---
title: Casualties Unknown How to Sleep, Eat and Find Clean Water
description: How to sleep safely, what to eat, how to make clean water and how to manage temperature.
url: https://casualtieswiki.wiki/survival/food-water-and-sleep/
---

Survival

# Casualties Unknown food, water and sleep
Turning groundwater into something safe

- 1 **Fill a canteen with groundwater**

- 2 **Light a campfire**Each fire costs three bits of wood

- 3 **Craft water near the fire**Clean water appears in the recipe list

- 4 **Pour it into the canteen**Empty the temporary container

_From a beginner crafting and cooking guide recorded on Demo 7.0.1._

**Short answer:** in Casualties Unknown, drink clean water made at a campfire, eat cooked food or juice when you can, and sleep to recover. To sleep, use the Zzz button in the health panel or eat a Naptail somewhere safe. Avoid sleeping with open wounds or low skin health. confirmed

The store page sums up the job: “monitor your food and water intake”. confirmed Cooked food keeps you from getting sick, sustains you for longer and keeps better than raw food. confirmed

## How do you sleep in Casualties Unknown?

The health panel has a Zzz button at the bottom right, shown in [official screenshots](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4576490/). confirmed A sleeping bag also works, and a Naptail knocks you out on the spot. Sleep whenever you can do so safely. Mood normalises faster while you sleep, per the 7.0 notes. confirmed

All body parts heal when sleeping, muscle in particular. confirmed Before you lie down:

- **Check for open wounds.** You will keep bleeding, so patch up first or make sure you have enough blood.

- **Check skin health.** Low skin health turns healing into infection. confirmed

- **Find a safe, warm place.** Being wet while you sleep is dangerous on cold layers. reported

You cannot use a sleeping bag several times at once, a bug fixed in 6.0, and you can no longer explode while asleep, fixed in 7.0. confirmed

The [co-op mod](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/mods/multiplayer/) turns sleeping off entirely. confirmed

## What should you eat in Casualties Unknown?

| Food | Good for | Risks | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Juice | Lasts forever, safe, raises mood, cools you | Less nutrition than the raw fruit | confirmed |
| Refined juice | Better stats and more mood | Needs a campfire | confirmed |
| Foliage meal | An early staple | Players disagree about how good it is | reported |
| Cooked meat | Filling | Needs a fire | confirmed |
| Naptail | Sleep and a mood boost | You cannot wake until it ends | confirmed |
| Geofruit | Hydrates | Eat until “slaked”, and no further | confirmed |
| Animal corpses | Food in a pinch | Sickness; stay at queasy | confirmed |

Sickness at “queasy”, around 25%, is fine, so unappealing food is often worth eating when you have nothing else. confirmed

## How do you get clean water in Casualties Unknown?

Fill a canteen with groundwater, then light a campfire and open the crafting window while you are near it. Clean water will show up as a recipe. Afterwards, pour the temporary container into your canteen. confirmed

Water gets scarce later. Forum players say to bring enough water for layers 3 and 4, and to crush fruit into juice on the way. reported

Groundwater contains dangers on some layers, including radioactive water in the wasteland. reported See [radiation](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/infection-and-radiation/) before you drink anything that glows.

## How do you handle temperature?

You can freeze or overheat, depending on the layer and any modifiers.

| Problem | Fixes | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Too cold | Campfire, warm clothing, work out from the health menu | confirmed |
| Too hot | Drink water or juice; each drink cools a little | confirmed |
| Wet | Dry off, because water drains your body heat | reported |

Working out warms you, but keep moving while stamina recovers or you will cool down again. confirmed Heat sources no longer cool you if you are already too hot, a bug fixed in 7.0. confirmed In the desert, one guide says drinks alone can be enough if you stop often, while [Desolate](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/layers/run-settings-and-modifiers/) makes the cold much harder.

## How do you stop losing weight?

Weight loss is a slow effect of poor nutrition, slowed a little in 6.0. confirmed Eating to the point of the “satiated” or “full” moodle slows it down further and adds a little happiness. reported Encumbrance also matters, so an overloaded character uses far more energy.

## How do you cook in Casualties Unknown?

Cooking needs a lit fire and often a cutting tool, so a flimsy knife or digging tool is worth making early. confirmed Each campfire costs three bits of wood. confirmed You can also make charcoal, a light fuel, by putting your droppings on a lit campfire, which gives you three pieces of fuel for later fires. confirmed You no longer need a heat source to make milk from powdered milk. confirmed

## What are the most common food and water mistakes?

- **Filling both canteens by falling in water.** Keep your crafting canteen inside a bag.

- **Skipping juice.** Fruit you crush at no cost stops spoiling.

- **Eating until sick when mood is already low.** Sickness lowers mood again.

- **Eating with a broken jaw.** It makes food 25% less effective, so treat your [injuries](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/limb-damage/) first. confirmed

- **Sleeping near the radiation line.** Time passes while you rest, and the [line keeps rising](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/layers/all-layers/).

## Is cannibalism possible?

Players have searched for this, and the game does let you eat corpses, with mood and health consequences that make it a poor choice. A video on the topic shows how seriously the game treats it. Other food is almost always the better option, and even a queasy stomach beats the mood penalty.

## Sources
Last checked 9 November 2026. Marks: confirmed = official notes, in-game text or a recording of the game; reported = two or more players; unverified = one source.

- [Beginners Guide: Crafting and Cooking by Cain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnJq1aOBzgo&t=502s) · clean water, cooking

- [Tricks I Wish I Knew Sooner by BluePawClaw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLuLBHlRjIQ&t=333s) · juice, Naptails

- [30 Things Everyone Should Know by BluePawClaw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVF7rFHGwpY&t=227s) · sleep, temperature

- [7.0 Demo Update notes, Steam](https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/1834602721186794)

- [v6.0 Patch Notes, Steam](https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/1830163047266090)

- [Steam forum: How to be successful?](https://steamcommunity.com/app/4576490/discussions/0/563667534781362619/)

## More in Survival

- [Beginner guide What to do in your first run: the tutorial, first crafts, hidden controls, saving and how to stop dying before layer 3.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/survival/beginner-guide/)

- [Mood and moodles What the status icons mean, what raises and lowers mood, and why low mood can end a run.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/survival/mood-and-moodles/)

- [Last stand How the last-second revive triggers, what affects its odds and what to do when you get one.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/survival/last-stand/)