Money
Sausage Food · Meat Satiety +10 Morale +1 200 g 1×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $5 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Ready-to-Eat at 2.00 Satiety a dollar, or White Sugar Food · Seasonings Satiety +5 Morale -1 500 g 2×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $10 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Seasonings Cook or use directly at 2.50 if you can stand 1 Morale a serving. A 30-day month is $720 of the first. The ten-hour prep window has how much money you have to spend in the first place.
Room in the bag
Weight is the constraint on a trip, so buy on Satiety per kilogram. Carrot Food · Vegetables Satiety +14 Morale +4 Life +8 120 g 2×1 cells 116.7 Satiety/kg $28 10 d shelf life Waste at day 20 Vegetables Sweet and crisp. Wash before eating. leads the whole shelf at 117 but keeps 10 days, so for anything you are not eating today the answer is Five-Spice Beef Jerky Food · Meat Satiety +15 Morale +3 200 g 1×1 cells 75.0 Satiety/kg $20 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Open and ready-to-eat; quite tasty at 75. Carry weight against bag cells has which of the two limits stops you first.
Room in the cupboard
Storage caps you on cells, not grams, and the ranking inverts. Hardtack Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale -3 4000 g 4×3 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $200 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat; Hard to Swallow is the best per cell in the game at 16.7, because its 12 cells hold 10 servings of 20. It costs $200 and 3 Morale a serving, which is the price of the space.
Open the supplies list Every food with its Satiety, weight, cells, shelf life and price. It opens on Hardtack, the item the cupboard case is built on. The Sat/kg, Sat/$ and Sat/cell columns there are per serving, so multiply by the Uses count for a whole unit.
122 foods are stocked by a shop, and 46 of them hold more than one serving. That is what a shelf price hides: a unit is bought once and eaten several times, so what decides a purchase is the Satiety in the whole unit, not the Satiety in one serving. This page covers the daily bill, the three measures that answer three different shortages, and the items that look like rations and are not.
Figures are for Wage Slave, the character a first run starts with.
What one day of food costs
Wage Slave loses one Satiety every 30 minutes. That is 2 an hour, or 48 Satiety a day with nothing else acting on you.
Turn it into a shopping list. One Sausage Food · Meat Satiety +10 Morale +1 200 g 1×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $5 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Ready-to-Eat covers 10 Satiety, so a day is 4.8 of them, $24 at shelf price. A 30-day month is 144 units, $720, 28.8 kg and 144 cells.
The last two figures are what catch people out. Satiety is cheap to buy and expensive to carry and to store.
A price tag is not a meal
Every food carries a Uses count, and a stat gain is what one serving grants. A unit with several of them costs its price, its weight and its cells once, and pays that gain out on every serving.
Hardtack Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale -3 4000 g 4×3 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $200 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat; Hard to Swallow is the clearest case. One serving is 20 Satiety, the same as Canned Luncheon Meat Food · Meat Satiety +20 Morale +1 1000 g 2×1 cells 20.0 Satiety/kg $30 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Meat Requires cutting tool to open , which makes it look like 1.7 Satiety a cell and a bad joke at $200. It holds 10 servings, so a unit is 200 Satiety, more than any other food a shop sells, and 16.7 a cell.
| Hardtack | Sausage | |
|---|---|---|
| Satiety a unit | 200 | 10 |
| Units needed | 7.2 | 144 |
| Money | $1440 | $720 |
| Carry weight | 28.8 kg | 28.8 kg |
| Cells | 86 | 144 |
| Morale a serving | -3 | +1 |
They weigh the same. The sausage is 2 times cheaper, and the hardtack takes 1.7 times less room. Neither wins outright, which is the shape of the whole decision.
The three numbers, and the shortage each answers
Satiety per dollar decides what to buy while money is the limit, early in the prep window when the shelves are full and your wallet is not.
Satiety per kilogram decides what to carry once the bag is the limit. This governs the last run before the outbreak and every scavenging trip after it.
Satiety per cell decides what to keep at home, because storage furniture caps you on grid cells rather than on grams.
The three disagree, and nothing on a shelf leads all of them.
