Permafrost Food Guide: Cooking, Healing and Hunting

Updated: 2026-10-13

Quick answer: food in Permafrost restores health as well as hunger. The workhorse recipe is the healthy dish — meat combined with edible roots on a kitchen stove — which restores about 50 HP and fully satiates. And no, there is no thirst meter: you never need to find or boil water.

Water and drinks

There is no separate thirst bar — drinks fold into the hunger system. You'll never die of dehydration; instead, drinks are bonus consumables:

Improvised tea — warms you (a cold-zone staple)
Improvised coffee — energy + cold resistance + hunger
Alcohol (vodka, moonshine, beer) — a medical supply, not a drink strategy: it cures parasites and infected wounds, and vodka blurs your vision

The rules that matter

Hunger escalates through stages — A Bit Hungry → Famished → Starving — and starving drains health.
Raw meat can give you parasites (cure: medication or alcohol). Cook everything.
Falls cause internal bleeding → bandage. Infected wounds (stamina penalties) → medication or alcohol.
Food heals: a medkit has its own durability pool, but meals are renewable HP.

Cooking stations

Campfire (2 stone): basic single-ingredient cooking. Cooked meat beats raw by a mile.
Kitchen stove: the real upgrade. The schematic comes from Anna's house-camp questline (renovate the camp's walls and gates); the build costs 30 scrap reported. The stove takes a primary plus an enhancer ingredient — the wrong slot throws an "invalid slot" message.

Useful combinations (values from the game files, build 0.44.2)

Dish	Hunger	Health	Energy
Healthy dish (meat + roots/herb)	200	50	—
Warming dish (meat + potato)	200	—	—
Energy dish	200	—	50
Ultra dish (H/W/E)	120	60	60
Cooked dishes (beans, soup, pasta…)	~120–140	—	—
Bag of MRE	150	—	25
Beef jerky	80	—	—
Improvised tea	10	45	—
Improvised coffee	10	—	45
Whiskey	—	20	—

The healthy dish doubles as an economy play: vendors pay well for prepared meals, making cooking a steady buck income.

Hunting and foraging

Deer and rabbits are the safe early meat; bows are silent and arrows recoverable. Moose fight back when angered; boars, wolves, bears, bison and muskoxen attack on sight — see enemies.
Skin with a shiv or knife and keep a spare — skinning eats durability.
Edible roots, herbs, mushrooms and vegetables grow wild; canned food, MREs, chocolate and frozen pizza come from scavenging buildings.
Rabbit traps (wood + rope) on animal paths provide passive meat.
Late game reportedly adds indoor planters and grow lights for herbs and coffee.

FAQ

Is there water to drink anywhere? You don't need water to survive — no thirst meter exists. Drinks are crafted consumables with buffs.

Why did I get sick after eating? Raw meat risks parasites. Cook it; cure with medication or alcohol.