Here’s a Foraging guide to help you find food in Project Zomboid. Level foraging to increase your search radius and find better loot.

Leveling Foraging

  1. Leveling foraging increases foraging search radius (Search Mode).
  2. Unlocks better loot that can be found (See below Loot Types).
  3. Unlocks more Focus Types (See below Search Focus).
  4. Foraging can be leveled up by finding and picking up items.
  5. You can also watch Life and Living for some Foraging XP.

Loot Types

Foraging LevelItems
0Berries, Mushrooms, Herbs, Wood, Stones, Junk, Junk Food, Clothing, Weapons, Medical Supplies, Trash, Insects, Lemon Grass, Medicinal Plants, Wild Plants
2Wild Veggies, Tents
3Onions
4Wild Fruit, Ammo
5Oranges, Daikon, Rats
6Wild Fruit
7More Fruit, Vegetables, Frogs, Birds
8More Fruit, Vegetables, Eggs, Squirrel, Traps, Hiking Bags
9Bananas
10Pineapples, Watermelons, Rabbit

Search Radius

When in search mode the search radius is the area around your character of which you can find items.

Search radius is affected by the following:

  • Foraging Level
  • Weather (rain, snow and fog will reduce radius)
  • Time of day (darkness will reduce radius)
  • Clothing (some face items block vision)
  • Moodles (Hunger, Exhaustion, Fatigue, Panic, Stress, Pain, Drunkenness and Sickness will reduce radius)
  • Occupations and Traits

If you’ve taken the short sighted trait just wear glasses to negate the search radius penalty.

Search Focus

In the search mode window players can choose a particular type of item to focus on while searching. This grants a bonus to that category that is being focused on.

The below table shows the chances of a focused item overwriting any given drop:

FocusLevelMin Focus BonusMax Focus Bonus
Firewood025%40%
Stones025%40%
Berries320%33%
Mushrooms320%33%
Insects415%33%
Wild Herbs410%20%
Wild Plants410%20%
Trash415%25%
Animals55%15%
Crops515%33%
Medicinal Plants610%20%
Fruits715%33%

Loot Chance

Certain items have bonuses these include:

  • Plants that have a night time bonus.
  • +50% chance bonus to Firewood during Fall.
  • Most berries, vegetables, herbs, insects and animals can’t be found in Winter.
  • Beauty Berries, Holly Berries and Winter Berries can only be found during Fall and Winter.
  • Higher chance of finding items in locations where they are typically found eg. Firewood in forests, stones on streets and trash in towns.