What the OSRS Food Table Covers
The OSRS food table is a curated reference that lists each piece of food by its healing amount, inventory slot size, and required Cooking or Hitpoints level. It is designed to help you choose the best option for health recovery in combat, skilling, and travel. This guide explains how healing values work, how food degradation affects restores, and how to read the canonical table used by the game client.
Core Mechanics of Food Healing
In Old School RuneScape, food restores Hitpoints based on a fixed table. Every item specifies a base heal, which is the amount restored when the food is at peak freshness. The heal is influenced by your Cooking level through the success rate and burn rate, but the table values assume a 100% success outcome. Inventory size determines how many pieces you can carry per slot, which affects total available healing per inventory.
How Degradation Changes Restores
Many foods degrade over time, reducing their heal when consumed. The game stores a freshness counter; as it decreases, the heal can drop in steps. The canonical table often lists the initial heal, but players should expect lower values as the food spoils. This makes stock management and timely consumption important for efficient hitpoint recovery.
Reading the Official Food Table
The in-game food table used by the client organizes entries by item ID and defines heal, size, level requirements, and stackability. When players refer to the OSRS food table in tools and guides, they are usually referencing this structured data. Understanding each column helps you compare options objectively and avoid surprises during critical moments.
| Food | Heal (Fresh) | Size | Cooking Level | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shark | 20 | 1 | 80 | High heal per slot, no burn |
| Monkfish | 16 | 1 | 76 | Strong healing, popular mid-tier |
| Swordfish | 14 | 1 | 70 | Good balance of heal and level |
| Prawns | 12 | 1 | 62 | Cookable at lower levels |
| Lobster | 12 | 1 | 65 | Widely used in training and PvP |
| Tuna | 10 | 1 | 5 | Accessible very early game |
| Cooked Chicken | 3 | 1 | 1 | Beginner option, low heal |
Practical Usage Scenarios
Choosing the right food depends on your context. For high-level combat, shark and monkfish maximize healing per inventory at the cost of higher Cooking requirements. In busy areas or against monsters that hit hard, carrying a mix of swordfish and lobster gives flexibility. For budget training or low-level activities, prawns and tuna offer reasonable efficiency without tying up high-level cooking materials.
Inventory Planning Examples
- 10 shark (10 slots): 200 total heal, best healing per slot for high chefs.
- 10 monkfish (10 slots): 160 total heal, safer due to lower burn rate.
- 10 lobster (10 slots): 120 total heal, accessible at mid-levels with steady demand.
- 20 tuna (20 slots): 200 total heal, very available and cheap.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Cooking level affect the heal? The heal shown assumes perfect success. Higher Cooking reduces burns but does not raise the base heal in the table.
- How does food degradation impact healing? As food degrades, the heal can drop by stage. Consume food before it drops to the next lower heal tier to avoid wasting potential restores.
- Are stackable foods included? The standard table focuses on non-stackable items. Stackable foods such as cakes have different mechanics and are covered separately.
- Where is the in-game food table sourced? The values come from the game’s data files and reflect the live client used by OSRS. Tools that reference the same data should match these numbers when accounting for freshness.
Strategic Takeaways
Use the OSRS food table to align food choices with your level, inventory space, and risk tolerance. Factor in burn rates and degradation when planning long sessions. Higher-tier foods give more heal per slot but require safer play or higher Cooking investment. Understanding the table helps you optimize health management across PvM, skilling, and PvP environments.
Conclusion
The OSRS food table is a stable, rules-based reference for healing values across all edible items. By combining table data with knowledge of degradation and inventory efficiency, you can make consistent, informed decisions about health recovery. Treat the table as a baseline and adjust for your own playstyle, risk management, and resource availability.