Cooking System Guide

Master the Art of Cooking in Grow a Garden

How Cooking Works

Step 1: Unlock Your Kitchen

Your journey begins with a basic kitchen. Complete the "First Harvest" quest to unlock the cooking station.

  • Basic Stove - Available from start
  • Advanced Oven - Unlock at Cooking Level 5
  • Master Kitchen - Unlock at Cooking Level 10

Step 2: Gather Ingredients

Collect ingredients from your garden, animals, fishing, and foraging.

  • Crops from your garden plots
  • Animal products (eggs, milk, cheese)
  • Foraged items from the wild
  • Fish caught from rivers and ocean

Step 3: Discover Recipes

Learn recipes through experimentation, NPCs, and leveling up.

  • Try ingredient combinations
  • Watch cooking shows on TV (in-game)
  • Receive recipes from NPC friendships
  • Purchase recipe books from the shop

Step 4: Cook & Level Up

Each dish cooked earns experience. Higher rarity = More XP!

  • Common recipes: 5 XP
  • Rare recipes: 15 XP
  • Divine recipes: 35 XP
  • Mythical recipes: 50 XP
  • Legendary recipes: 75 XP
  • Prismatic recipes: 100 XP

Core Mechanics

Temperature Control

Different dishes require different heat levels for perfect results.

🔥 Low HeatSoups, Stews
🔥🔥 Medium HeatMost Dishes
🔥🔥🔥 High HeatStir-fry, Seared

Cooking Time

Timing is everything! Overcook and you'll ruin the dish.

💡 Tip: Watch for steam particles as visual cue

⚠️ Burnt food sells for 1g and gives no buffs

Quality Stars

Ingredient quality affects final dish quality and buffs.

No Star - Base recipe
Silver - 25% better buffs
Gold - 50% better buffs
Iridium - 100% better buffs

Perfect Cook Bonus

Execute perfectly for bonus rewards and XP multipliers.

✨ Perfect: Right temp + Right time = 2x XP

Master cooks can achieve perfect consistently with practice!

Food Buffs System

Eating cooked food provides various buffs and benefits. Only one food buff can be active at a time!

💪 Physical Buffs

  • • Speed Boost
  • • Max Energy Increase
  • • Stamina Regeneration
  • • Defense Boost
  • • Attack Power

🌾 Farming Buffs

  • • Faster Planting
  • • Better Crop Quality
  • • Increased Harvest
  • • Foraging Luck
  • • Fishing Power

✨ Special Buffs

  • • Luck Increase
  • • XP Multiplier
  • • Gold Find
  • • Magnetism
  • • Night Vision

⚠️ Important: Eating a new buff food will replace your current buff! Plan strategically.

Advanced Techniques

🔬 Recipe Experimentation

Don't be afraid to experiment! Many secret recipes are only discovered through trying new combinations.

Substitute Similar Items:

Try replacing ingredients with similar items (e.g., any berry type in berry recipes)

Add Secret Ingredients:

Some recipes have hidden "deluxe" versions with extra ingredients

⏱️ Batch Cooking

Unlock at Cooking Level 7: Cook multiple servings at once!

  • Multiply ingredients x5 or x10 to batch cook
  • Same XP per dish, saving time
  • 10% chance of bonus dish when batch cooking

🎯 Skill Specializations

At Level 5 and 10, choose a specialization path:

🍲 Chef Path (Level 5)

  • • Buff durations +50%
  • • Dishes sell for 25% more

⚗️ Alchemist Path (Level 5)

  • • Can stack 2 food buffs
  • • Elixir recipes unlocked

👨‍🍳 Master Chef (Level 10)

  • • Always perfect quality
  • • Restaurant unlocked

🧙 Grand Alchemist (Level 10)

  • • Magical recipes unlocked
  • • Transmutation available

Pro Tips

💰 Maximum Profit

Focus on dishes with high sell price relative to ingredient cost. Risotto and Quiche are top earners!

⚡ Fast Leveling

Cook high-rarity recipes even if you don't need them. The XP gain is worth it for faster progression.

🎁 NPC Favorites

Each NPC has favorite dishes. Gifting them doubles friendship points and unlocks special recipes.

📦 Meal Prep

Dedicate one day per week to batch cooking. Stock your fridge with buffs for the entire week!