Make Packaged Survival Meal useful

[Blastoderm]

PSM is awesome stuff for caravans, but one thing renders them useless for me.
There is no easy way to prevent pawns from eating them on a daily basis.
I want to accumulate them but every time they end up being eaten. They are quite expensive to make but at the same time they are almost useless now as it is impossible to accumulate in needed numbers for caravans.
To make them work you have to issue a stockpile zone for PSM only, then restrict anyone but the cook from going there and then unrestrict everyone when caravan starts assembling. Or manually forbid stacks of 10 PSM. It is simply not worth the effort.

Can we have an option to reserve certain meals for caravans? Or prevent certain meal consumprion to have a kind of reserve, given PSM won't expire.

[Mday]

PSM is awesome stuff for caravans, but one thing renders them useless for me.
There is no easy way to prevent pawns from eating them on a daily basis.
I want to accumulate them but every time they end up being eaten. They are quite expensive to make but at the same time they are almost useless now as it is impossible to accumulate in needed numbers for caravans.
To make them work you have to issue a stockpile zone for PSM only, then restrict anyone but the cook from going there and then unrestrict everyone when caravan starts assembling. Or manually forbid stacks of 10 PSM. It is simply not worth the effort.

Can we have an option to reserve certain meals for caravans? Or prevent certain meal consumprion to have a kind of reserve, given PSM won't expire.

If you have meals(simple, fine & etc) ready for your pawns, they will not touch your Packaged Survival Meal. Otherwise you have to forbid packaged survival meal, in such case your pawn will go for other raw food. Caravan can use forbided packaged survival meal.

Also your pawns will always carry a meal with them. This allow them to have lunch/dinner far outside of the base and not be forced to return to base due to hunger. If you have packaged survival meal available those will be taken first. Otherwise they will carry normal meals which can spoil in 3 days.

[Nameless]

You can setup a storage area just to store those away from your kitchen/dinner table. Then forbid all the meals and the doors. No one will ever take them unless you unforbid the door for caravan purpose.

[SpaceDorf]

Or setup a zone only your cook can enter .. everybody else has to keep out.

[Jibbles]

They usually eat other meals in my games before touching the PSM.  I find it easier to just select all and forbid when I have a good stockpile going.  Make sure your other meals are listed before the Packaged survival meals when it comes to making bills. They will prioritize cooking the simple/fine meals. When those bills are done they will start making PSM.

[asanbr]

I just suggested a "forbid when dropped" options in the suggestions forum which would solve this for colonies, but not caravans I suppose.

[{insert_name_here}]

A good way of preventing this issue would be a "food policy", similar to the drug policy.

[SpaceDorf]

A good way of preventing this issue would be a "food policy", similar to the drug policy.

Amen to to that.

[cultist]

Also your pawns will always carry a meal with them. This allow them to have lunch/dinner far outside of the base and not be forced to return to base due to hunger. If you have packaged survival meal available those will be taken first. Otherwise they will carry normal meals which can spoil in 3 days.

Items in a pawn's inventory don't spoil as long as they are in your home map.

[TheWrongColonist]

Create a new stockpile for the packaged survival meal with a bed inside and set it for prisoner, the PSM will be reserved for prisoners on the room, colonists will haul the food inside but no one will eat it.

I do this and it works, just make sure to put this room in a corner or something so a prisoner doesn't actually sleep on this bed and eat the PSM.

I hope a permanent fix is done by the developers.

[Dannyrulx]

I cannot believe I didn't think of the prisoner room thing before.

[Panzer]

Yeah something like a food policy would be really nice, to keep the idiots from eating my raw ingredients when they starve for a few seconds, that would save a lot of player nerves and micro

[sadpickle]

They usually eat other meals in my games before touching the PSM.  I find it easier to just select all and forbid when I have a good stockpile going.  Make sure your other meals are listed before the Packaged survival meals when it comes to making bills. They will prioritize cooking the simple/fine meals. When those bills are done they will start making PSM.

I do this but I find they still pick up PSM. Maybe it's a mod I'm using, but it seems they PREFER the PSM over other (perishable) food-types. I don't make lavish meals so maybe they would prefer those.

I think the proposed solution of a schedule for foods a la drugs is ideal.

[Snafu_RW]

I do this but I find they still pick up PSM. Maybe it's a mod I'm using, but it seems they PREFER the PSM over other (perishable) food-types.

What's your fridge/cooker layout? Someone some time ago suggested that if the two were adjacent, separating a store for PSM at the /back/ of the fridge (so furthest away from tastier meals) may help.. alternatively simply set up a covered enclosed area /with animal ban/ a long way from pawns' usual eat/rec/work spots, & use it to store PSM, jelly etc that you don't want used. You can forbid single items & pawns will add to the stacks if they're unfilled

I think the proposed solution of a schedule for foods a la drugs is ideal.

Not sure.. it would be niice but could lead to some interesting spirals early (or food-deficient) game..