There’s a whole world of culinary delights waiting for players under the waves in Subnautica: Below Zero. From pulling bottom-feeders out of their rocky homes and stuffing them in your mouth, to curing delectable fish to last on long journeys into the unknown, knowing which food is best can sometimes be the difference between seeing another day and floating to the top.
This list will cover some of the best food items in the game, how you can craft them, or if they’re unique items, where you can find them. From fish to potato chips, here’s a comprehensive look at eating well in Below Zero.
6 Best Cooked Food - The Spicy Fruit Salad
It doesn’t get much better than this delectable Spicy Fruit Salad. This isn’t something you’ll be crafting at the start of the game, although it is the perfect accompaniment to long walks over the Glacial Basin and adventures into the cold. Here’s what you need to know.
5 The Best Cooked Fish - The Arctic Peeper
Looking for the most scrumptious cooked fish? The Arctic Peeper ticks that box. With the highest nutritional value of any fish in the game - up there at +32 food and +5 water - no other fish comes too close to how valuable the Peeper is.
If you played the original Subnautica, you’ve likely seen these Peepers before. They’re a bit different in Below Zero, but still recognizable because of their enormous yellow eyes.
Arctic Peepers are found peacefully swimming around in these biomes:
The Arctic Peeper is also the best fish to Cure. Although curing will reduce H2o levels of food, Cured food takes longer to decompose.
4 Best Fruits To Grow In Subnautica: Below Zero
There are a few really great fruits to prioritize if you’re just getting set up with Growbeds.
3 Best Food Source Found In The World - The Nutrient Block
Nutrient Blocks will save you time and time again in the early game. Before you have a reliable way to get plenty of food, Nutrient Blocks can be found at busted research sites or at various crash sites. You will find some dotted around Robin’s crashed shuttle right at the start of the game, and later at Delta Island, in the stern and bow of the Mercury II, and at ruined Alterra Tech Sites in the Shallow Twisty Bridges, for example.
With each block providing +75 food, these will keep your hunger satisfied while you explore beyond your Drop Pod, towards Delta Island, and into the unknown. It’s a great food source as you tackle with the first of Below Zero’s troublesome creatures. Keep in mind, though, that these Nutrient Blocks do not provide any H20 or heat. You will need water to boost your hydration levels.
2 Tips For Cooking Food In Subnautica: Below Zero
Cooked food is pretty simple to make. It only requires a Fabricator and at least one of whatever you want to cook. Though the Spicy Fruit Salad is a bit more complicated, it’s usually just a process of chucking a Peeper, Feather, or Hoopfish into the Fabricator and waiting for it to cook.
Once you’ve unlocked the Thermoblade, cooking gets a lot easier. The Thermoblade is a direct upgrade to the Survival Knife that can be used to attack and defend against creatures. Its most useful function, though, is being able to fry fish on the move. This means you can harvest some cooked fish while swimming or traveling and won’t be forced back to a Fabricator for more resources.
1 Is Curing Food Better Than Cooking Food?
Curing Food rather than Cooking does prevent the food from decomposing, especially with fish.
This process of rotting and decomposing actually starts very quickly with cooked fish, sometimes starting to go bad after around 25+ minutes. There are different stages of decomposition, like Decomposing, Ripe, and eventually Rotting. If eaten during the early stages, the fish will still provide some food value, but by the time it reaches Rotting there is no point in eating the fish.
Curing fish greatly extends the shelf-life of the food, but will remove all Hydration values from the food. This is ideal if you’re traveling a long distance and are not sure whether there will be any fresh, local fish to cook or catch.
NEXT: Subnautica: Below Zero - Where To Find And How To Use Ribbon Plant
