The Problem

I tossed random junk into a pot, drank Garbage Soup (see cooking guide), and my character got worse instead of fed.

The Solution

Garbage Soup is for emergency starvation or early cooking practice, not a normal meal. Random ingredient experimentation can create Bad Soup (Borborygmus debuff — weaker restoration), Poop Soup (Sickness), Toxic Soup (Sickness from rotten food, plastic, or body parts), or even Killer Soup (Death from glass or tech scrap). If you need cheap food, use water-supported Salty Soup only when thirst (see water management guide) is solved, or pivot into Antefish Soup from Plaza fountain fishing for a safer midgame food loop with healing value. Cooking Skill Level 3 (Soupsmith) is required for soup. Higher Cooking skill produces 'Carefully Cooked' variants that restore more Hunger. Alien meat is radioactive — store it in a Hazard Crate, not a regular fridge, because radiation spreads to adjacent food.

Step-by-Step

1. Stop using unidentified junk as filler once starvation pressure is solved.
2. Use Garbage Soup only as emergency practice or a last-ditch hunger response.
3. Build a cheap repeatable meal around water and known ingredients instead of mystery combinations.
4. Transition into Antefish Soup or other safer midgame meals once Plaza fountain fishing is available.
5. Cook experiments at base so bad effects are recoverable and do not ruin a route.

Common Mistakes

• Assuming any cooked soup is safer than raw emergency food.
• Eating experimental food while already far from base or low on healing.