Eating and drinking
Select a food and hold right mouse for about 1.1 seconds to eat it. R is an alternative; if your selected item is not food, R can find an edible item in your inventory. Move your aim away from an interactive block if its action is taking priority.
Aim at nearby water and hold R or right mouse to drink directly when thirsty. This source-drinking interaction reaches roughly 3.2 blocks. An empty bucket selected in your hand will take priority as a filling tool.
Only water in a wooden bucket is intended as portable drinking water in the current version. Water in copper/legacy, iron or steel buckets is not drinkable. All milk buckets remain drinkable. Drinking milk or wooden-bucket water returns the matching empty vessel in finite modes.
A filled water bucket aimed at a solid block pours its water at the target. Aim away from blocks to drink from a wooden one. Shift-right-click remains an explicit pouring gesture.
Food and hydration values
The food meter holds 20 points and hydration holds 8. Values below show what one item restores before those caps.
| Food | Food | Hydration |
|---|---|---|
| Raw meats and salmon/trout | 2 | 0 |
| Roast pork | 7 | 0 |
| Steak, roast goat, roast venison, roast mutton | 8 | 0 |
| Roast rabbit, roast poultry | 6 | 0 |
| Cooked salmon/trout | 6 | 1 |
| Raw crab or raw reef fish | 2 | 0 |
| Cooked crab or cooked reef fish | 6 | 0 |
| Carrot | 3 | 0.5 |
| Cooked egg | 5 | 0 |
| Bread | 6 | 0 |
| Potato | 2 | 0 |
| Baked potato | 6 | 0.5 |
| Beetroot | 3 | 0.8 |
| Apple, pear, peach | 4 | 1.5 |
| Wild berries | 2 | 1 |
| Mushroom stew | 8 | 2 |
| Honeycomb | 4 | 1 |
| Milk | 3 | 8 |
| Wooden water bucket | 0 | 8 |
Cook raw food in a fueled kiln. Feeding, crafting and trading may use the same item types, so carry separate reserves when you have an animal-care or workshop plan.
Milk and poison
Right-click a cow or goat with an empty bucket to milk it. The animal needs about 45 active seconds before it can be milked again. Drinking milk clears the poison state as well as replenishing meters.
Some wild mushrooms and creature attacks can poison you. Poison ticks damage while active but does not itself take the last health point. Keep milk or a suitable remedy available when exploring risky habitats.
Useful travel habits
Keep food high and hydration above 5 when you need health regeneration. Carry a wooden bucket for drinking, a metal bucket for placing water or lava, and fuel plus raw food when setting up a distant camp. Store spare cooked supplies at home for recovering after a Mortal death.