Find a Pan Along the Road
Search along the road for a Pan and Stove, then attach a Steak or Drumstick to the pan, attach the pan to the stove and start cooking. Picking up a Pan, Stove or raw meat brings up Cooking Basics, which lists the equipment and actions you need.
Search Roadside Stops for a Pan and Stove
The Pan and Stove are equipment you find along the road rather than guaranteed starting-house supplies. Search the places you stop at as you travel, and bring back whichever piece you find first. If you are missing the other piece, keep it on your scavenging list for the next stop.
Cooking Basics appears when you first pick up a Pan, Stove or raw meat. It asks you to find the pan, stove and food before attaching everything and cooking. Use that objective as your kitchen checklist, especially if you have found meat before finding the equipment to prepare it.
Choose Food That Can Go in the Pan
Use Steak or Drumstick for cooking; these are the foods you can cook in a pan. Both can be found in common chests, so check your food supplies when you finish looting. Keep fresh meat refrigerated while you are still searching for the missing kitchen equipment.
Attach the Food, Pan and Stove in Order
- Collect a Pan along the road. This supplies the cookware needed for the food attachment step in Cooking Basics.
- Collect a Stove along the road. You need it to hold the pan for cooking.
- Choose a fresh Steak or Drumstick. Either gives you suitable meat for the cooking sequence.
- Attach the food to the Pan. This puts the ingredient in the cookware before you move on to the stove.
- Attach the loaded Pan to the Stove. This completes the attachment sequence before cooking starts.
- Start cooking on the Stove. The attached meat can now progress through its cooking states.
- Remove the meat when it reaches Cooked. This gives you its full cooked food value before it becomes Burned.
Watch the Cooking State Before Eating
Cooking makes meat much more filling than eating it raw. Aim for Cooked, because Mid Cooked gives less food and Burned gives none. Stay nearby while preparing a meal so you can remove it before burning it.
| Food and State | Result |
|---|---|
| Raw Steak or Drumstick | Restores just 1 food; cook fresh meat for a more filling meal. |
| Mid Cooked Steak or Drumstick | Restores 30 food, below the fully Cooked result. |
| Cooked Steak | Restores 50 food when cooked successfully. |
| Cooked Drumstick | Restores 40 food when cooked successfully. |
| Burned Steak or Drumstick | Provides no food value after burning. |
Keep Fresh Meat on Fridge or Cooler Shelves
Raw Steak and Drumstick spoil over time and become poisonous when rotten. Cook fresh meat before it goes bad, or preserve it while you finish assembling your kitchen. Avoid eating rotten meat just because you are still missing a pan.
Put fresh ingredients on a Fridge or Cooler shelf to stop them spoiling while stored there. These cold shelves work without electrical power, so you do not need a battery or generator for food preservation. Cooked food no longer spoils, making a successfully prepared meal useful to keep for later.
Check the Ingredient and Attachment Order
If you are stuck setting up the meal, return to the order in Cooking Basics: food attaches to the pan, then the pan attaches to the stove. Having all the equipment nearby is your cue to work through those attachment actions. Follow the objective sequence before starting cooking.
Check the ingredient as well as the equipment. Potatoes cannot be cooked, and mushrooms cannot be cooked and are poisonous to eat. Use fresh Steak or Drumstick when you want to complete the pan-and-stove cooking sequence.