Ok, I've scratched my head to the point of getting a bald spot...just too dense to understand . How do food & drink help restore you in regular-not hardcoe life? Like Prickly Pear Fruit +! HP (10s)???? Noticed that sometimes after I eat or drink a few Sunset Sarsaparillas that my health bar goes up a little, then effects expire but sometimes health then goes up further?? Help. Learning to make stuff at campfires...main misunderstanding is about basic food & bevs.

When you eat or drink something, you get a bit of health each of the seconds that its active. The numbers in between the parentheses is how long it lasts. Say I have a biscuit or something. The aid section says it heals 2 (10). I will get 20 health in all.

Some foods you scavenge in the wilderness like your Prickly Pear Fruit will heal a small amount to your health but they're really meant to be used as ingredients for making other food items at one of the camp fires scattered around the Mojave. The kinds of food you can make at the fire are determined by your skill at Survival. For example at Level 25 you can turn Gecko Meat into Gecko Steak, which heals considerably more than the raw meat does, and at 50 Survival you can make Bighorner Steak. Raising your Survival skill also increases the amount you're healed by the food and the stat boosts you get from some foods like Bighorner Steak (which can increase your strength up to 3 points, at Survival skill of 100, for a couple of minutes).