Best way to store meals?

[Cragvis 13]

I currently store meals in a small barrel with water in it, but once every couple days, meals will dissapear, they dont even take gradual damage, they just are gone!

What is the best way to store meals for long term use? I dont have salt since i heard that helps.

[Asyumii 0]

I don't know much about cooking in wurm, but I would assume that if you store the ingredients and only make enough meals for that day, you could store food longer-term. Putting meat into your fsb along with veggies.

Don't take this as "good" advice, but I think it might be a solution...kinda.

[Drpox 73]

small barrel stored outside of the house with 1 salt and water and your meals.  Seems to work fine for me.  You will still lose meals as they are perishable for a reason. 

[Cragvis 13]

small barrel stored outside of the house with 1 salt and water and your meals.  Seems to work fine for me.  You will still lose meals as they are perishable for a reason.

My barrel is in my house with water in it, but the meal lasts for 2 Real life days and then poof. I dont even see damage going up it just dissapears.

How hard is it to get salt? ive yet to see any in the game ever.

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

I cook mine in a frypan in my forge, and I was told they would last longer if you leave them untouched in the frypan/forge so that they never, not once, get flagged as going through your inventory.  I have never actually tested to confirm that this works any better than meals-in-a-barrel-of-water-with-salt, which is what I used before. It does seem though to give an extra day or two. I know they don't poof instant; they seem to get 20-something damage the first time I notice decay, then go up in stages from there.

Only sure-proof way I think is one of those no-decay magic chests, if you happen to be a rich Wurmian.

[Torgrim 403]

Using salt in the meal works for sure, they last several days longer if you use salt as an ingredient. Higher QL meals last longer also, but there is a random factor that can make decay time differ quite alot.

Low ql meals can dissapear quite fast when they start to decay, higher ql meals takes longer, so maybe your meals disappear seemingly overnight because they are lo ql?

[Bloodburn 0]

Using salt in the meal works for sure, they last several days longer if you use salt as an ingredient. Higher QL meals last longer also, but there is a random factor that can make decay time differ quite alot.

Low ql meals can dissapear quite fast when they start to decay, higher ql meals takes longer, so maybe your meals disappear seemingly overnight because they are lo ql?

I can only make 9ql meals so that is probably why. oh well.

Ill either just eat raw fish or make meals to order.

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

Another option, especially if you fish, is to make fish stew. One small fish + one fish filet (from a larger fish), I think in a pottery bowl. Then pour it into a barrel or bucket and store it there. Use a clay jar for reheating.  You can pour a tiny bit into a flask and then mix it back in again, and this resets the decay, so that you can keep a bucket of it good for quite some time. Or just add a fresh bowl each day to reset it.

I lived off fish stew this way for my first few weeks in the game Never had to throw any food out or have it "poof" on me overnight (just make sure not to keep it in inventory; all food spoils extra fast in inventory).

[Ayes 3,715]

Cragvis, there really is no effective way to store meals for more than a few days. Asyumii has made the most reasonable suggestion, store cooked meat and vegetables in a food storage bin and just cook meals as needed.

Take out 1 meat, filet it (makes 3 filets), take out 3 vegs, drop all in a lit oven (pre heating them) with a frying pan in there. Take out 1 filet and 1 veg and drop in frying pan, open frying pan, when it turns into a meal, take out and repeat process. Result is 3 meals, drop 2 in a small barrel with water in it and take them out to eat as needed.

Also, since your cooking skill is very low you should not be making meals anyway. Make cassaroles using the same procedure as stated above but substitute a bowl for the frying pan. You will gain much better HFC skill this way and cassaroles last twice as long in regards to decay as well.

Also note that you should never leave meals or cassaroles in your inventory when you log off as they decay extremely rapidly in there when you do this. I just carry around one meal and eat some of it as needed, if any is left I drop it in the water barrel when logging off.

=Ayes=

[Bloodburn 0]

Another option, especially if you fish, is to make fish stew. One small fish + one fish filet (from a larger fish), I think in a pottery bowl. Then pour it into a barrel or bucket and store it there. You can pour a tiny bit into a flask and then mix it back in again, and this resets the decay, so that you can keep a bucket of it good for quite some time. Or just add a fresh bowl each day to reset it.

