Food & Water

Food and Water are survival mechanics in Subnautica and Subnautica: Below Zero. They are stats which steadily deplete when playing on Survival or Hardcore mode. The player must maintain their hunger and thirst levels by consuming food and water items. If either stat reaches zero, the player will lose health until they die.

Sustenance is a category of consumable items crafted from certain materials and fauna using the Fabricator. The Sustenance tab is not visible in Freedom or Creative mode. While fish can be eaten raw, using the Fabricator will increase their nutritional value and remove their dehydration penalty.

To consume an item, press the "Use" keybind while the item is selected in the PDA.

Mechanics[]

The player's current food and water levels are displayed as gauges alongside their Health and Oxygen meters (and Temperature in Below Zero) in the HUD. The gauge corresponds with the stat's current value, up to 100 points. The Water gauge never exceeds 100 units under any circumstances, but the Food gauge will "overflow" above 100 if a consumed item's Food value would fill it beyond 100, and it is not already 100 or higher. The maximum value for Food is therefore 174 in Subnautica and 184 in Below Zero (eating a Nutrient Block or Spicy Fruit Salad at 99 Food, respectively).

In both Survival and Hardcore, the player loses 1 unit of water every 20 seconds, and alternates between losing 1 unit of food every 20 seconds and every 30 seconds. This means that it takes approximately 33.3 minutes to lose 100 water units and approximately 41.7 minutes to lose 100 units of food.

Even in Hardcore mode, the PDA will send the player a warning when their food or water level reaches 20 units, and again when it reaches 10 units.

When the player's food level is empty, they will lose 7 health points initially and 10 health points even ten seconds afterwards. It takes 100 seconds to lose 107 health points, killing the player.

When the player's water level is empty, they will lose 12 health points initially and 14 health points every ten seconds afterwards. It takes 80 seconds to lose 110 health points, killing the player.

Food Quality[]

Many types of food, such as cooked fish, fruit, and plant samples, will decay and become less nutritious as time passes. Their quality is indicated by a bar alongside their item icon in the inventory and in storage, similar to the battery level seen on most Tools. Eventually, these foods will become Rotten and will penalize the player by removing food and water units if consumed.

Some foods, such as Nutrient Blocks, Spicy Fruit Salads, Snacks from the Vending Machine, and Gel Sacks will not decay. Live fish will not decay, even in storage. A Fabricator may be used to cure fish, preventing all nutrition loss. In Below Zero, placing food items in a Fridge will pause the decay process.

The time it takes food to rot and the final food and water values depend on the food and its starting values. After cooking, most fish will steadily lose about one unit of food and water per minute. Other foods may be slower or quicker to rot; for example, the Creepvine Sample takes 150 seconds to fully decay, alternately losing a food or water unit approximately every 30 seconds. In Below Zero, an item's heat value will decay alongside the other values.

Food goes through four quality stages: normal, Old, Decomposing, and Rotten. Food above 90% quality has no prefix, but may still have lost several units of food or water. Food between 90% and 50% quality is prefixed Old, food between 1% to 50% is Decomposing, and food at 0% quality is Rotten.

Items which have rotted may still be used in crafting recipes. Rotted, dead fish may be cured to restore their nutritional value.

List of items[]

Water[]

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O	Heat (BZ)
Coffee Americano	✔		0	+4	N/A
Disinfected Water	✔	✔	0	+30 (SN) +35 (BZ)	0
Filtered Water	✔	✔	0	+20 (SN) +25 (BZ)	0
Large Filtered Water	✔	✔	0	+50	0
Reclaimed Water	✔	✔	-3	+20	0
Thermos		✔	0	-2	+50

Cooked Food[]

Cooked Food can be obtained using a Fabricator or by killing the creature with a Thermoblade.

