Pemmican

Pemmican is a low-tech long-lasting food, ideal for caravan trips.

Acquisition

Pemmican can be cooked at a Campfire, Fueled stove, or Electric stove once the Pemmican research project has been completed. There is no Cooking skill requirement, though it does use the cooking skill.

Each batch of 16 requires a mixture of 0.25 nutrition from meat and 0.25 nutrition from vegetables and 700 ticks (11.67 secs) of work. Alternatively, pemmican can be made in batches of 64 at the cost of 1 nutrition of each type and 2,800 ticks (46.67 secs) of work. Campfires have a ×50% work speed multiplier; it takes twice as long to cook pemmican at a campfire.

It can also be purchased from traders, or occasionally recovered from tribal raiders.

Summary

Unlike most cooked meals, each unit of pemmican is worth 0.05 nutrition. 18 units of pemmican are as filling as a single simple meal, fine meal, or packaged survival meal (which all worth 0.9 nutrition per item).

As you get 16 pemmican for 10 units of raw food, pemmican has a nutrition efficiency of 160%.

Benefits of discrete nutrition

Pawns will eat just before they become hungry. With larger meals, this can result in a significant amount of overeating.

Simple meals and fine meals give 0.9 nutrition per meal. Humans can store up to 1.0 nutrition, but will try to eat when they have around 0.25 nutrition in their stomach. Therefore, under normal circumstances, colonists will waste 0.15 nutrition for every meal. So while simple / fine meals have a superior nutrition efficiency (180%), this often ends up being wasted by overeating.
In contrast, each unit of pemmican is only 0.05 nutrition. Pawns will take the pemmican they need. At 0.25 hunger, they'll bringing 0.75 - 0.80 nutrition of pemmican rather than a full 0.9 nutrition meal. This results in a much lower rate of overeating - a maximum of 0.05 nutrition per meal is lost.

Smaller animals will overeat more. Chickens only have capacity for 0.30 nutrition, so making full meals for your coop is a waste.

Discrete nutrition is also helpful when pawns undergo frequent vomiting. Food poisoning will slow eating speed, and if they vomit, the entire meal is interrupted. With pemmican, pawns will consume each unit of pemmican separately. So when a pawn vomits, they won't lose progress for the entire meal.

Analysis

Pemmican's main purpose is to preserve food. This is useful for two independent purposes.

New Tribes start with Pemmican researched, but lack the ability to freeze food. Pemmican can be used to preserve meat and other perishables like berries before they spoil.

Most food crops last a long time, even without pemmican. Rice takes 40 days to spoil, while corn takes 60 days to spoil. By the time they rot, you would've had the time to harvest multiple other batches of crops. Most likely, if you let rice rot, then you didn't need to grow that rice in the first place. (However, pemmican requires a vegetarian ingredient. It's fine to use rice to preserve your meat.)

Caravans. Most cooked meals only last for a few days, so pemmican can be used for long trips on the road. Pemmican faces direct competition with packaged survival meals, which New Arrivals can research for the exact same cost as the pemmican research. An in-depth comparison can be viewed below.

As pemmican takes a long time to create, it is not recommended for "usual" daily consumption. If food storage isn't an issue, then simple meals or fine meals should be made instead, as they are quicker to prepare.

Comparison to PSMs

The packaged survival meal serves a very similar purpose to pemmican. They are both foods that can last for a long time.

Pemmican is more nutritious than packaged meals (160% vs 150% nutrition efficiency). In addition, pawns won't overeat with pemmican nearly as much, as described in the summary section. Finally, pemmican is roughly +8% better for weight, a small but relevant bonus for any sort of caravan trip.

The most apparent advantage of packed survival meals is that they last forever. They never spoil, but pemmican spoils in 70 days. However, the actual use of this is questionable. Unless you are playing with 100% coverage, even the Ship to the Stars is unlikely to last more than a RimWorld year. During the journey, you'll likely be able to trade for food, using silver, gold, or any other material. Silver never spoils. Finally, you can settle on a new, temporary colony to restore your food reserves, which is useful if the journey would last more than a year.

PSMs have a few other advantages. They are drastically more efficient in storage space - storing ×240% nutrition / tile when compared to pemmican. PSMS also require ×60% the work to make.

Gallery

One pemmican meal
Partial stack
Full stack

Food

Meals: Chocolate • Fine meal (Carnivore, Vegetarian) • Kibble • Lavish meal (Carnivore, Vegetarian) • Nutrient paste meal • Packaged survival meal • Pemmican • Simple meal • Baby food
Raw food - Animal: Meat (Human, Insect) • Insect jelly • Milk • Hemogen pack
Raw food - Eggs: Cassowary egg (fert.) • Chicken egg (fert., unfert.) • Cobra egg (fert.) • Duck egg (fert., unfert.) • Emu egg (fert.) • Goose egg (fert., unfert.) • Iguana egg (fert.) • Ostrich egg (fert.) • Tortoise egg (fert.) • Turkey egg (fert.)
Raw food - Vegetarian: Agave fruit • Berries • Corn • Hay • Potatoes • Raw fungus • Rice • Toxipotatoes