In the early portion of Stardew Valley, eating the food is highly important. At this point you will be finding your feed in the game world, exploring its various areas, learning how to use various tools and invariably encountering enemies. It’s the latter of these that we’re bothered about today, because outside of some very skilled speedrunners, almost every player will take some damage and require healing. That said, the following are those that we would recommend that you use in the very early portion of Stardew Valley, along with the reasons why!
Spring Onions
- (Normal) Restores 13 Energy and 5 Health.
This is going to sound like an obvious choice to some, but you’d be surprised how many players don’t know about the gloriously available Spring Onion in Stardew Valley. At the start of any adventure here, this unassuming little vegetable has seen us through, thanks in no small part to its availability. These are gathered by foraging in the south eastern portion of Cindersap Forest during Spring, which is the starting month for the game. It might not sound like they restore a lot, but when you’re a fresh faced farmer starting your journey, every little helps.
Early Benefits
- Can be gathered en masse at the start of the game by foraging in the SE part of Cindersap Forest. They respawn daily too!
- These will keep you going when you lack the skills to either cook or gather anything better.
- Stockpiling these isn’t a bad thing. They can be used throughout Spring to keep topping up your resources, and even be sold for 5x the regular price after reaching 8 hearts of friendship with Jas & Vincent.
- Depending on remix status, they may also be required for the foraging bundle.
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Berries
- Salmonberry (Normal) Restores 25 Energy and 11 Health.
- Blackberry (Normal) Restores 25 Energy and 11 Health.
One of the worst things that you can do in the early game, is to walk by a wild berry bush and not bother shaking it. You would be forgiven for not noticing however, because there are limited harvest times in Stardew Valley, and without prior knowledge of these it can be difficult to know what to do. That said, in Spring 15 – 18 you will be able to grab Salmonberries and in Fall 8 – 11 you can grab Blackberries. The former in particular is an excellent choice for early food, because it’s so easy to run around grabbing them, and it’s hardly worth keeping them at this point, so just consume them to keep you going!
Early Benefits
- Salmonberry can be found from wild berry bushes on Spring 15 – 18, and Blackberry can be found on 8 – 11 of Fall.
- As your Foraging skill rises, with break points at level 4 and 8, you will gather more berries each time.
- Salmonberry in particular does not sell well, so you can eat these to your heart’s content in the early game!
- In general these require very little effort, so you can gather a great deal of them and use them as a quick boost to health and energy!
Field Snack
- Restores 45 Energy and 20 Health.
Until now, we’ve almost exclusively recommended Foraging, as a skill required to get your food, and if you’ve been following these tips then you’re likely to have an abundance of food. However, you’re likely to take up a lot of other tasks too, one of which is the chopping of trees for wood. During this process, you’re likely to get quite a few other items alongside the wood, such as Maple Seeds, Acorns and Pine Cones, all of which are required to make the Field Snack food. Not only does this allow your tree chopping to fuel itself, thanks to the 45 energy restored by each, but you’ll also be able to stockpile quite a lot of these snacks, which are great for taking on your first trip to the Mines!
Early Benefits
- Only requires level 1 Foraging, which you’ll have from following our first tips, and items gathered whilst chopping trees, which you’ll do a lot in the early game!
- You’ll likely find more of these items – Maple Seeds, Acorns and Pine Cones – than you actually need to restore energy and health, so you can make plenty of spare Field Snacks to take with you on adventures into the Mines!
- This recipe does not require a kitchen, unlike some more advanced recipes.
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Sashimi
- Restores 75 Energy and 33 Health.
Speaking of which, our final food is one that does require a kitchen. It’s also one that has taken a slot on both the early health, and easy energy food articles that we’ve written. This food is surely one of the most useful in the entirety of Stardew Valley, and it’s entirely down to its simplicity. By following the natural path of upgrading your house, and by indulging in some light fishing around town, you’ll have everything you need to make Sashimi! This is because it just takes one single fish in order to complete, which is incredibly easy, especially if you invest in some crab pots. You will need to get Linus to three hearts of friendship, however doing so will grant you access to one of the best and easiest foods to craft in the entire game.
Early Benefits
- Fantastic food for transitioning out of the early game.
- Can be made in huge amounts, since it simply requires 1 x any fish!
- It does require a kitchen and three hearts of friendship with Linus, so you’ll need to put in a little work.
- Technically you can make a profit by turning cheap fish into Sashimi, which sells for 75g, however there are better ways to make money in Stardew. You’re better off using this to fuel your upcoming adventures!
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Categories: Stardew Valley