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O	Heat (BZ)
Cooked Arctic Peeper		✔	+32	+5	0
Cooked Arrow Ray		✔	+13	+5	0
Cooked Bladderfish	✔	✔	+16 (SN) +18 (BZ)	+4	0
Cooked Boomerang	✔	✔	+21	+3	0
Cooked Discus Fish		✔	+18	+10	0
Cooked Eyeye	✔		+18	+10	N/A
Cooked Feather Fish		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Feather Fish (Red)		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Garryfish	✔		+18	+5	N/A
Cooked Holefish	✔		+21	+3	N/A
Cooked Hoopfish	✔	✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Hoverfish	✔		+23	+3	N/A
Cooked Magmarang	✔		+20	+3	N/A
Cooked Noot Fish		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Oculus	✔		+30	+2	N/A
Cooked Peeper	✔		+32	+5	N/A
Cooked Red Eyeye	✔		+18	+9	N/A
Cooked Reginald	✔		+44	+4	N/A
Cooked Spadefish	✔		+23	+3	N/A
Cooked Spinefish	✔	✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Spinner Fish		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Symbiote		✔	+23	+3	0
Cooked Triops		✔	+13	+5	0
Spicy Fruit Salad		✔	+85	+30	+100

Cured Food[]

Crafting cured fish requires one raw fish and a Salt Deposit.

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O
Cured Arctic Peeper		✔	+32	-2
Cured Arrow Ray		✔	+13	-2
Cured Bladderfish	✔	✔	+16	-2
Cured Boomerang	✔	✔	+21	-2
Cured Discus Fish		✔	+18	-2
Cured Eyeye	✔		+18	-2
Cured Feather Fish		✔	+23	-2
Cured Feather Fish (Red)		✔	+23	-2
Cured Garryfish	✔		+18	-2
Cured Holefish	✔		+21	-2
Cured Hoopfish	✔	✔	+23	-2
Cured Hoverfish	✔		+23	-2
Cured Magmarang	✔		+21	-2
Cured Noot Fish		✔	+23	-2
Cured Oculus	✔		+30	-2
Cured Peeper	✔		+32	-2
Cured Red Eyeye	✔		+18	-2
Cured Reginald	✔		+44	-2
Cured Spadefish	✔		+23	-2
Cured Spinefish	✔	✔	+23	-2
Cured Spinner Fish		✔	+23	-2
Cured Symbiote		✔	+23	-2
Cured Triops		✔	+13	-2

Uncooked Food[]

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O
Arctic Peeper		✔	+12	-7
Arrow Ray		✔	+4	-3
Bladderfish	✔	✔	+9 (SN) +6 (BZ)	-4
Boomerang	✔	✔	+12 (SN) +8 (BZ)	-8 (SN) -3 (BZ)
Discus Fish		✔	+10	0
Eyeye	✔		+10	0
Feather Fish		✔	+4	-1
Feather Fish (Red)		✔	+4	-1
Garryfish	✔		+12	-12
Holefish	✔		+12	-5
Hoopfish	✔	✔	+12 (SN) +4 (BZ)	-6 (SN) -1 (BZ)
Hoverfish	✔		+13	-9
Magmarang	✔		+12	-3
Noot Fish		✔	+8	-6
Oculus	✔		+12	-6
Peeper	✔		+20	-15
Red Eyeye	✔		+10	0
Reginald	✔		+25	-10
Spadefish	✔		+13	-6
Spinefish	✔	✔	+7 (SN) +4 (BZ)	-1
Spinner Fish		✔	+8	-6
Symbiote		✔	+4	-1
Triops		✔	+4	-3

Other[]

Item	SN	BZ	Food	H₂O	Heat (BZ)	Health (BZ)
Antennae Plant Fruit		✔	+20	+5	0	+9
Bulb Bush Sample	✔		+3	+10	N/A	N/A
Bulbo Tree Sample	✔		+8	+10	N/A	N/A
Bullseye Shroom Chunk		✔	+8	+3	0	0
Chinese Potato	✔	✔	+12	+3	0	0
Creepvine Sample	✔	✔	+3	+1	0	0
Creepvine Seed Cluster		✔	+0	+10	0	0
Fevered Pepper		✔	+15	+20	+50	0
Frost Anemone Heart		✔	+10	+20	0	0
Gel Sack	✔	✔	+5	+4	0	0
Lantern Fruit	✔	✔	+10 (SN) +15 (BZ)	+3 (SN) 0 (BZ)	+75	0
Marblemelon	✔	✔	+12 (SN) +11 (BZ)	+14 (SN) +7 (BZ)	0	0
Nutrient Block	✔	✔	+75	0	0	0
Preston's Delight		✔	+15	+5	0	0
Shrub Nut		✔	+15	+5	0	+10
Snacks	✔	✔	+3	-2	0	0

Trivia[]

Originally during early development, Blood Sugar was used instead of Food and Water.