sims
The Sims 3 The Sims 4
For the pet trait, see Spoiled.
Assorted food qualities from Foul through Perfect, with the bottom table being the better ones.

Assorted food qualities from Foul through Perfect, with the bottom table being the better ones.

Most food items in The Sims 3 (as well as seeds and nectar[TS3:WA]) will have one of 11 possible food qualities, listed from best to worst:

"Foul" and worse is also treated as Spoiled food (except if it's a raw food item like apples), and thus practically always give the Nauseous moodlet if eaten. Plates of spoiled food will drag down the room's Environment value significantly. "Bad" quality food can sometimes also be spoiled, but far from always. Quick meals will always be "Normal", unless they're made with the food synthesizer.[TS3:ITF]

Higher qualities can be ensured by:

Served meals will spoil after 10 hours,[note 1] give or take. If the meal is in the Sim's inventory when it spoils, the Sim gets the "Disgusted" moodlet indefinitely until the meal has been removed from their inventory, with a notification explaining the cause of the moodlet. The meals will remain non-spoiled for longer if they are moved by a Sim to a refrigerator.

Buying food from supermarkets make them Nice quality, while quick-buys from refrigerators make the ingredients Normal quality instead.

At "Foul" or worse, flies will spawn over the plates. Toad Sims[TS3:SN] can eat the flies if they want to do so, but they will nevertheless get the "Disgusted" moodlet when being close enough to the plates that they can reach the flies.

Putting Super Spicy Sauce[TS3:UL] on a group serving will reset the meal's quality to Nice. This can be used to make spoiled meals properly edible again, but is also a bad idea to use on meals that are already Nice or better.

Moodlets

Moodlets after meals correspond to the quality of the meals:

Walking near a meal that has spoiled will usually give the "Disgusting" moodlet.

Food trucks in particular,[TS3:LN] and to some extent deep fryers[Store] and food synthesizers,[TS3:ITF] have their own moodlet sets that do not correspond to the list above, despite the meals from them having food qualities listed for them.

Eating a spoiled meal will usually give the "Nauseous" moodlet, even if the Sim has the "Hungry Like the Wolf"[TS3:SN] moodlet when eating. They are however immune to food-related Nauseous if they have the Slob trait or have bought the Simmunity[TS3:S] or Strong Stomach[TS3:IP] lifetime rewards.

Stoves

The choice of stoves matter a lot for the food quality. Ones that are marked as "Self-Cleaning" in Buy Mode will practically always result in edible meals. Those that aren't, for instance the SimmerChar Dual-Stove Stove that is among the biggest fire hazards in the game, need to be cleaned often and cannot be left for long mid-cooking even when fully cleaned, resulting in the meal being cooked down to Horrifying quality or the stove catching fire.

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Refrigerators

Leftover food placed in a fridge will typically stay edible for some days, the exact length roughly corresponding to the cost of the refrigerator. Once they've stayed there for too long, green smoke comes out of the refrigerator, and a Sim can choose to clean out rotted food from the refrigerator.

Cold-serve Quick Meals will always be of Normal quality. Larger cold-serve meals like Autumn Salad can sometimes be of Nice quality or higher.

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Microwaves

Making a Lobster Thermidor in a microwave to Very Nice quality.

Making a Lobster Thermidor in a microwave to Very Nice quality.

Quick Meals made with microwave ovens will always be of Normal quality. A select few higher-end dinners that can be made with a microwave instead of an oven, can be of higher qualities. For instance, a Lobster Thermidor cooked in a microwave will be of Very Nice quality.

Buffets

The Sims 3

A buffet table where the food has got spoiled.

A buffet table where the food has got spoiled.

If the Sim chooses to "Serve" on buffet tables, it results in group servings of 2 dinners and 1 dessert in Nice quality spawning on the table, which can be eaten. After 20 in-game hours the food spoils and becomes Bad quality, and cannot be eaten anymore, as the only option Sims can choose for it then is "Clean Up".

Considering it costs §250 to serve the buffet, and that its leftovers cannot easily be moved to a fridge, it makes it an economically risky proposition to serve the buffet if the Sim(s) are unlikely to eat up the 3 group meals within 20 hours.

The Sims 3: Island Paradise

Resort buffet tables can be set to 3 possible overall quality types, with resulting food qualities:

Food synthesizer

The synthesizer splashing on the Sim, indicating Bad quality.

The synthesizer splashing on the Sim, indicating Bad quality.

At base quality the generated meals will be of Normal quality, but can also slightly splash in the Sim's face and give Bad quality (but not spoiled). Food generated from the synthesizer will never spoil by time alone.

Food synthesizers on public lots where the Sim has to pay it for the meal, will usually generate meals of Great quality.

Upgrading the "Meal Quality" of the synthesizer will improve the food qualities stepwise, and even just upgrading to "Meal Quality 1" seems to prevent the splash effect. At Meal Qualities 1, 2, 3, and 4, the generated meals are of Nice, Great, Outstanding, and Perfect quality respectively.

Bistro

Choosing to "Eat Outside..." at a bistro will give the Sim a dish meal to bring out to a nearby dining table (or to their inventories to bring elsewhere). Among the known possible qualities of those meals are Perfect, Very Nice, Nice, and Normal.

Food desks

Food bought at a festival-type food stand[TS3:S] is known to result in Nice quality.

Buying a snack at an espresso bar[TS3:UL] is known to result in Normal quality.

Food truck (Late Night)

Food bought from a food truck in The Sims 3: Late Night will be of Nice quality, but their moodlets and percentages are unique to food truck meals.

Deep fryer

A Deep Fryer in its dirty and descending state.

A Deep Fryer in its dirty and descending state.

Most of the same qualities outcomes from Cooking skill levels that apply to stoves, also apply to the deep fryer.[Store] After using it 5 times, the fryer begins looking dirty and with green smoke, and indicates a need to clean it.

It being dirty does not instantly result in making inedible meals. The more times the fryer is used after that without having been cleaned, the quality descends by roughly one step for each additional cooked meal without cleaning it, eventually resulting in Horrifying quality meals being made.

Harvestables

Gardening-type fruits and vegetables use the same quality levels as what meals and nectars do. But they do not get the "Spoiled" tag regardless of how low the quality is, so a Sim who eats even a Horrifying quality vegetable directly from their inventories will not get nauseous. Their food qualities do however matter a lot for the arboretum[TS3:SN] gardening competitions, where the harvestables' food quality levels count far more than their rarities or prices.

Gallery

The Sims 4

Food qualities are in The Sims 4 according to various patch notes, with known possible qualities including Nice, High, and Poor. Food and harvestables are known to be able to have food qualities.

As in The Sims 3, food can spoil.

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Notes

  1. ↑ Tested with a single serving of Ceviche of Excellent quality.