Cooking

Navigation:Main Index>Gameplay>Player>Skills>CookingPage Updated: Version 41.53

This article or section is currently UNDER CONSTRUCTION. It is in the process of an expansion or major restructuring. You are welcome to assist in its construction by editing it as well, be sure to check the talk page first. If this page has not been updated in a while, please remove this notice. Last edit was 11/03/2023 by Blondi523.

Spiffo needs some help with cooking...

Overview

Cooking is a skill in Project Zomboid that allows your character to make the most out of a food item when used as an ingredient.

Cooking

To begin cooking, you must right-click a Cooking Pot, Frying Pan, Griddle Pan or a Bowl. If you have ingredients, you will be able to add them.

• Adding 3 of the same ingredients will remove the unhappiness reduction, and will even increase unhappiness if theres more than 3.

Cooking Level

Cooking XP is easy to gain, but you should still maximize it by reading Skill Books.

• Cooking for Beginners (Levels 1-2)
• Cooking for Intermediate (Levels 3-4)
• Advanced Cooking (Levels 5-6)
• Expert Cooking (Levels 7-8)
• Master Cooking (Levels 9-10)

Ways to gain XP:

• Add ingredients
• Cook raw/uncooked food
• Slice dead animals

Benefits

Having a higher level of cooking skill provide some benefits:

• Each cooking level reduces how much ingredients are used when crafting 1 dish, which helps with Hunger reduction.
  • Compared to a level 0 chef, a higher level one is able to make a dish more filling, even when using the same ingredients.
    • THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF A SINGLE MUTTON CHOP ADDED INTO A STEW/SOUP! RESULTS MAY OR MAY NOT BE DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT INGREDIENTS

Cooking Skill	Mutton chop's hunger reduction	Stew/Soup hunger reduction(Uncooked)	Additional Hunger reduction (Uncooked)	% Increase	Stew/Soup hunger reduction(Cooked)	Additional Hunger reduction / % (Cooked)	Total % Increase
0	-30	-30	-	-	-39	-9 / +30%	+30%
10	-30	-39	-9	+30%	-50	-11 / +22%	+66.67%

• Each cooking level reduces how much ingredients are used when crafting 1 dish, which indirectly increase Nutrition Values.
  • Compared to a level 0 chef, a higher level one is able to squeeze more nutrients out of a food item.
    • THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF A SINGLE MUTTON CHOP ADDED INTO A STEW/SOUP! RESULTS MAY OR MAY NOT BE DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT INGREDIENTS

Cooking skill	Mutton Chop's Calories (Uncooked)	1st Piece of Mutton	2nd Piece of Mutton	3rd Piece of Mutton	Overall Calories	Additional calories	Total % Increase
0	234	117	117	-	234	-	+0%
5	234	132.60	132.70	35.34	300.56	76.56	+28.45%
10	234	136.5	137.5	81.9	354.9	120.9	+51.67%

• At level 7 Cooking, players are able to safely use rotten food as ingredients. The amount of Hunger and Nutrients gained from rotten food is substantially reduced.
  • THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF A SINGLE ROTTEN MUTTON CHOP ADDED INTO A STEW/SOUP! RESULTS MAY OR MAY NOT BE DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT INGREDIENTS

Cooking skill	Mutton Chop's Calories/Hunger (Rotten)	1st piece Calories	hunger reduction	% used for calories	% used for hunger reduction
7	234/-13	9.04	1	3.86%	11.54%
8	234/-13	9.09	1	3.89%	11.54%
9	234/-13	27.33	3	11.68%	23.08%
10	234/-13	27.3 (Lower than lvl 9)	3	11.67%	23.08%

• At level 7 Cooking, players are able to see if food contains poison. This does not allow the player to see which mushrooms or berries are poisonous as it only displays the poisonous icon on the specific dish the poisonous item is added to, not the poisonous item itself. This also allows the player to see if bleach has been added. Each additional "dose" of poison from berry, mushroom, or bleach will lower the cooking level at which the player can recognize the food as poisoned by approximately 1.

Recipes

Heat Source.

Simple Recipes

Formulas for basic cooking tasks.

Product	XP Gained	Skill(s)	Recipe	Ingredient 1	Ingredient 2	Ingredient 3	Ingredient 4
Pot of Soup x1		none		Can Opener x1	Canned Vegetable Soup x1 (consumed)	Cooking Pot x1 (consumed)	Heat Source (cooked:50min burned:100min)
Bowl of Beans x1		none		Can Opener x1	Canned Beans x1 (consumed)	Bowl x1 (consumed)
Bowl of Soup x4		none		Pot of Soup x1 (consumed)	Bowl x4 (consumed)	Heat Source (cooked:15min burned:25min)
Watermelon Chunks x5		none		Watermelon x1 (consumed)	Blunt Weapon or Log x1
Watermelon Slice x10		none		Watermelon x1 (consumed)	Hand Axe or Kitchen Knife or Saw or Stone Knife or Axe or Hunting Knife or Machete or Meat Cleaver or Stone Axe or Wood Axe or x1
Canned Tuna x1		none		Can Opener x1	Canned Tuna x1 (consumed)
Bowl of Beans x1		none		Open Can of Beans x1 (consumed)	Bowl x1 (consumed)
Open Can of Beans x1		none		Can Opener x1	Canned Beans x1 (consumed)
Bread Slices x3		none		Bread x1 (consumed)	Bread Knife or Butter Knife or Kitchen Knife or Hunting Knife or Machete or Meat Cleaver or Stone Knife x1

Advanced Recipes

Recipes for player-made foods. Certain recipes may require expertise from a recipe magazine or occupation.

Product	XP Gained	Skill(s)	Recipe	Ingredient 1	Ingredient 2	Ingredient 3	Ingredient 4	Ingredient 5
Hot Cuppa x1		none		Tea Bag or Coffee (2 units) (consumed)	Kettle of Water (2 units)	Empty Mug x1 (consumed)	Sugar (1 unit) (consumed)	Heat Source (heat: -0.22)
Chicken x1		none		Chicken x1 (consumed)	Heat Source (cooked:30min burned:60min)
Salmon x1		none		Salmon x1 (consumed)	Heat Source (cooked:80min burned:130min)
Steak x1		none		Steak x1 (consumed)	Heat Source (cooked:Xmin burned:Xmin)
Pot of Stew (Recipe) x1		none		Water (consumed)	Cooking Pot x1 (consumed)	Stew Ingredients (consumed)	Heat Source (cooking)
Pot of Soup (Recipe) x1		none		Water (consumed)	Cooking Pot x1 (consumed)	Soup Ingredients (consumed)	Heat Source (cooking)
Salad (Recipe) x1		none		Bowl x1 (consumed)	Salad Ingredients (consumed)
Bread Dough x1		none		Rolling Pin	Water (1 unit) (consumed)	Flour (1 unit) (consumed)	Salt (1 unit)	Yeast (1 unit) (consumed)
Pie Dough x1		none		Water (2 units) (consumed)	Flour (2 units) (consumed)	Salt (2 units) (consumed)	Butter (15 units) (consumed)
Bread x1		none		Bread Dough x1 (consumed)	Heat Source
Pie Preparation x1		none		Rolling Pin x1	Baking Pan x1 (consumed)	Pie Dough x1 (consumed)
Cake Preparation x1		none		Cake Batter x1	Baking Pan x1 (consumed)
Recipe Ingredients x1		none		Bread Slices x1	Recipe Ingredients x1 (consumed)

See also