Hunger, thirst, sickness and radiation values for every food and drink in Casualties: Unknown, plus the best items to carry into each layer.
Casualties: Unknown Best Food and Water
Food in Casualties: Unknown is not a buff. It is a maintenance cost. Hunger drains slowly, thirst drains faster, and every bad calorie can add sickness or radiation that costs more medicine than the meal saved.
The best food is therefore the food with the best ratio of hunger restored to sickness, radiation and weight. This page ranks the demo's food and drink on that basis.
Official source: Casualties: Unknown on Steam ↗
Food comparison
| Food | Hunger per bite | Bites | Weight | Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foliage meal | 18 | 2 | — | +3 sickness |
| Steak | 15 | 3 | — | None |
| Burger | 14 | 3 | — | None |
| Nutrient bar | 12.5 | 2 | 0.5 u | None |
| Pizza | 12 | 3 | — | None |
| Banana | 9 | 2 | — | +0.3 Gy |
| Geofruit | 3.5 | 5 | 0.75 u | None |
| Cactus flesh | — | — | — | +10 headache |
Per bite matters because a food item is consumed over multiple bites. A steak is 45 hunger across three bites; a nutrient bar is 25 across two.
The ranking
1. Steak
15 hunger per bite, three bites, no penalty. Steak is the best food in the demo by efficiency. It is also heavy and requires cooking, which is the trade: the best calories cost time and fire.
Cook meat before eating it. Raw meat carries sickness risk; the game tracks food safety through the sickness system.
2. Burger and pizza
14 and 12 hunger per bite, three bites each, no penalties. These are trader food: expensive, convenient and safe. A burger is the best "eat while walking" item in the game.
3. Nutrient bar
12.5 hunger per bite, two bites, 0.5 u. It is not the most efficient food, but it is the best emergency ration because it is light, shelf-stable and requires no cooking. Carry one in the bag and forget about it until hunger is critical.
4. Foliage meal
18 hunger per bite, two bites — the highest per-bite value in the table — but +3 sickness per item. It is the food you eat when the alternative is starvation. Craft it from foliage; do not make it your staple.
5. Geofruit
3.5 hunger per bite, five bites, 0.75 u. Low calories, but it grows in caves and doubles as a light source and crafting material. It is a snack, not a meal.
6. Banana
9 hunger per bite, two bites, +0.3 Gy. The radiation is small, but it stacks. Eat bananas when you have no better food and no radiation dose.
7. Cactus flesh
Food with +10 headache. Headache raises pain and can drop consciousness. Eat it only if you are desperate and have painkillers.
Water comparison
| Drink | Thirst per 100 mL | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Sports drink | 13 | +10 energy, +2 sickness |
| Coffee | 12 | +350 s energized, +15 sickness |
| Clean water | 9 | None |
| Energy drink | 9 | +20 energy, +20 sickness |
| Groundwater | 8 | +5.5 sickness |
| Alcohol | 7.5 | +7 sickness |
Water is the more urgent resource. Thirst rises faster than hunger, and dehydration reduces stamina and consciousness. A character can survive a long time without food and a short time without water.
The best water is clean water, full stop. Groundwater is a sickness gamble that costs more medicine than it saves. Boil or purify it when you can.
The water math
A canteen holds 300 mL. A water bottle holds 500 mL. A water jug holds 3,000 mL.
At 9 thirst per 100 mL, a full canteen restores 27 thirst. That is roughly one layer's worth of walking in a hot biome, less if you are fighting or sprinting. A water bottle is 45 thirst; a jug is 270, which is why the jug is a base item, not a backpack item.
Carry at least two containers into Dried Desert. The layer has little clean water and the heat raises thirst.
Sickness, radiation and food safety
Food penalties feed two systems:
- Sickness: raises nausea, reduces food effectiveness and can progress to vomiting. Groundwater, coffee and foliage meals are the common sources.
- Radiation: measured in Gray (Gy). Bananas add 0.3 Gy each; Wasteland adds far more. Radiation sickness raises infection risk above 9 Gy.
A food that restores 18 hunger but adds 3 sickness is not free. If you are already sick, eat clean food and treat the sickness before adding more.
Best food by layer
| Layer | Carry | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Gravel Lands | Nutrient bars, Geofruit | Raw meat |
| 2 Deeper Gravel | Steak, nutrient bars | Groundwater |
| 3 Dried Desert | Clean water, steak, pizza | Cactus flesh |
| 4 Wasteland | Clean water, nutrient bars | Anything with radiation |
| 5 Overgrown Depths | Bananas, Geofruit, tree sap | Foliage meal if sick |
Overgrown Depths is the best-fed layer in the demo: bananas, Geofruit, tree sap and edible plants are everywhere. Do not haul food into layer 5; haul water and medicine.
Cooking and storage
Cooking requires a heat source and raw ingredients. The life-pod is the safest place to cook; a campfire in the field is a light source that attracts enemies.
Cooked food does not spoil quickly in the demo's timeframe. Raw food is the risk. Store food in a container, not on the floor; items on the floor can be destroyed by floods, lava or a cave collapse.
What to eat before a boss
Before the Elder Thornback:
- Eat to full hunger. The fight drains stamina and the regen delay is real.
- Drink to full thirst. Stamina regen depends on hydration.
- Take a painkiller. Pain tolerance is a resource in the fight.
- Avoid coffee and energy drinks unless you need the speed. The sickness penalty is not worth it in a long fight.
- Carry a steak, not a banana. You want calories after the fight, not radiation.
Thirst drains faster than hunger and hits stamina first. Carry two containers before you carry a second meal.
FAQ
What is the best food in the game? Steak, at 15 hunger per bite with no penalty. Burgers are the best convenience food.
Is groundwater safe? No. It restores thirst but adds sickness. Boil or purify it.
Do bananas give radiation? Yes, +0.3 Gy per banana. It is small but cumulative.
How much water should I carry? At least 800 mL into Dried Desert, ideally 1,300 mL with a canteen and bottle.
Can food spoil? The demo does not emphasize spoilage; raw meat and groundwater are the main food-safety risks.
What is the best emergency food? Nutrient bars: light, safe, no cooking.
Sources and further reading
Related guides
More Casualties: Unknown Guides
Casualties: Unknown item tier list for the demo: the best tools, weapons, armour, containers and medical items, ranked by how much they change a run.
A practical start for Casualties: Unknown: controls, first crafts, health panel reading and a safe route through the five demo layers.
How blood volume, bleeding rate, tourniquets and transfusions work in Casualties: Unknown, and the order to treat a bleeding limb.
The three playable characters in Casualties: Unknown, what Experiment can do in the demo, and what is actually confirmed about Milky and Dune.
How crafting works in Casualties: Unknown: the five tabs, Intelligence requirements, failure tiers, blueprints and the recipes worth making first.
What the free Casualties: Unknown demo includes, how long it takes, where it ends, what carries over and how to install it on Steam.
All six Casualties: Unknown presets plus the 41 custom run settings, with defaults, ranges and the options that actually change survival.
Casualties: Unknown endings explained: the confirmed story goal, the unreleased final layers, what the demo does at layer 5, and what is still speculation.