Cheapest Satiety on a shelf
| Item | Uses | Sat a unit | Price | Sat/$ | Cells | Shelf life |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Sugar Food · Seasonings Satiety +5 Morale -1 500 g 2×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $10 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Seasonings Cook or use directly | 5 | 25 | $10 | 2.50 | 2 | 360 d |
| Sausage Food · Meat Satiety +10 Morale +1 200 g 1×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $5 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Ready-to-Eat | 1 | 10 | $5 | 2.00 | 1 | 90 d |
| Hot Dog Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale +3 200 g 2×2 cells 100.0 Satiety/kg $10 2 d shelf life Waste at day 5 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat | 1 | 20 | $10 | 2.00 | 4 | 2 d |
| Grilled Sausage Food · Staple Food Satiety +10 Morale +3 200 g 2×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $5 2 d shelf life Waste at day 5 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat | 1 | 10 | $5 | 2.00 | 2 | 2 d |
| Organic Fragrant Rice Food · Staple Food Satiety +7.5 Morale -4 3000 g 3×4 cells 17.5 Satiety/kg $35 360 d shelf life Waste at day 900 Staple Food Requires 1 hour to prepare | 7 | 52.5 | $35 | 1.50 | 12 | 360 d |
| Mexican Wrap Food · Staple Food Satiety +15 Morale +3 200 g 2×2 cells 75.0 Satiety/kg $10 2 d shelf life Waste at day 5 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat | 1 | 15 | $10 | 1.50 | 4 | 2 d |
White Sugar Food · Seasonings Satiety +5 Morale -1 500 g 2×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $10 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Seasonings Cook or use directly tops it at 2.50 on 5 servings of 5, and it keeps 360 days. The catch is 1 Morale each time, so it is a fallback ration rather than a meal. Sausage Food · Meat Satiety +10 Morale +1 200 g 1×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $5 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Ready-to-Eat is next at 2.00 and is the one to fill a basket with: one cell, 90 days, and +1 Morale instead of a penalty.
Hot Dog Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale +3 200 g 2×2 cells 100.0 Satiety/kg $10 2 d shelf life Waste at day 5 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat ties the sausage on Satiety per dollar and is a different thing entirely, at $10 across 4 cells with 2 days on it. It is a meal for today, not stock.
Step up to Beef Noodles Food · Staple Food Satiety +25 Morale +3 500 g 2×2 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $30 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Staple Food Requires hot water brewing; quite tasty when you want fewer, larger servings: 25 Satiety and +3 Morale for $30, still with a 90-day shelf life. It costs 4 cells against one.
Lightest Satiety on a shelf
Use this ranking on the final shopping run, when the bag is nearly full.
| Item | Sat a unit | Weight | Sat/kg | Shelf life | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrot Food · Vegetables Satiety +14 Morale +4 Life +8 120 g 2×1 cells 116.7 Satiety/kg $28 10 d shelf life Waste at day 20 Vegetables Sweet and crisp. Wash before eating. | 14 | 120 g | 117 | 10 d | $28 |
| Bread Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale +3 200 g 2×1 cells 100.0 Satiety/kg $30 10 d shelf life Waste at day 30 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat | 20 | 200 g | 100 | 10 d | $30 |
| Hot Dog Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale +3 200 g 2×2 cells 100.0 Satiety/kg $10 2 d shelf life Waste at day 5 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat | 20 | 200 g | 100 | 2 d | $10 |
| Matsutake Food · Mushrooms Satiety +8 Morale -4 Life +8 80 g 1×1 cells 100.0 Satiety/kg $16 10 d shelf life Waste at day 15 Mushrooms Requires cooking. Bland when eaten raw. | 8 | 80 g | 100 | 10 d | $16 |
| Garlic Food · Vegetables Satiety +8 Morale +1 Life +5 80 g 1×1 cells 100.0 Satiety/kg $16 10 d shelf life Waste at day 25 Vegetables Pungent when eaten raw. | 8 | 80 g | 100 | 10 d | $16 |
| Five-Spice Beef Jerky Food · Meat Satiety +15 Morale +3 200 g 1×1 cells 75.0 Satiety/kg $20 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Open and ready-to-eat; quite tasty | 15 | 200 g | 75 | 90 d | $20 |
Small dense food wins, and most of it is fresh. Carrot Food · Vegetables Satiety +14 Morale +4 Life +8 120 g 2×1 cells 116.7 Satiety/kg $28 10 d shelf life Waste at day 20 Vegetables Sweet and crisp. Wash before eating. leads at 117 Satiety a kilogram with 10 days on it, which makes the top of this table a list of things to eat rather than things to store.
