Off The Grid Cooking Needs Revamp [ Edited ]

[Zasz_Zerg]

It bothers me that with both off-the-grid and simple living traits the off-the-grid stoves only allow soups but not pancakes. It doesnt make sense. Both use the upper parts and if soups dont need electricity, why do frying pans for pancakes? I also can prepare sauce but its kinda useless and it requires the same as soup does.

To test if it wasnt just something weird but I cheated to create some electricity for the lot and I could cook EVERYTHING. Because my sims on that lot have cooking 10.

As an alternative I can use grills to cook alot because there is a big garden on the lot including cottage living fields for lettuce.

[JonaO703]

@Renaissance_Sim Hi!  I completely agree with you.  In another recent thread someone else asked about the recipe options for OTG lots.  It is rather frustrating.  Sims have the option to add ice to a fridge.  There should be an option to add wood to the stove.  It seems so simple really.  I also like the idea of using a fireplace to cook.  As you mentioned, people were cooking and baking long before the discovery of electricity.  lol

[Zasz_Zerg]

Yes, simple cooking recipes for fireplaces and camping fires IS A MUST HAVE. But not even outdoor retreat offers them. Only marshmallows and even that is so bad that my sims got kinda addicted to it. Despite half a dozen prepared food plates on the dining table.

[xochiquetzl_xkvn]

You can roast fish over the campfire.  I used that in the earliest days of my Legacy challenge.  She had a tent, a cooler, a camping shower, a pee bush, and a campfire and would go fishing in between looking for collectables and her gardening job.  You can also roast Outdoor Retreat bugs over the campfire, and I think my friend said you could also cook and eat frogs but I'm not sure if that was a campfire thing or not. 

But I digress.  Yes, there are things that you can cook on the campfire other than marshmallows... two of them, at least.  Not overwhelming.  It would be nice if you could add those recipes to the fireplace, though!

[Renaissance_Sim]

Wow! It's so good to see this thread getting more attention! I love all the points everyone is making. To add on to everyone's comments:

Yes we should be able to do more cooking on the fire because historically lots of cooking has been done over fires- both fireplaces and campfires. Think of pigs and chickens- both of these are able IRL to be spit roasted over a fire. In addition cast iron pots have been used for centuries to cook over fires in both campfire and fireplace settings. This opens up soups, chillis, stews and anything else that can be ladeled. Like large servings of oatmeal, porrige or grits. A lot can be cooked over a fire IRL. I would love to see more there. 

It's not like everyone ate cold bland food before stoves. There are many places in the world that have wonderful varried food traditions based only on fire cooking. I would love to see the sims tap into these cultures more as well rather than just the  wealthy first-world cultures. 

Let me know what you guys think! What recipes do you think should be added to off-the grid's cookbook?

[Zasz_Zerg]

"You can roast fish over the campfire."

Just tested with fish in the sims pocket. No option to do that. Maybe its tied to specific fish?

[xochiquetzl_xkvn]

@Zasz_Zerg  Really?  I know I've done it.  Are you sure you're using the Outdoor Retreat campfire and not the Get Together bonfire?  The OR campfire has more options.

[edited to add] Okay, I just tried it.  You need the Outdoor Retreat campfires. There are a couple of almost identical-looking-in-BuildBuy items that are much larger from Get Together (bonfires) that offer, alas, squat in the way of cooking.  However, both the campfire options from Outdoor Retreat do let you roast things.  (Fish and beetles are grayed out because she doesn't have either.)

My camping-obsessed Sim loves to roast fish over campfires in Granite Falls, and roasting beetles is required for the Outdoor Enthusiast aspiration so I've done it (ew).

[Edited again to add, since I kept thinking...]

Aha.  Ahahahaha.  Ahahahahahahahahaha.

It's the Simple Living lot trait.

With Simple Living:

Without Simple Living:

I'm going to go open a bug report now... Click "Me, too" here.  https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/Can-t-cook-on-campfire-when-simple-living-applied/m-p/10579177...

[Zasz_Zerg]

The fire in question on my lot is from outdoor retreat.

I have the simple living trait but none of those extra options.

Me too'ed.

[pingvinskin]

I agree with you 100%! I've just started this great challenge (huge lot, huge veggie patch, no water, no nothing) and I was so surpised that my sims can't bake off the grid, that I can't even express it. Btw I don't have Eco Living, so panels aren't an option.

So as I understand, if my sims don't have electricity, then their stoves are probable powered by gas. And since when people can't bake in gas ovens irl? Im 28 yo and I've only just recently moved to a place with an electric stove, meaning that I've been cooking and BAKING on gas my entire life. It's very much possible . I also agree that the devs probably didn't research the cooking part much. I'd very like to see this lot trait revamped, truly.

Edit: typos

[ZombieZab]

@Renaissance_Sim I 1000% agree that this makes no sense. Especially since a huge part of Cottage Living is baking pies and scones for errands and competition. My Sim has to go to someone else's on-grid house to fulfill them. I really love the Cottage Living pack but that's one of two areas of the pack that I think didn't really receive love or attention when they made it.

I just want my fairy tale, off grid cottage with a pie cooling in the window.