How to stop hunger from going down quickly in Minecraft

Whenever starting a new Minecraft survival world, there are new things that need to be done in the first few days. The first is establishing a Minecraft starter base to stay safe at night. The next thing that needs the most attention is sorting out a food situation. On hard difficulty and above, starvation means death, so keeping the hunger bar full is important to surviving long enough to set up renewable food supplies.

This is why many of what are considered Minecraft's best seeds spawn players in or near villages. The farms in them can be raided both for food and seeds to make a farm. However, there are important tips involving food and keeping the hunger bar full that apply for the entire game, not just the first few days.

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Eat better food to reduce hunger meter drainage in Minecraft

Food's hidden statistic

Suspicious stew applies both kinds of saturation. (Image via Mojang)

Not to be confused with one of Minecraft's best-hidden status effects of the same name, food saturation is a hidden in-game statistic all edible items have. Saturation is directly linked in-game with how quickly the hunger meter drains. It is important to note that saturation caps at the player's current food level, so eating food with a lot of saturation that does not give a lot of hunger back is a waste.

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Which foods have the highest saturation?

Golden carrots are amazing for how cheap they are. (Image via Mojang)

This begs the question, then, of which food is the best in terms of saturation. And there are two different answers to that. The first and most literal answer to the question is suspicious stew. Specifically, suspicious stew that also grants the hidden saturation effect mentioned earlier, which restores 21.2 saturation.

However, given the numerous specific ingredients needed for this stew, a second item takes the title of most convenient high-saturation food. This is the golden carrot, which requires gold nuggets and carrots, both of which are abundant through the use of Minecraft's best-automated farms.

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Take Minecraft a little slower

Elytras allows for insanely fast no hunger-cost movement. (Image via Mojang)

Saturation is not the only hidden mechanic of food, however, as there is also exhaustion. Different actions the player can take, such as running, jumping, swimming, and climbing ladders, all increase the player's current exhaustion level. This exhaustion directly reduces saturation, resulting in players getting hungry faster.

This means that to stave off starvation for those vital first few days or to make a supply of food last a lot longer, players should consider reducing their energy expenditure. Walk rather than sprint jump from place to place. Or, even better, tame a horse, as riding horses is quick and takes no hunger at all. Elytras also use no hunger, powering their flights with fireworks rather than calories.

Healing damage also costs saturation, so the less damage you take, the less you need to eat.