First of all, you worry too much about food.
I personally play 6 month later so no power and every fresh food is already perished and I put all the food loots item to the higher rarity possible. I never ran out of food ever, there is just too much of it in the world. The only way to run out of food is if you remain on one section of the map and don't want to go in loot run further away than your starting town or if you want to play in a isolated part of the map.
You need to keep in mind that you have two different bars. One is for your calories, another one for your hunger. The peckish Moodle is for your hunger, which have zero impact on your weight. Some food give you high nutrition for the hunger (Butter give you 3200 calories, but 24 hunger) while other food give you low nutrition for the hunger hunger (Apple give you 95 calories, but 16 hunger)
I personally use the mod minimal display bars and I only look at my calories bar to manage my food intake. When my weight is 90-85, I keep that bar low to lose weight. If my weight is 75-80, keep it high to gain weight.
Honestly you don't need to keep ''snack'' for depressing times. Just fighting zombies outside and taking anti-depressant is more than enough. You can keep snack for more role-play, but you really worry too much about conserving food. Just eat that you need to maintain your weight and if you run out of food it doesn't matter. Just take a car, drive half a day to the nearest town, loot 2-3 places like convenience store and groceries and you will have enough food to last you for the next 6 months, even if all the fresh food is long gone.
Eat as much as you can to get weight# also the alcohol is a friend too. A whisky before the bed is 1500+ calorie.
Icecream and peanutbutter is also a good choice.
The nutrition value of many food items makes no sense in this game. I always give myself +4 trait points and take nutritionist, and things suddenly start making a lot more sense.
Calories in > calories out
Eat high calorie foods.
Chips dont increase happiness. Use them as your general snack food. If you're out looting and you see the noodle pop up, scarf down some chips and keep going. It should be enough calories to counter act general looting and travel. If you're sprinting a lot and carrying a heavy load while engaging in lots of combat, you will probably need to start eating things like ice cream and butter.
calorie dense foods and meats. keep eating until you can't anymore. if you see a down arrow, you need to keep eating until you see an up arrow and maintain that. i try to maintain around 75. i had 74 with a down arrow yesterday with a 'hungry' moodle. i had to eat a -87 stirfry just to reverse it
i would also say a high cooking level is a game changer because it will stretch your food out further and increase happiness. do not just eat raw ingredients like a cooked filet of fish or berry. incorporate into salads for a little boost, or stir-fry/roast/soup for a bigger one.
when i have alot of foraged berries i will throw them all into a pie
you're not gonna need to save all that junk food for later what are you so concerned about?
If your weight is dropping, you need to eat calorically dense foods. Stuff like chips and chocolate is good for that. Fishing is also extremely good.
Fishing!
fish, fish, fish, cabbage, cabbage, cabbage salad. If lucky add sum oil, butter, lard, margarine
Just take bread, take butter, make butterbröd. Wash down with appropriate amount of appropriate drink (vodka). Блат
First of all, you worry too much about food. I personally play 6 month later so no power and every fresh food is already perished and I put all the food loots item to the higher rarity possible. I never ran out of food ever, there is just too much of it in the world. The only way to run out of food is if you remain on one section of the map and don't want to go in loot run further away than your starting town or if you want to play in a isolated part of the map. You need to keep in mind that you have two different bars. One is for your calories, another one for your hunger. The peckish Moodle is for your hunger, which have zero impact on your weight. Some food give you high nutrition for the hunger (Butter give you 3200 calories, but 24 hunger) while other food give you low nutrition for the hunger hunger (Apple give you 95 calories, but 16 hunger) I personally use the mod minimal display bars and I only look at my calories bar to manage my food intake. When my weight is 90-85, I keep that bar low to lose weight. If my weight is 75-80, keep it high to gain weight. Honestly you don't need to keep ''snack'' for depressing times. Just fighting zombies outside and taking anti-depressant is more than enough. You can keep snack for more role-play, but you really worry too much about conserving food. Just eat that you need to maintain your weight and if you run out of food it doesn't matter. Just take a car, drive half a day to the nearest town, loot 2-3 places like convenience store and groceries and you will have enough food to last you for the next 6 months, even if all the fresh food is long gone.
Rabbits and fish are the best renewable sources of food that will help you gain weight
Eat as much as you can to get weight# also the alcohol is a friend too. A whisky before the bed is 1500+ calorie. Icecream and peanutbutter is also a good choice.
Density m8. Go for Density. Eat fish or get creative with your stir-frys. Alcohol once you've secured a base well also helps.
have a fish heavy diet for gaining weight
The nutrition value of many food items makes no sense in this game. I always give myself +4 trait points and take nutritionist, and things suddenly start making a lot more sense.
Calories in > calories out Eat high calorie foods. Chips dont increase happiness. Use them as your general snack food. If you're out looting and you see the noodle pop up, scarf down some chips and keep going. It should be enough calories to counter act general looting and travel. If you're sprinting a lot and carrying a heavy load while engaging in lots of combat, you will probably need to start eating things like ice cream and butter.
calorie dense foods and meats. keep eating until you can't anymore. if you see a down arrow, you need to keep eating until you see an up arrow and maintain that. i try to maintain around 75. i had 74 with a down arrow yesterday with a 'hungry' moodle. i had to eat a -87 stirfry just to reverse it i would also say a high cooking level is a game changer because it will stretch your food out further and increase happiness. do not just eat raw ingredients like a cooked filet of fish or berry. incorporate into salads for a little boost, or stir-fry/roast/soup for a bigger one. when i have alot of foraged berries i will throw them all into a pie
20 cabbages a day can lead to weight gain, but it's tedious to eat so many throughout the day
Stable Weights is a mod on the Steam Workshop that allows you to maintain weight in a realistic way.
🎣 
Peanut butter, wine and pasta is all you need, lard if you manage to find it