/10(easy to start, but it requires some amount of time to complete it.)
Consistency: 8/10 (It works at dusk and night)
Efficiency: 2~10/10 (2 for one bunny man farm, the rating increases 1 when every 3 bunnyman houses are built).
This is one of the most efficient meat farms, but it is also a large construction. As we all know, bunnies are our good friends, that’s why we should treat them good, when they are on our table.
***Pros:***
* Very efficient, bunnymans only need 1 day to spawn when they are killed.
* A safe resource to get food as long as you know how to use it and you built it properly.
***Cons:***
* Its construction is rather dangerous or time-spending, you need to choose rather to spend a dozen of days in cave and not coming out or start from a few houses, low productivity makes progress slower.
* If you don’t build that farm properly or either you don’t down how to use it, sometimes bunnymans will come out and ask for revenge.
Conclusion: Bunnymans are good, once you complete this fire farm, you shouldn’t be starved anymore.
(Utimate!) Multi-herds volt goat farm automata
Although I’m not the one who found this mechanic, but since I’m the one who designed this farm, I think I can name it as I wish.
Accessibility: 1/10 (not risky, but the material required to build it is insane.)
Consistency: 10/10 (it can be worked at all time, even if you are not nearby.)
Efficiency: 10/10 (As you give more, you get more, you won’t be able to spend all the goat horns and meats once you build it)
The productivity limit of this farm is: the amount of an enemy trap * 6 herds. For example, if you have 20 an enemy traps, you can farm 120 herds, and of course the cost to build it will make you insane.
***Pros:***
* Fully automatic. You just need to come by and pick up the meats and horns.
* Very high productivity potentials, you can use it to stun the server if you wish.
***Cons:***
* As you get more herds into this farm, you will see how insane it will cost the materials.
Conclusion: If anyone is interested, I am happy to teach!
Credit to Memorysalt