Food & Water

Food & Water are categories of consumable items crafted from materials and caught creatures using the Fabricator. They are only available in Survival and Hardcore mode. Consuming Food & Water is required to maintain the player's Food & Water levels or else the player risks dying from thirst or starvation.

While some Food can be eaten raw, this action dehydrates the player and yields significantly less Food than when it is cooked. The player can also choose to cure fish instead of cooking them, so as to make them immune to decay. Cured fish has the same Food values as cooked fish, but dehydrates the player by 2% H₂O.

To consume Food & Water items, the player can left-click on the item in the PDA, which will immediately consume the item and provide the player with its respective stat changes.

The two gauges are marked out of 100 but work slightly differently: the Water gauge never exceeds 100 under any circumstances, but the Food gauge will "overflow" above 100 if a consumed item's Food value would take it beyond 100, and it is not already 100 or higher. The maximum value for Food is therefore 174 in Subnautica and 184 in Below Zero (eating a Nutrient Block or Spicy Fruit Salad at 99 Food, respectively).

Starvation and Dehydration

A player will starve fully in about 50 minutes (1 unit of food every 30 seconds) and so it is important to watch out, as not being cautious can mean death.

With dehydration, on the other hand, a player will die in about 33 minutes. (1 unit of thirst every 20 seconds)

In both cases, a player will be warned that they are close to starvation and/or dehydration when only 20 units of either food or water remain. Another warning will be heard when 10 units remain. The audio for the warnings can be heard here.

Rot and Decay

Cooked food only provides full nutritional value for about two to three minutes after being cooked. After that, the food will slowly start to lose its Food & Water values as it decays, eventually labeled "Old" with little diminishing food value, and finally marked "Rotten" when the Food value goes to -1. Both Food & Water values can drop to -25, making it harmful to the player to eat rotten food. It is recommended to eat Food during any stage prior to becoming rotten since it will still provide some nutrition.

The stages of cooked fish decomposing are as follows:

Full nutrition: ~2–3 minutes after cooking
Decomposition: ~2–3 minutes
Ripe: ~13–18 minutes
Rotten: ~27–33 minutes

There are various ways to get around food decay:

Storing live fish in storage containers will keep them alive indefinitely until the player decides to cook them. Once the fish is cooked, it will begin to rot, even inside storage containers. Live fish can (somehow) survive indefinitely in the player's inventory, or in any Storage, not necessarily an Aquarium or Alien Containment .
Curing fish, instead of cooking them, will prevent them from decomposing. This comes at the cost of decreasing the player's hydration level when eating cured fish, but this may be preferable when the player travels far from their base or when in areas with sparse local fish.
Cooking or curing rotten, old, or decaying fish will restore their freshness.
Nutrient blocks, snacks, and Gel Sacks can be stored indefinitely without decaying, but they can be rare or may not provide ideal nutrition. In Below Zero, Spicy Fruit Salads will not decay and can be created from cultivated plants, making it the best food item in the game.
In Below Zero, storing cooked food in a Fridge will prevent it from decaying. Fridges can only be built inside of Seabases.

List of items

Water

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O	Heat (BZ)
Coffee Americano	✔		0	+4	N/A
Disinfected Water	✔	✔	0	+30 (SN) +35 (BZ)	0
Filtered Water	✔	✔	0	+20 (SN) +25 (BZ)	0
Large Filtered Water	✔	✔	0	+50	0
Reclaimed Water	✔	✔	-3	+20	0
Thermos		✔	0	-2	+50

Cooked Food

Cooked Food can be obtained using a Fabricator or by killing the creature with a Thermoblade.

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O	Heat (BZ)
Cooked Arctic Peeper		✔	+32	+5	0
Cooked Arrow Ray		✔	+13	+5	0
Cooked Bladderfish	✔	✔	+16 (SN) +18 (BZ)	+4	0
Cooked Boomerang	✔	✔	+21	+3	0
Cooked Discus Fish		✔	+18	+10	0
Cooked Eyeye	✔		+18	+10	N/A
Cooked Feather Fish		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Feather Fish (Red)		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Garryfish	✔		+18	+5	N/A
Cooked Holefish	✔		+21	+3	N/A
Cooked Hoopfish	✔	✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Hoverfish	✔		+23	+3	N/A
Cooked Magmarang	✔		+20	+3	N/A
Cooked Noot Fish		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Oculus	✔		+30	+2	N/A
Cooked Peeper	✔		+32	+5	N/A
Cooked Red Eyeye	✔		+18	+9	N/A
Cooked Reginald	✔		+44	+4	N/A
Cooked Spadefish	✔		+23	+3	N/A
Cooked Spinefish	✔	✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Spinner Fish		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Symbiote		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Triops		✔	+13	+5	0
Spicy Fruit Salad		✔	+85	+30	+100

