Keeping the hunger meter up in Permafrost comes down to one loop: find a lit fire, feed it fuel, and turn raw Meat into cooked food. A cooked Dish restores far more hunger than anything you eat raw, and a full stomach also helps your body hold warmth and recover energy. The whole process runs through a single cooking panel that any campfire or stove opens.
Quick answer: Press E on a lit Campfire, put Wood in the fuel slot and press X to light it, then put raw Meat in the PRIMARY slot and press R to cook. Collect the Dish from the fire.
Cook at a campfire or stove
Any lit Campfire will let you cook, as will the stone hearth in Horizon’s kitchen building. To make a fire of your own, go to the Survival tab in the Building menu and place a Campfire for 2 Stone. The game’s tutorial also explains that cooking requires a lit campfire or stove fueled with wood or coal.
One piece of Meat makes one Dish. Only the PRIMARY slot is used for the cook, so you do not need to fill any other ingredient slots to get a result.
How long fuel lasts
Wood burns at roughly one minute per piece. Ten Wood loaded into the fuel slot showed 10m on the timer ring, so a handful of logs keeps a fire going long enough to cook a full batch and warm you at the same time. Coal also works as fuel.
Press X again to turn the fire off. Any unburnt Wood can be taken straight back out of the slot, so do that before you walk away rather than letting it burn down to nothing.
Hold E on a lit campfire for the “Warm hands” action, which warms you while the fire is running. A short fire stop mid-trip tops up body warmth and lets you cook at the same time.
Early food and drink values
A cooked Dish is the backbone of early eating, restoring 90 hunger from a single piece of Meat. Raw Meat only gives 30 and carries a risk of the PARASITES effect, so cooking it is almost always worth the few seconds at a fire. These are the values shown on the item tooltips.
| Food / drink | Hunger | Other effects |
|---|---|---|
| Dish | 90 | A simple cooked meal |
| Can of Soup | 90 | Cold, but drinkable |
| Beef Jerky | 80 | Found and sold at Hunter’s Glade |
| Bag of Chips | 40 | — |
| Chocolate Bar | 40 | — |
| Granola Bar | 40 | Energy and Stamina |
| Meat (raw) | 30 | Risks PARASITES |
| Mushrooms | 30 | Picked in Bone Cave |
| Frozen Veggies | 20 | — |
| Frozen Pizza | 20 | — |
| Edible Root | 15 | Health 15 |
| Herbs | 5 | Health 25 |
| Coffee Beans | 5 | Energy 15 |
Some drinks lean on warmth rather than hunger. Improvised Coffee gives Energy 45, Cold Res. 45 and a little hunger, while Improvised Tea gives Cold Res. 45 along with some Health and Hunger. Moonshine and Vodka each give Cold Res. 20 and cure PARASITES, though alcohol adds the LIGHTHEADED effect. The Ultra Dish sold by The Mule at Hunter’s Glade is the strongest meal around, with Hunger 120, Energy 60, Cold Res. 30 and Health 60.
Eating and the Full Belly bonus
Right-click an item in your inventory and select CONSUME to eat it. For a hotbar item, select it and press the left mouse button. The third diamond along the screen’s bottom-left edge represents hunger; in the inventory, each meter displays its current value over its maximum.
Keeping your hunger meter high activates FULL BELLY, whose in-game description is “A well-fed body heals itself. Energy recovers faster.” The effect raises Stamina Gain Rate by 20% and adds 50 to Maximum Stamina. It comes from eating well overall, not from any single Dish, so keep the meter topped up instead of waiting for it to drop.
Where Meat comes from
Red deer can be found beyond Horizon and in the Woods; boar are in the Woods, and a bear lives in Bone Cave. Hold E on a carcass to skin the animal, then open it and take the Meat. A deer may yield two Meat, enough to prepare two Dishes from one hunt. Cooking gradually increases your Cooking skill, so regular meals offer two benefits.
A simple food routine
- Hunt a couple of deer on your way into Horizon and cook at the kitchen hearth.
- Carry three or four Dishes with you and put any extras in a chest at your base.
- Have a Dish before setting off on a lengthy trip, and eat one before you go to sleep.
- Collect tins and snacks at camps as emergency food, since you can use them without a fire.
Common questions about food
As far as is known, cooking uses only the PRIMARY ingredient slot, and each Meat yields a single Dish. Food shows no sign of spoiling. The tutorial does not name a distinct thirst meter, so hunger and warmth are the two values to manage when eating.
Permafrost is in early access, so recipes, costs and these food values can change as updates land. Treat the numbers above as current rather than permanent, and check your tooltips if a later update shifts them.