Five-Spice Beef Jerky Food · Meat Satiety +15 Morale +3 200 g 1×1 cells 75.0 Satiety/kg $20 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Open and ready-to-eat; quite tasty is the one to remember, because it is the lightest Satiety that also keeps: 75 a kilogram in 1 cell, 90 days, and +3 Morale rather than a penalty. The argument against filling a bag with it is price: at $20 it is 2.7 times worse per dollar than Sausage Food · Meat Satiety +10 Morale +1 200 g 1×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $5 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Ready-to-Eat .
Most Satiety per cell
Once food is through the door, grams stop mattering and cells start.
| Item | Uses | Sat a unit | Cells | Sat/cell | Shelf life |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardtack Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale -3 4000 g 4×3 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $200 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat; Hard to Swallow | 10 | 200 | 12 | 16.7 | 360 d |
| Five-Spice Beef Jerky Food · Meat Satiety +15 Morale +3 200 g 1×1 cells 75.0 Satiety/kg $20 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Open and ready-to-eat; quite tasty | 1 | 15 | 1 | 15.0 | 90 d |
| Mixed Nuts Food · Snacks Satiety +15 Morale +3 500 g 1×1 cells 30.0 Satiety/kg $40 30 d shelf life Waste at day 120 Snacks Open and ready-to-eat; quite tasty | 1 | 15 | 1 | 15.0 | 30 d |
| Unsalted Butter Food · Seasonings Satiety +15 Stamina +5 200 g 1×1 cells 75.0 Satiety/kg $35 360 d shelf life Waste at day 720 Seasonings For cooking use | 1 | 15 | 1 | 15.0 | 360 d |
| Sunflower Seeds Food · Vegetables Satiety +30 Morale -5 Life +5 500 g 2×1 cells 60.0 Satiety/kg $60 10 d shelf life Waste at day 20 Vegetables Requires roasting. Tough to chew when raw. | 1 | 30 | 2 | 15.0 | 10 d |
| Watermelon Food · Fruit Satiety +60 Morale +30 Life +5 4000 g 2×2 cells 15.0 Satiety/kg $120 10 d shelf life Waste at day 30 Fruit Cut and ready-to-eat. Sweet and thirst-quenching. | 1 | 60 | 4 | 15.0 | 10 d |
The order inverts. Hardtack Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale -3 4000 g 4×3 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $200 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat; Hard to Swallow sits near the bottom of 122 on Satiety per kilogram at 50, and first here. Watermelon Food · Fruit Satiety +60 Morale +30 Life +5 4000 g 2×2 cells 15.0 Satiety/kg $120 10 d shelf life Waste at day 30 Fruit Cut and ready-to-eat. Sweet and thirst-quenching. is the same story at a smaller scale: 15 a kilogram, near the bottom of the weight list, yet 15.0 a cell because 60 Satiety fits in 4 cells. Buy food like that on a trip you are walking straight home from.
Only 10 of the 122 shelf foods keep 360 days, and 4 of those hold more than one serving. That small group is what a cupboard is for. Spoilage has what happens to the rest and how long past its date each one stays edible.
What the shelf gets wrong
Buying one food in bulk. Eating the same food type twice inside a day brings on Appetite Loss, and the game states the penalty on the effect itself: "Eating Staple Food reduces Satiety gains by half for 1 hour." A second identical meal is worth half what you paid for it. Morale has the food types the counter tracks and the rest of what the effect costs. Spread the basket.
Frozen food, before the power is settled. Frozen Chicken Breast Food · Meat Satiety +10 Morale -4 Life +5 2000 g 3×3 cells 10.0 Satiety/kg $25 7 d shelf life Waste at day 14 Meat Requires 1 hour to prepare costs 4 Morale a serving eaten as it comes, and keeps only 7 days. It is a cooking ingredient rather than a ration, and what it takes to keep the lights on has what a cold store draws.