I lived off fish stew this way for my first few weeks in the game Never had to throw any food out or have it "poof" on me overnight (just make sure not to keep it in inventory; all food spoils extra fast in inventory).

Oh wow im going to try it out, and like the last poster said, i should be making lesser difficult foods first. I just thought meals were the most nutricious. But a waste if they go away after a couple days in a barrel. Ill def make fishy stew and mix it around every day to keep the mold away LOL

[Ayes 3,715]

As for making stews, I think they may require a pottery jar to be made; so if a bowl doesn't work try using a jar.

=Ayes=

[Roger Hellers 2]

As for making stews, I think they may require a pottery jar to be made; so if a bowl doesn't work try using a jar.

=Ayes=

Stews can be made in frying pans or bowls.

In a frying pan fish + meat is stew.

Can't recall in bowls from the top of my head.

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

Fish stew is mostly useful for the low-level solo player struggling to get by on subsistence fare; if you are starting out in a village that can keep you stocked in resources then you have better options.

I always used a little whole fish (like perch, roach, anything really under .59 kg) plus a filet from a larger fish (catfish, carp, any fish over. 60 kg that can be fileted.)  Pretty sure it was a pottery bowl, because when I first started that's about all I had. Later when I had access to more iron, I made fancy saucepans and a cauldron for dumping stew into and reheating it, though if low on iron at the start you can just use a wooden barrel for storage and a clay jar for reheating (stew can't be poured back into a claybowl again, as those don't hold liquids, even though you made it in one).  Keep extra fish in a barrel of water; if they start to decay, then filet the larger ones and make stew from any starting to go bad.

Once you skill out on fish stew, or have more access to meat-and-veggies, you can switch to gulasch (meat + veggie in saucepan; pumpkins are great for whipping up big batches) until your skill is high enough to switch over to meals. If you want to raise the difficulty level of the dish, cook it in a forge and add a nail or bowstring as that adds a bit to the difficulty rating (the odd item will just be left behind in the bowl/saucepan after the food item is created).

A bit off-topic, but fish stew (or even better gulasch, if you can grow pumpkins, since they are nice and bulky) is also extremely handy for raising pet pigs, dogs, wolves and bears -- grinding enough Animal Taming skill to keep a pet bear around can be very handy when your fight skill is still low. Start with a dog if possible though, as its much easier to retame over and over and over if they are low level non-aggros, and pigs eat too much. Avoid herbivore pets like deer, as these use up too many veggies, and stew/gulasch is easier to make in bulk.  You only need a tiny .001 portion of the fish stew for each tame attempt, if you put a potato and some corn in a flask and then top it off with a teensy bit of stew.  Keep retaming it over and over when you have the time, to get your skill up. Tame near a door or gate for safety and if it aggros on you, just move away 5-6 tiles then come back. A rope and a grooming brush (wemp fibre + shaft)  are very handy accessories to acquire if you decide to do animal taming, though grooming is not required and not all animals can be groomed. It does help though for resisting disease and raising animal husbandry skill.

At the very least, a pet will lay down its life for you while you make an escape from soemthing that otherwise would kill you, so its nice also to have one thats easily replaceable. I like bears best later -- they are more rugged than the others, can help better against stuff like spiders and other bears, and used to be they would double also as minecart pullers and security guards in dark underground places, which is nice if you are scared of dark underground places like me. Bears no longer pull carts though except when still Young in age, which is a shame.

Most of this advice is for a low-level player starting solo on their own -- players with better skills and resources may have much better options.

[Bloodburn 0]

Thanks for all the info. I made stew!

My meals were 9ql

My stews are 26ql! much better.

Ill try goulash today too. I have a nice farm going, TONS of pumpkins.

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

Stews will be 2 x skill so at 26Q, it means you are probably now at 13 HFC.

Meals are capped at 1 x skill, so that was maybe back when HFC was only 9, and you maybe gained a few points since then. Besides HFC skill, I think the raw materials and container qualities play a minor role, but only minor. Probably mostly just help with consistency.