Cured Food

Crafting cured food requires:

1x Raw Food Item
1x Salt Deposit

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O
Cured Arctic Peeper		✔	+32	-2
Cured Arrow Ray		✔	+13	-2
Cured Bladderfish	✔	✔	+16	-2
Cured Boomerang	✔	✔	+21	-2
Cured Discus Fish		✔	+18	-2
Cured Eyeye	✔		+18	-2
Cured Feather Fish		✔	+23	-2
Cured Feather Fish (Red)		✔	+23	-2
Cured Garryfish	✔		+18	-2
Cured Holefish	✔		+21	-2
Cured Hoopfish	✔	✔	+23	-2
Cured Hoverfish	✔		+23	-2
Cured Magmarang	✔		+21	-2
Cured Noot Fish		✔	+23	-2
Cured Oculus	✔		+30	-2
Cured Peeper	✔		+32	-2
Cured Red Eyeye	✔		+18	-2
Cured Reginald	✔		+44	-2
Cured Spadefish	✔		+23	-2
Cured Spinefish	✔	✔	+23	-2
Cured Spinner Fish		✔	+23	-2
Cured Symbiote		✔	+23	-2
Cured Triops		✔	+13	-2

Uncooked Food

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O
Arctic Peeper		✔	+12	-7
Arrow Ray		✔	+4	-3
Bladderfish	✔	✔	+9 (SN) +6 (BZ)	-4
Boomerang	✔	✔	+12 (SN) +8 (BZ)	-8 (SN) -3 (BZ)
Discus Fish		✔	+10	0
Eyeye	✔		+10	0
Feather Fish		✔	+4	-1
Feather Fish (Red)		✔	+4	-1
Garryfish	✔		+12	-12
Holefish	✔		+12	-5
Hoopfish	✔	✔	+12 (SN) +4 (BZ)	-6 (SN) -1 (BZ)
Hoverfish	✔		+13	-9
Magmarang	✔		+12	-3
Noot Fish		✔	+8	-6
Oculus	✔		+12	-6
Peeper	✔		+20	-15
Red Eyeye	✔		+10	0
Reginald	✔		+25	-10
Spadefish	✔		+13	-6
Spinefish	✔	✔	+7 (SN) +4 (BZ)	-1
Spinner Fish		✔	+8	-6
Symbiote		✔	+4	-1
Triops		✔	+4	-3

Other

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O	Heat (BZ)	Health (BZ)
Antennae Plant Fruit		✔	+20	+5	0	+9
Bulb Bush Sample	✔		+3	+10	N/A	N/A
Bulbo Tree Sample	✔		+8	+10	N/A	N/A
Bullseye Shroom Chunk		✔	+8	+3	0	0
Chinese Potato	✔	✔	+12	+3	0	0
Creepvine Sample	✔	✔	+3	+1	0	0
Creepvine Seed Cluster		✔	+0	+10	0	0
Fevered Pepper		✔	+15	+20	+50	0
Frost Anemone Heart		✔	+10	+20	0	0
Gel Sack	✔	✔	+5	+4	0	0
Lantern Fruit	✔	✔	+10 (SN) +15 (BZ)	+3 (SN) 0 (BZ)	+75	0
Marblemelon	✔	✔	+12 (SN) +11 (BZ)	+14 (SN) +7 (BZ)	0	0
Nutrient Block	✔	✔	+75	0	0	0
Preston's Delight		✔	+15	+5	0	0
Shrub Nut		✔	+15	+5	0	+10
Snacks	✔	✔	+3	-2	0	0

Trivia

Originally during early development, Blood Sugar was used instead of Food and Water. The reason for this change was likely to make it more streamlined with other survival games.