Food Production & Storage

Learn how to effectively produce and store food in Oxygen Not Included. From early-game Mealwood to advanced Bristle Berries and Mushrooms, this guide covers it all.

Food is essential for your duplicants' survival and happiness in Oxygen Not Included. Early game options like Mealwood are easy to obtain but have low food quality and resource requirements. As your colony grows, you'll need to transition to more advanced food sources.

Early Game: Mealwood

• Mealwood: Produces Meal Lice (600 kcals, -1 food quality). Requires dirt, which is not fully renewable. Good for early game when duplicant food expectations are low.

Mid Game: Bristle Berries & Mushrooms

• Bristle Berries: Grown from Bristle Blossom plants. Cooked into Gristle Berries (2050 kcals, 1 food quality). Requires water and light. Best to set up with a coal generator for power. Hydroponic farm tiles are recommended to automate watering.
• Mushrooms: Grown from fungal spores. Cooked into Fried Mushrooms (2800 kcals, 1 food quality). Requires polluted water and immersion in carbon dioxide.

Food Storage & Preservation Tips:

• Food left on the floor can rot due to germs, which require oxygen to survive.
• Storing food in a carbon dioxide-filled environment prevents decay, as germs cannot survive in CO2.
• Keeping ration boxes in an ice biome acts as a natural refrigerator, slowing down food decay.
• Combining an ice biome with a CO2 environment offers the best protection against food spoilage.