With a vast open world and highly accurate historical details, Red Dead Redemption 2 shows that a cowboy’s life isn’t all about organizing train robberies and escaping the law. As Arthur his Morgan, you must buy, cook, and sometimes even catch your own food to keep track of your health and stamina.
Health, Stamina, and Deadeye are all three primary attributes used to determine how much and how quickly you regenerate health, so you’ll definitely want to stock up on only the best food available in the Wild West. After all, nothing touches the heart like a warm and hearty meal.
8 cheese wedge
Everyone loves cheese and Arthur is no exception. Cheese wedges are available at your local grocery store for $1.90. Cheese wedges are expensive, but he’s one of the most affordable foods you can buy at a general store.
Arthur can also catch fish using cheese as bait. This may come in handy for other recipes in the future and save you some of your hard-earned cash.
7 canned corned beef
Canned corned beef sells for $1.75 at the general store, a far cry from the price of corned beef today. This food is good for healing on the go. Also, if you suddenly find yourself in the middle of a crossfire from a random event, it’s a good idea to stock up on a can of corned beef the next time you take Arthur into town.
This item slightly increases Dead Eye and moderately increases Health Core.
6 strong bitters
One of the best stamina boosters in the game, Powerful Bitter can be crafted with 1 Hummingbird Sage and 1 Burdock Root. This concoction fully restores stamina core and moderately strengthens it.
Hummingbird sage can be found under lumoine trees and along the banks of the Camassa River in New Hanover. Burdock root is found along the banks of the Dakota River near the town of Valentine.
Five potent snake oil
Powerful Snake Oil fully restores Dead Eye Core and slightly strengthens it. This tonic can be crafted from a single Indian Tobacco found south of the railroad tracks in Rhodes, Lemoyne. Indian Tobacco alone can slightly increase dead eye core.
If you can’t find the plant, another way to get potent Snake Oil is to purchase the item directly from the nearest Doctor or scavenge them by looting.
Four time big game
This hearty meal requires 1 Big Game Meat, 1 Creeping Time, and a campfire to cook it. Creeping Thyme is in the southwest, just outside Valentine’s Day. Big game meat is obtained by hunting large animals such as crocodiles, bears, leopards, and wolves.
The easiest of these beasts to find is the bear in the forest throughout the game. Time Big Game fully restores all cores and spawns Golden Dead Eye his core for trouble.
3 mint exotic bird
A Minty Exotic Bird can be crafted using 1 Exotic Bird Meat and 1 Wild Mint. Exotic bird meat can usually be found by hunting American White Pelicans found at Quaker’s Cove on the Great Plains, Van Horne Trading Post on Roanoke and Siltwater Strand on Scarlet Meadows. Wild Mint is usually found west of Valentin and northwest of Strawberry.
If you can handle these items well, the Minty Exotic Bird will fully restore your health cores and greatly restore your dead eye and stamina cores.
2 oregano flake fish
To make this seafood dish, you need 1 Flaky Fish Meat and 1 Oregano. Several types of fish can be used to create flaky fish meat, but the easiest to catch is the Redfin Pickerel, found in rivers all over the world and caught using bread. Oregano can be found in patches west of Valentine’s Day.
Flaky Fish Meat restores a large amount of Stamina Core, and moderately restores Health and Stamina Core.
1 camp stew
For a gang as big as the Van der Linde gang, it’s no surprise that there’s always stew on the fire, courtesy of camp cook Pearson. Meat can also be donated to the stew to increase the stew’s healing powers, but it’s recommended to provide Pearson with big game meat for greater buffs.
Doing this in tandem with making sure your camp has enough food will give you a stew that provides a golden core full of health, stamina, and deadeye.