Looking back at all survival games in recent games, they all have one thing in common: a cooking mechanism. Stranded Deep is no exception to that. The game offers a basic—but vital—cooking process to help the survivors prepare meals. But as with most games of this genre, it doesn’t give players the manual for doing so.

There’s wood, rock, fire, and meat; the rest is creativity. Sounds unfair? Use this complete cooking guide to become a professional chef in Stranded Deep—and never worry about food again.

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How to Cook in Stranded Deep

image showing how to cook in stranded deep.

There are two ways to cook. Put meat over a fire or attach it to a smoker. With the first method, the meat is cooked but may go bad. But the second method (smoking) prevents cooked meat from spoiling.

For potatoes, cook them on a fire spit or hobo stove. Don’t put them on a smoker because it won’t work.

What Can Be Cooked in Stranded Deep

While players can eat rations, fruits, and coconuts, they can only cook meat and potato. The most sustainable cookable item is meat, which comes in three forms (small, medium, and large). But potatoes are best for getting fuel, not preparing meals.

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Here are the different types of meat in Stranded Deep:

Animal

Meat Size

The Archer Fish

Small

The Discus Fish

Small

Sardine

Small

Seagull

Small

Crab

Small

Bat

Small

Boar

Medium

Cod

Medium

Giant Crab

Medium

Giant Grouper Fish

Medium

Shark

Large

Hog

Large

Cooking time depends on the size of the meat and the cooking technique. Generally, it takes one and a half minutes for small meat to cook, but it takes longer for it to smoke. To know when the food is ready, keep an ear out for a beeping sound.

The Best Cooking Station

Stranded Deep has five cooking stations: fire, fire pit, fire spit, hobo stove, and smoker. Out of the options, the smoker is the best cooking station because it both handles more food and prevents them from going bad.

Next to the smoker, the hobo stove is the second-best cooking item. It cooks as many pieces of meat as players put on it; the only downside is that it can’t smoke them.

Stranded Deep is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.

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