Cooking in Loftia
What the Cooking Station does, the dishes we can verify, and the perks worth planning for.
Cooking is a proficiency, not a side minigame. Dishes spend battery charges, sell for more than raw crops, and can be improved with perks that refund ingredients or duplicate the output. We list only the recipes we can source.
What is confirmed
- Cooking is one of the proficiency examples on the official Early Access page (“Farming, Crafting, Cooking, Fishing, or something else”).
- The demo includes a Cooking Station and cooking progression; dishes spend a battery charge.
- The demo caps proficiencies at Level 5; Early Access goes further.
- Early Access adds perks, but the full cooking perk tree is not published.
How the station works
The Cooking Station is a placeable station on your plot. In the demo and beta it works in short cooking sessions: pick a dish, spend a battery charge, complete the cooking minigame, and receive the dish. Cooking levels the Cooking proficiency. Some dishes need a higher station level; beta data groups the menu into Lv.1, Lv.2 and Lv.3 stations.
The station is not a vending machine. You still need the ingredients, the battery charge and the recipe. If the battery is empty, the station waits for the solar panel or a water-power station to recharge.
Recipes we can verify
These are the dishes where we have an ingredient list and a sale value from a named source. Everything else on this page is a recipe name without a verified quantity.
| Dish | Ingredients | Sells for | Source status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fruit Smoothie | Sugar (5 Dew) + cherries | 20 Dew | Demo; cherries cannot sell raw |
| Carrot Soup | 2 Carrots (40 Dew raw value) | 45 Dew | Beta; uses a battery charge |
| Chef Salad | Egg + lettuce + tomato | 55 Dew | Beta; uses a battery charge |
| Creamy Mushroom Soup | Foraged mushrooms | Not published | Beta; high-margin after station upgrade |
Cooking roughly doubles crop value in the beta data, but the exact margin depends on the dish and the ingredient source.
Recipe names by station level
A community beta database lists the following dishes. The names are useful for planning; the ingredient quantities are not all published, so we do not reproduce them as if they were.
| Station level | Dishes reported |
|---|---|
| Lv.1 | Carrot Cake, Carrot Soup, Chef Salad, Croissant, Fries, Pancakes, Spaghetti al Pomodoro, Waffles |
| Lv.2 | Banana Curry, Chocolate Cake, Cinnamon Rolls, Ratatouille, Shakshuka, Mushroom Soup |
| Lv.3 | Baba Ganoush, Congee, Gimbap, Miso Soup, Nasi Lemak, Omurice, Radish Kimchi, Rice Pudding, Tamago Sushi |
The same beta database reports that station upgrades come from bundles: Forest Cook at the Overgrowth Research Station and Urban Eats at the Museum Research Station. We have not verified the bundle requirements, so treat those names as leads, not a shopping list.
Cooking perks
The beta cooking page lists three perks that change the economics of the station:
| Perk | Effect | Cost / level |
|---|---|---|
| Carry Limit (Food and Drink) | +10 carry limit for food and drink items | Not published |
| Zero Waste – Food | +20% chance to refund one ingredient when cooking | Not published |
| Double Dish | +20% chance to double the output | 5 Inspiration at Lv.11 (beta) |
A refund perk is the difference between “cooking is flavour” and “cooking is income.” In the beta money guide, one player with a 40% refund chance treated carrot soup as their primary income. That is a player report, not a guaranteed rate.
Progression: Effort and Inspiration
The beta database describes two currencies for perks: Effort for most unlocks and Inspiration for stronger ones. Effort rises in tiers — 5 at levels 1–4, 10 at 5–9, 15 at 10–14 and 20 at 15–19. Inspiration starts contributing around Level 10. The demo caps at Level 5, so most of this is Early Access territory.
The XP-to-next and cumulative XP values in the beta database are community-compiled. We do not publish a cooking XP calculator or a “fastest level” route. The proficiency planner builds a session plan without level math.
The money math we can defend
A carrot sells for 20 Dew; two carrots are worth 40 Dew. Carrot Soup sells for 45 Dew, so the dish adds 5 Dew of value before you account for the battery charge. That is a thin margin, not a money printer. Chef Salad sells for 55 Dew from an egg, lettuce and tomato — better, but the ingredients have their own opportunity cost. The demo’s Fruit Smoothie is the clearest early win: sugar costs 5 Dew, cherries cannot be sold raw in the demo, and the smoothie sells for 20 Dew.
Pineapples are the long-timer play: a 20 Dew seed becomes a 100 Dew crop after about six hours. Cooking them is optional; the crop already carries the value.
A practical cooking routine
- Harvest a batch of crops.
- Check the battery. Cook only what you can power.
- Cook the dishes with the best verified margin, not the longest menu.
- Sell through the shipping bin;
Shift+clickmoves a stack. - Start a new crop or refining batch before you log off.
Sources and checks
Checked 2026-10-23. Factual claims are drawn from the sources below; demo and beta values are labelled because they may change at Early Access. Recommendations are ours.
Official proficiency facts; beta recipe names and perk data labelled; demo smoothie verified from the demo money guide.
- OfficialEarly Access overviewProficiencies, perks, hydroponics, pets, regions, Urbex and monetization.
- OfficialDemo overviewDemo dates, carry-over, proficiency cap, World Project and reward list.
- CommunityCozy Game Guides: Loftia beginner guideUpdated 21 Oct 2026 from the April 2026 beta and demo footage; controls, quests, battery and permissions.
- CommunityCozy Game Guides: Loftia money guideUpdated 21 Oct 2026; beta prices and demo changes. All values are labelled beta/demo.
- CommunityLoftia Proficiencies: CookingBeta XP tiers and cooking perks. Perk costs are beta data.
- CommunityLoftia Stations: Cooking StationBeta recipe names by station level; ingredient quantities are not all published.
- CommunityLoftia Proficiencies (community database)Beta-derived proficiency and perk reference; the site warns that values will change at Early Access.
- Demo / patch notesSteam News: demo patch notes #1 (21 Oct 2026)Scrambled Coordinates drop change, solar output, item fragments, tool wheel.
We do not publish a recipe, price, stat or mechanic without a source. If something is missing, it is marked unverified rather than guessed.