Cooking Large Meals

[Pam]

My queen hasn't been able to make large meals.  I only have the pot that came with the Throne Room.  She can prepare food, but it's only a single serving.  The servant sometimes prepares large meals, but never at my command and I'm not sure what makes her cook a single serving or a large meal.  Anyone have suggestions?

[Darkhadia]

I think the large meals require extra ingredients, my Monarch had to cook for the peasants and needed to buy some potatoes, mushrooms and onions to be able to make the large version of the food. Hope this helps

[Pam]

She's got plenty of ingredients in the larder.  Bear, fowl, onion, seeds, and more. 

[Titus]

Try putting the ingredients in your inventory.

[WickedSimmer87]

Hi Pam. Try take all the ingredients in your inventory and try again

[Pam]

You guys can laugh at me!  And you can see how much I stumble with a brand new game.  Gah!  I had failed to scroll down far enough to see the large recipes.  They are very clear marked if I would just bother to look. 

[WickedSimmer87]

We never laugh at each other, since we all are new to the game Pam i got it just yesterday

[Darkhadia]

There are loads of things that I can't understand how to do and try for ages but I kind of like it, loads of things to discover! 

Although I do wish the food looked more appetizing than just green slop in a bowl, no wonder my priest has a weak constitution! 

[Titus]

Try buying a roasting pit with your monarch and put it in your castle, all your sims can go to the castle and use it. The buffs seem to last longer

[Schipperke]

If your sim has an oven, they can also bake bread.  If you've got the Reception Hall, there's an oven there.  I haven't done much with it other than bake the basic flatbread, but there are a number of recipes available if you have the ingredients in your inventory. 

I think this question relates to the topic, so I'll ask it here instead of starting a new topic:  when you buy the larder and store leftovers in it, how long do they last?  I'm wondering if a larder is a good use of my sims' precious simoleons.  Having a way to keep large meals from spoiling would certainly make life easier for the gluttons in the kingdom.

[Pam]

I've worked out the large meal issue.  The single servings only require one ingredient, while large meals require as many as four ingredients or more.  When I happened to have those extra ingredients in the larder, the servant could make large meals.  As the supplies got used up, only single serving meals could be made.  Once I got the larder stocked up with every ingredient, the large meal recipes were open for my queen to cook.

The larder is worth having even if it only keeps something for a couple of days.  The servant isn't always there to cook the food and the queen has to take time to cook every time she's hungry.  She can't even keep apples or grapes in her inventory to snack on.  Also, as you get more money, there are better quality larders that will keep food longer.

Another thing that's annoying is that she can't take food directly from the larder and eat it.  I have to open the larder, move the food to her inventory, grab a plate, then put the rest back in the larder.  It's cumbersome.

[Missa]

I have the larder and the only time I've had the food spoil is if I was on a quest with a different hero in between making the food and trying to eat it. I wish taking the food out was the same as getting leftovers from the fridge in Sims 3. Sometimes it seems like they made things different just to be different even if it isn't as good or better. I also figured out yesterday the when my queen is at home she doesn't have to find the servant to call for food I can just click on her and it is one of the options. Either  I've been missing this everytime I clicked on her or it is available now that she is at a higher level. I think my servant must have the whale ate my parents trait because he will sometimes serve whale stew and I don't have any whale meat, it gives a nice long meal buff though so maybe my next should have the trait!

[Ricalynn]

If you buy the map to Gastrobury, sail there, then buy the ability to make them allies (5/10 RP).  If you do their quest Gastro-Fest or Bust, you get the benefit of food lasting 100% longer (meaning shelf-life).  The quest requires a wizard and your monarch and its' really fun and easy. Plus it's nice that the food lasts longer.  I think the buffs will last longer too.


Another thing, as soon as I get a reception hall.  I move the table on the wall closest to me to the door and put in a spit so somewhere in the kingdom is all three options.  Especially since at least one of my quests wanted me to cook something you only get from the spit. 

[Jonna]

I've worked out the large meal issue.  The single servings only require one ingredient, while large meals require as many as four ingredients or more.  When I happened to have those extra ingredients in the larder, the servant could make large meals.  As the supplies got used up, only single serving meals could be made.  Once I got the larder stocked up with every ingredient, the large meal recipes were open for my queen to cook.

My servant has been able to make large meals regardless of what is in the larder.  I think whatever she makes is just random.

If your sim has an oven, they can also bake bread.  If you've got the Reception Hall, there's an oven there.  I haven't done much with it other than bake the basic flatbread, but there are a number of recipes available if you have the ingredients in your inventory.  

I always go with the field rations (i think they're called).  You get multiple servings, no negative buff, it requires no ingredients, and your sim can just carry the serving plate around forever, as far as I can tell, it never goes bad.

I do try to get everyone a larder.  It's convenient, because I can click it to see all the options of food that my sim can make instead of clicking the fireplace or the oven or the pit.  It's probably not cost-efficient though.  Just convenient.

[Saltypaws]

I know the large meals that I have made do not last long at all.  I even tried putting food in the sim's inventory to see how long it would last.  It didn't last but a few hours, to say the least.  Too bad it doesn't last any longer, because those are long treks across the village from one end to the other.  The food is already spoiled and then you have that bad moodlet on top of the others, lol.