Rust Cooking 2.0 Update – Everything You Need to Know

Introduction

The Cooking 2.0 update is coming to Rust on March 6th, bringing major changes to farming, cooking, and food mechanics. This update adds hatchable chicken eggs, beekeeping, new food recipes, and unique player buffs, making food more essential to survival than ever before.

In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about the Cooking 2.0 update, including new game mechanics, farming improvements, and strategic gameplay changes that will impact Rust players.

1. Chickens & Chicken Coops – A New Farming System

The update introduces a new chicken farming system, allowing players to hatch eggs, raise chickens, and collect fresh food supplies.

• Chickens now lay eggs, which can be hatched in a Chicken Coop.
• The Chicken Coop is a deployable structure that can be placed outside or on a foundation.
• Once hatched, chickens must be fed and hydrated to stay alive.
• Each coop can hold up to four chickens at a time.
• Chickens lay eggs over time, with a stack limit of 20.

Keeping Your Chickens Alive

To maintain healthy chickens, players must balance four key stats:

• Hunger – Chickens consume food rapidly.
• Thirst – Coops hold up to 8,000 mL of water.
• Sunlight – Chickens need to be outside to thrive.
• Love – Players must pet their chickens to keep them happy and productive.

Keeping chickens neutral or happy ensures they produce eggs at a steady rate.

2. Beekeeping & Honey Production

Beekeeping is a brand-new mechanic in Rust, adding another resource-generating system for players.

How Beekeeping Works:

• Trees now have a chance to spawn honeycomb, which can be harvested.
• Harvesting honeycomb can trigger a bee swarm, causing players to take damage.
• Players can avoid bee attacks by:
  • Wearing a hazmat suit.
  • Standing near a fire source.
  • Splashing themselves with water.
• Honeycomb can be processed into jars of honey, which can be sold at Bandit Camp for scrap.
• Players can also obtain a Beehive Nucleus, which is used to craft deployable beehives.

Beehive Mechanics:

• Beehives generate honey over time when placed outdoors.
• The happiness and temperature of the hive affect honey production.
• Over time, the Beehive Nucleus levels up, increasing production speed.
• A second use for Beehive Nucleus is crafting a Bee Grenade, which releases a swarm of bees on impact.

3. New Cooking Workbench & Food Recipes

A new Cooking Workbench has been added, allowing players to craft specialized food items with unique buffs.

New Food & Buff System:

• Eight new pies: Apple, Bear, Chicken, Fish, Hunter’s, Pork, Pumpkin, and Survivor’s Pie.
• Each pie provides different buffs, such as increased stamina, vision boosts, or faster healing.
• Candy Bars now provide Comfort, making them useful for healing near campfires.
• Bread can now be crafted using wheat, a new farmable crop.
• Feeding horses bread increases their manure production, useful for fertilizer.

4. Food Spoilage & Refrigeration

The update introduces food spoilage, meaning items now have an expiration timer.

• The Electric Fridge requires 1 unit of power to keep food fresh.
• Items now display a spoil timer, showing when they will rot.
• Spoiled food poisons players when consumed.
• Items with different spoil timers can no longer be stacked.

5. New Teas & Planting System

Four new teas have been added to enhance survival in different climates:

• Cooling Tea & Max Cooling Tea – Reduces heat damage.
• Warming Tea & Max Warming Tea – Protects against cold environments.

These teas are crafted using Red and Yellow Berries at the Mixing Table.

A new Single Planter Pot has also been added, allowing players to grow decorative flowers in their bases.

6. Engineering Workbench & Item Ownership System

Engineering Workbench:

• A new level-based workbench for crafting electrical and vehicle-related items.
• Helps organize the tech tree, making it easier to manage crafting.

Item Ownership System:

• When you pick up an item, it now tracks who crafted it and its ownership history.
• This system adds depth to looting and trade, allowing players to track item origins.

7. Armor Slot Modifications

Armor crafting now has a randomized slot system, allowing players to add protection inserts.

• Four protection types: Heat, Radiation, Projectile, and Melee/Bite.
• Players can now customize armor stats by inserting different protection types.
• Inserts persist through reskins, keeping armor customization intact.

8. Graphics, DLSS, and Optimization Changes

• DLSS anti-aliasing has been temporarily removed due to stability issues.
• New graphics settings UI added to staging branch.
• Ongoing game optimization efforts to improve performance.

Final Thoughts – What to Expect in the Cooking 2.0 Update

Rust’s Cooking 2.0 update significantly expands food mechanics, farming, and resource management, adding new survival strategies for players.

• Chicken farming & beekeeping introduce new long-term resource production.
• Food spoilage adds realism, making storage and planning more important.
• New recipes & teas provide powerful buffs for exploration and survival.
• New workbenches & item ownership create a more structured progression system.

This update adds depth to Rust’s survival mechanics, making food more than just a necessity—it’s now a strategic resource.

Stay prepared, and get ready to cook, farm, and survive like never before when the update goes live on March 6th!