Making meals can be very simple: Put [[meat]] / [[fish]] and [[potato]] / [[corn]] / [[onion]] (commonly referred to as ''vegetables'') in a [[frying pan]] and heat it up. Voila, a meal.
If there are no "vegetables" available, substitutes are possible. [[Bread]], [[cheese]], [[pumpkin]] or [[grain]]s combined with some kind of [[herb]] are common. [[Salt]] can be used instead of an herb and will also decrease the decay of the meal by 50%. Other combinations are possible with lower or greater difficulties, just examine container before cooking to determine the difficulty and if it will become a meal or not. However, the meat/fish and frying pan are always required.
Meals have higher base difficulty than other cooking, so beginners are recommended to use [[stone oven]]s when cooking them. If difficulty isn't an issue, any fire source can be used. Experienced cooks will sometimes use [[campfire]]s or [[stone forge]]s to intentionally increase the difficulty.