Food is an essential survival component of Red Dead Redemption 2 as it not only heals and regenerates player’s health, stamina, and Deadeye, but also provides other smaller bonuses and keeps their character in peak shape for all types of situations. In this guide, we will talk about all the best food items you can eat or drink in Red Dead Redemption 2 to keep your stats up and cores filled.
Red Dead Redemption 2 Best Foods
Red Dead Redemption 2 has a very unique stats system as compared to other games. Health, Stamina and Dead-eye abilities each have a Ring and core system that show the usage and remainder of these stats.
For Example: In Dead-Eye Ability, the Core is the reserve part of the stat if you run out of the ring, the core will step in and act as an emergency reservoir. If you continue to use the core without regenerating it, it will be completely drained and you will not be able to use it.
The Health Ring also works the same way. First, your health ring is depleted after taking damage. You will still be able to take a few more hits due to the Health core. Depleted cores can be refilled by eating different foods and tonics. But not all foods will fill your cores to the full gold core.
In this RDR2 guide, we will list the best foods and tonics that you can use to get full gold cores.
Best Foods and Tonics
The cheapest way to get to a gold Health core is by eating the Stew at the Camp. The stew is free for you to eat. If you donate $175 to the Camp for a chicken coop, then you will also get Gold Dead Eye Core by eating the stew.
But this method has some drawbacks, as the stew is only available for you to eat once every few in-game days. It will also be unavailable while Pearson prepares it.
Another method is cooking meats. The best meats to cook are:
- Venison (from elks, deer, pronghorns)
- Big Game Meat (from predators like Cougars, alligators etc.)
Big Game Meat is the best type of meat in-game. It is generally difficult to get as predators will attack you while you try to kill them.
The best method to obtain Big Game Meat is by farming Alligators, as they are not that fast and you can kill them easily from distance with a bow or a sniper.
Pair big meats with spices to boost your different cores. Use mint for health, thyme for Dead Eye and oregano for Stamina core.
Another place to get the best food is from the Hotel or saloons. These places in RDR2 sell the best foods but will cost you a pretty penny. It is up to you whether you want to spend your money on these pricy dishes or not.
You can also use tonics to get full gold ring stats. You will have to craft special tonics to get to full cores.
To craft the Special Health cure in RDR2, you will need the following ingredients. Crafting level 3 is also required for this.
- 2x Ginseng
- 2x Yarrow
- 2x English Mase
For Special Bitters (Stamina) cure, level 3 crafting and following items will be required.
- 2x Sage
- 2x Burdock Root
- 2x Violet Snowdrop (Already Crafted)
For Special Snake Oil (Dead-Eye) cure following will be required along with Level 3 Crafting.
- 2x Indian Tobacco
- 2x Currants
Hopefully, this guide has explained to you the best foods and tonics that will restore your cores to the fullest in RDR2!
