PC How to not starve?

[SenLim]

I'm new at this game (last played 2017). I have no food on day 2 navezgane. I can make about 5 charred meats (have 26 raw meat) but that's only +50 hunger.

I haven't found cooking pot/grill.

I found some seeds but I can't start gardening because it requires farm plots and I didn't know it needed rotting flesh (which I had been throwing away).

Do you have suggestion or link to a guide (alpha 21) on food?

Side questions:

Is drinking water from river safe?

 

[boban]

RNG is not kind to you it seems (unless you lowered loot abundance). Aside from day 1, food/drink hasn't been an issue for me so far (I realized that this version is more about looting and questing than building/crafting so I focused on that). You should be able to buy a pot from a trader though (it seems they changed trader starting inventory with latest patch and in all starts I did the first trader had a pot). That might be RNG, but buried supplies quest also have some food in the chest for me. Another thing you can do is to loot shamway (I haven't played navazgene since A16, saving it for gold, but there should be a couple of those around). And obviously, you can buy food for the dukes you get from quests or by selling stuff you don't need.

 

[ElCabong]

If you haven't started a new game with this new build, do so.

Traders will have a pot that you can buy. 

Do the trader quests and use the money you get to buy food. There should be a vending machine with food and another with drink. You'll have to rely on that starting out. Pick what you need the most. They generally have three water for sale and some cans of sham or chili or whatever. 

I haven't starved on the first two days but it's always on the edge and I'm broke.

 

[Auger]

To repeat what Boban said., your best bet for food is to form the buried supplies quests from traders.   You will generally get a few food items , sometimes you'll be lucky and get a high tier food item. like hobo stew or yucca juice.      

 

[canadianbluebeer]

put a point into master chef asap.

run down chickens and club them. loot.  (make a knife asap)

buy a pot if you don't find 1

pick the red flowers to make tea.

save up for a water filter.

loot every single birdnest.  eggs are much more plentiful. (yer still gonna have a boatload of feathers)

canned food: if it doesn't have a recipe, go ahead and eat it.

get/make a pipe rifle for shooting deer.

snakes. there are lots of snakes. 1 hit with a lvl 1 stone sledge and they're lunch.

oh, you are going to want 2 campfires with pots/grills.  cooking takes soooo long.

Day 6 (almost 7),  90 min days, and I've got 3 dew collectors, 30 bacon and eggs, 30 tea and just started making tacos.

Have a forge, (found an anvil), and finally got book 10 so making a workbench. (yay)

oh, there are bags of feed you can shovel and get corn seed. a LOT of corn seed.