Minecraft is a fantastic sandbox game in which the possibilities are endless. You can make incredible structures, elaborate mazes, or even simple, relaxing homes in scenic locations. Although you could stick to creative mode and build without limits, part of the challenge of Minecraft comes from attempting to achieve these goals while also trying to survive.

There are many obstacles on your route to success. You must combat a variety of monsters, craft items, mine the resources needed for projects, and alongside all of this, must make sure you don't starve (wait, isn't that another game?). Hunger is an important aspect of Minecraft (represented by a row of ten drumsticks) that can often get neglected. Without managing hunger, you are in for a frustrating playthrough at times. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to keep on top of it.

8 The Difficulty Setting Alters How Hunger Affects You

Minecraft: The peaceful and normal difficulty settings menu - A scenic shot of a river in minecraft

When playing on Peaceful difficulty, you won't have to worry about managing hunger at all. But, this mode also means that hostile mobs will not spawn naturally either, taking out a lot of the game's challenges.

For the other difficulty settings, hunger will affect you. When you are starving on Easy mode, you'll lose health until you are left with five hearts. This will go down to half a heart if you are starving on Normal difficulty. Hard difficulty is when you have to worry about hunger the most, as starvation will eventually kill you. So don't forget to eat!

7 The Hunger Bar Ripples When You Are Hungry

Minecraft: A low hunger bar - A drumstick made of wool

To begin with, you won't have to worry about eating food right away. They are well-fed and ready to go off on adventures. However, it is vital to keep an eye out for the hunger bar. It will begin to shake ever so slightly when you are hungry. If you do not eat something soon, the bar will then start to lower slowly.

Your hunger bar is affected by a meter called Saturation. This Saturation meter goes down gradually and is only replenished by eating more food. Once the meter reaches zero, that is when the hunger bar begins to ripple and deplete as well.

6 Be Careful Of Exhaustion Lowering Your Hunger Bar

Minecraft: A player defending their home from a group of monsters

Managing hunger isn't just about remembering to eat. Every action you perform will ever so slightly contribute to becoming exhausted. The Exhaustion meter begins at zero and goes up to four. Most activities do not affect this too much but, certain acts will.

For example, sprinting for too long will eventually begin to raise the Exhaustion meter. The main contributor to exhaustion is healing. When you damage and heal up, you are spending more energy than usual. So, if you are hoping to avoid getting hungry too fast, you might want to stop getting into too many battles.

Exhaustion affects the player by lowering saturation once it reaches level four (upon which the Exhaustion meter resets back to zero), so it is nice to be aware of it. However, it takes a lot of time to take effect, so you can still play without much disruption.

5 You Are At A Disadvantage When Hungry

Minecraft: A player sprinting - The health and hunger bar both low and not regenerating

It is important to note that when your hunger bar begins to go down, you will have a tough time surviving. This is because your health can only regenerate when the hunger bar is above nine drumsticks. Once the bar goes below this number, you will be unable to heal naturally, which can be dangerous when lost in a mob-filled mine.

You will also be unable to sprint when the hunger bar gets as low as three drumsticks, meaning you will have to slow down after running around the wilderness all day. These disadvantages highlight just how vital hunger can be in Minecraft.

4 Some Foods Satisfy Hunger Better Than Others

Minecraft: Portraits of various foods in the game

When considering what foods to eat, it's helpful to know that some meals are far better than others at restoring both hunger and saturation levels. For example, eating a whole cake, while delicious and boosting up to seven hunger points, has a low saturation level. This means that you will start to feel hungry sooner in comparison to healthier options.

Some of the best choices for raising both hunger and saturation are cooked pork chops and steak, which gain four drumsticks on the hunger bar and 12.8 saturation. In comparison, an unbaked potato only recovers half a drumstick and 0.6 saturation, meaning you will get hungry far sooner. Good vegetarian alternatives include mushroom stew or bread.

3 Make Sure To Always Have A Food Supply When Adventuring

Minecraft: A 64 stack of bread and a 64 stack of steak - A player onlooking a Village

It is crucial to have a stack or two of food to take along the journey when adventuring. Without it, hunger is likely to deplete fast, especially when mining out a cave or fighting off monsters during the night. Without this supply, you will likely struggle to survive or need to cut your adventures short to return home and refuel more regularly.

It can be incredibly valuable being able to chow down on some grub after a near-death encounter, such as suddenly falling a great height. Being well fed ensures that health will continue to replenish.

2 Rotten Flesh Can Be Eaten As A Desperate Last Resort

Minecraft: A group of Zombies at night - A player eating rotten flesh and suffering from Hunger

If you're lost in the darkness of night, fending off skeletons and just trying to survive, it might be easy to forget about that essential food supply. When running low on actual food, you should not disregard the rotten flesh of a zombie. Instead, you can opt to use this flesh to boost hunger for a short time (Unfortunately, zombie villagers are less likely to be cured after being eaten...).

The main reason rotten flesh should only be used as a last resort is that there is a chance that you will receive the Hunger Status Effect for 30 seconds, which will drain the hunger bar rapidly. If you eat more flesh, the timer will reset. An excellent way to combat this before the hunger bar gets too low is to drink milk to remove the Hunger Status Effect. You can gain milk by tapping a bucket on a cow.

1 Make Sure To Build A Farm

Minecraft: A cow and chicken pen - A farm full of crops

When starting, you are likely going to have to just grab any nearby food that you can. To begin with, it's best just to hunt down nearby animals, such as pigs, and cook the meat up in a furnace. However, cooking on a whim isn't the best way to maintain hunger. Therefore, it is vital to set up a farm to ensure a constant supply of food is available at your base.

You can gather animals together by luring them with specific items. For example, chickens will follow a player holding seeds. Then, you can house these animals near their base and breed them to ensure a constant food supply. For a vegetarian alternative, use a hoe to set up various crops, from wheat to carrots. As long as you remember to maintain these farms regularly, you won't have to worry about hunger anytime soon.

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