Judging Giant Sub Sandwich Food · Staple Food Satiety +60 Morale +10 Life +5 1000 g 3×2 cells 60.0 Satiety/kg $150 7 d shelf life Waste at day 21 Staple Food Giant Sub Sandwich , You won't need to eat anything else for the rest of the day. Gain 5 Satiety every 2 hours for 12 hours. Looks filling just by looking at it; irresistibly Gourmand, continuously increases Satiety by its price. It is 60 Satiety for $150, which reads badly, but it also applies a buff the game describes as "Gain 5 Satiety every 2 hours for 12 hours." That is Satiety you are not charged for twice. It is still gone in 7 days, so buy one to eat rather than six to store.
Treating +Morale as scarce. Watermelon Food · Fruit Satiety +60 Morale +30 Life +5 4000 g 2×2 cells 15.0 Satiety/kg $120 10 d shelf life Waste at day 30 Fruit Cut and ready-to-eat. Sweet and thirst-quenching. gives +30 Morale a serving, the largest on any shelf, and Cola Food · Soft Drinks Satiety +5 Morale +6 Stamina +8 500 g 1×2 cells 10.0 Satiety/kg $10 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Soft Drinks Open bottle and drink; quite tasty gives +6 in 2 cells that keep 360 days. Neither is efficient Satiety. Both are cheap Morale.
What to do
- Work out the bill before the basket. 48 Satiety a day is 1440 for a 30-day month, and that is the number the shopping has to clear.
- Buy Sausage Food · Meat Satiety +10 Morale +1 200 g 1×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $5 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Ready-to-Eat while money is the limit: 2.00 Satiety a dollar in one cell for 90 days, with +1 Morale rather than a penalty.
- Check the Uses count before you judge a price. 46 of the 122 foods a shop stocks hold more than one serving, and the shelf price is for the whole unit.
- Switch to Satiety per kilogram on the last trip. Five-Spice Beef Jerky Food · Meat Satiety +15 Morale +3 200 g 1×1 cells 75.0 Satiety/kg $20 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Open and ready-to-eat; quite tasty carries 75 a kilogram against 50, at 2.7 times the price. Worth it only once the bag rather than the wallet is what you are running out of. Those two are two of the six values a supply carries.
- Judge what stays at home on Satiety per cell. Hardtack Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale -3 4000 g 4×3 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $200 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat; Hard to Swallow is 16.7 a cell against 10.0, which is 1.7 times the stock in the same cupboard for 2 times the money.
- Spread the basket across food types rather than buying one item in bulk, or half of what you bought is lost to Appetite Loss.
When the stockpile runs out
Everything above is food you bought. A hundred-day run outlasts a bought stockpile, and the three systems that replace it, cooking, trapping and farming, return very different amounts per day and per unit of space. Which food system to build first compares them.
Quick reference
- Daily bill: 48 Satiety for Wage Slave, 1440 for a 30-day month.
- A unit is not a serving: 46 of 122 shelf foods hold more than one, up to 10.
- Cheapest Satiety: White Sugar Food · Seasonings Satiety +5 Morale -1 500 g 2×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $10 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Seasonings Cook or use directly at 2.50 a dollar, then Sausage Food · Meat Satiety +10 Morale +1 200 g 1×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $5 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Ready-to-Eat at 2.00 with no Morale penalty.
- Lightest that keeps: Five-Spice Beef Jerky Food · Meat Satiety +15 Morale +3 200 g 1×1 cells 75.0 Satiety/kg $20 90 d shelf life Waste at day 360 Meat Open and ready-to-eat; quite tasty at 75 Satiety a kilogram.
- Most per cell: Hardtack Food · Staple Food Satiety +20 Morale -3 4000 g 4×3 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $200 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Staple Food Ready-to-Eat; Hard to Swallow at 16.7, 200 Satiety a unit.
- Best cupboard filler for the money: Canned Luncheon Meat Food · Meat Satiety +20 Morale +1 1000 g 2×1 cells 20.0 Satiety/kg $30 360 d shelf life Waste at day 1800 Meat Requires cutting tool to open , 20 Satiety in 2 cells with a 360-day shelf life.
- Cheap Morale: Watermelon Food · Fruit Satiety +60 Morale +30 Life +5 4000 g 2×2 cells 15.0 Satiety/kg $120 10 d shelf life Waste at day 30 Fruit Cut and ready-to-eat. Sweet and thirst-quenching. at +30 a serving.
- Repeats cost half: "Eating Staple Food reduces Satiety gains by half for 1 hour."
Sort the whole list yourself in the supplies list, remembering that its three per-Satiety columns are per serving.