So not quite as dramatic an imrpovement as it sounds. Meals give more nutrition/efficiency, so you might test and not just judge by the quality numbers. Those may or may not mean much. But 9Q meals probably don't do much of anything. I would keep an eye on your nutrition level and maybe gauge from that, which is the most "healthy" food system for you.

But easier anyway on a skill-grinding level, to start with stew, progress to gulasch, then finally to meals. Ideally I think you want recipes whose "diffiulty" is like +/- 5 points of your skill, so at 13 skill you are looking for recipes in the 9-18 difficulty range. But don't get too enslaved to metagaming numbers, do the system that overall just feels most fitting for you.

[Bloodburn 0]

my HFC is 9, and i didnt know the range of skills you would want to aim for that helps.

My nutrition is 60%, thats from eating my meals all the time. it was 50% when i started a while ago.

[Rhazul 0]

My HFC is 28 and I cook 60 meals at a time.

I leave them inside the frying pans inside the forge, and I always have undecayed, undamaged meals left after one week. Most times I still have meals left after 2 weeks.

Decay ticks are very random so a meal can last from anywhere to a few days to few weeks.

[Bloodburn 0]

My HFC is 28 and I cook 60 meals at a time.

I leave them inside the frying pans inside the forge, and I always have undecayed, undamaged meals left after one week. Most times I still have meals left after 2 weeks.

Decay ticks are very random so a meal can last from anywhere to a few days to few weeks.

I assume thats a bug? I know if I left my pizza in the oven after its cooked, it will still go bad within a day or two...lol

[Brash_Endeavors 4,735]

I don't think he means that most of them last over a week, but rather that out of 60 meals total, a few of them will last that long.

Since food decay is random, this is not necessarily unthinkable to happen when you have such a large number of total meals.

[Leslie 5]

I cook mine in a frypan in my forge, and I was told they would last longer if you leave them untouched in the frypan/forge so that they never, not once, get flagged as going through your inventory.  I have never actually tested to confirm that this works any better than meals-in-a-barrel-of-water-with-salt, which is what I used before. It does seem though to give an extra day or two. I know they don't poof instant; they seem to get 20-something damage the first time I notice decay, then go up in stages from there.

Only sure-proof way I think is one of those no-decay magic chests, if you happen to be a rich Wurmian.

I recently made 3 meals of around 16ql, each weighing 1kg (3 filets of meat and a potato). Didn't touch any of them. One meal took 60~ damage in 3 days, a second meal took 60~ damage on the fourth day, while the third meal had no damage. No salt used, didn't remove them from their frying pans, pans had different levels of ql / damage (the lowest ql pan's meal taking no damage) and all left inside the same forge in my on-deed mine. Took a bite out of the no damage meal on day 4, otherwise they were all treated the same way.

Could mean it's better than a barrel, but I'll err on the side of random is random (or seems random to those observing without knowing all the factors).

[Melaquinn 9]

The best thing you can do, if you are only cooking for yourself, is as was suggested, store your cooked meats and your veggies in the fsb and only cook as needed. 

[Torgrim 403]

You can't base any theory on 3 meals. You should do testing with hundreds of meals because there is a huge random factor in this. What I can say about salt in the meal is that it adds several days for sure, it makes you meals last 4-7 days rather than 2-3.

Cooking when needed of course is the best way, but I believe that was not the question. The question was how to store meals, so not cooking until needed is not an answer.

[Ayes 3,715]

Don't overlook the fact that casseroles have a MUCH slower rate of decay than meals and are also much better to rasie HFC up to the 20 or so level. If you make those also use corn or potatoes (plus meat filet in a bowl) as they will raise HFC better at a lower level than a pumpkin will. Best to save the meat filet, pumpkin and frying pan until after 20 skill for making meals or when you don't care about decay rate and HFC skilling.

=Ayes=

[Bloodburn 0]

so far my 25ql stew is still good to eat after a few days.

I was making meals right away because i remember back in the day, meals were the only thing to fill you up to 100%. That changed a while ago, so I shouldnt be worried about eating only casseroles or stew now, since they fill me up too.

[Lolabelle 597]

I have seen meals in an oven in frying pans hold up much longer on deed, so if you can leave them there and eat form the pan, not take and eat from inventory you may have them hold up a bit more. Also if you light the oven with a kindling only and make them hot you get better nutrition.