OldSchool Runescape (OSRS) LVL 1-99 Cooking Guide | Food4RS (2024)

Cooking is probably the most common skill in which players reach Level 99 first. This is due to the pretty exceptional XP rates, coupled with the fact that commonly used methods often yield a small profit or break even at worst. Are you looking to get some serious amounts of gold but you want to train cooking? No problem, you can just order some here at food4rs for the best prices around! Whilst not the most useful skill to have, it’s definitely worth heading for Level 99 early, as it is still rewarding in that it is satisfying to hit maximum level. In this guide, I will discuss the various methods available to you, their pro’s and con’s, approximate costs and XP rates. I’ll also explore the reasons that may motivate you to train the Cooking skill, and outline the content that requires a specific Cooking level in order to access.

Why should you improve your Cooking skill in Oldschool Runescape?

The main argument for levelling Cooking is the easy and inexpensive XP and total level gains, plain and simple. There is a limited amount of content locked behind a Cooking Level requirement (outlined below), the most notable being the Achievement Diary rewards which are often highly desirable. A high Cooking level is required for 6 of the Elite Achievement Diary tasks, so training it would seem worthwhile for that alone.Aside from content unlocks, a good reason to level Cooking is due to the unconventionally high XP rates when compared to the cost and effort required to achieve. These methods will be discussed in greater detail later in the guide, however it is worth noting that at higher levels, XP yields in excess of over 300K per hour are not uncommon, and considered the standard when training Cooking. When considering how ‘AFK’ and low effort the Cooking skill is, it becomes a very attractive skill to train.

Quest Requirements

There are many quests within OSRS that have a Cooking level requirement in order to complete them. The most notable is Recipe For Disaster, which requires Level 70 Cooking to complete.

The complete list of Quests with Cooking level requirements are as follows:

Level 10 - Recipe for Disaster - Beginning

Level 20 - Ghosts Ahoy

Level 22 - Forgettable Tale of a Drunken Dwarf

Level 25 - Recipe for Disaster - Evil Dave subquest

Level 30 - Big Chompy Bird Hunting

Level 30 - Tai Bwo Wannai Trio

Level 31 - Recipe for Disaster - Pirate Pete subquest

Level 40 - Recipe for Disaster - Lumbridge Guide subquest

Level 41 - Recipe for Disaster - Skrach Uglogwee subquest

Level 53 - Heroes' Quest

Level 62 - Swan Song

Level 70 - Recipe for Disaster - Awowogei subquest

Diary Requirements

Similarly, many Achievement Diaries in OSRS have Cooking level requirements in order to complete. Diary rewards are arguably even more useful than Quest rewards within the game, therefore this may act as a strong incentive for players to level up their Cooking skill. The Diary tasks that have a Cooking level requirement are as follows:

Quests With Cooking XP Rewards

Additionally, there are a variety of quests that reward Cooking XP. You may want to complete these before heading for Level 99 if you feel that the XP reward given is worthwhile:

Some Good-To-Know’s

Cooking Gauntlets

Cooking gauntlets are a pair of gloves available after completing the Family Crest quest. They can be worn to significantly decrease the likelihood of burning fish. In order to obtain the cooking enchantment on your steel gauntlets, one must bring the gauntlets to Caleb behind the archery shop in Catherby (if your gauntlets have a different enchantment on them already, Caleb will charge you 25k).

These are highly recommend for players intending to achieve a high Cooking level, as they reduce the chance of burning food, and lower the level in which food stops burning. The benefits are as follows:

	Fish	Required Cooking Level	Stops Burning At	Stops Burning At(With Gauntlets)
	Tuna	30	64	63
	Lobster	40	74	64
	Swordfish	45	86	81
	Monkfish	62	92	90
	Karambwan	65	Never (unless wearing Cooking Cape)	Never (unless wearing Cooking Cape)
	Shark	80	Never (unless wearing Cooking Cape)	94
	Anglerfish	84	Never (unless wearing Cooking Cape)	98

Cooking Locations

There are many locations in OSRS where you can cook food. The most popular and recommended location is the Rogue’s Den, located underneath the pub in Brimhaven. This location has an endless fire which never goes out, and a banker one step away from the fire itself. This makes it very convenient hence its popularity.

The only location better than the Rogue’s Den is in the Myth’s Guild, which requires the completion of Dragon Slayer II. This location has a stove and a bank diagonally next to the stove, making it better than the Rogues Den due to it being a stove and not a fire.

Starting Out

Level 1 - 15: Shrimp

Unlike many skills, questing the early levels isn’t really recommended forCooking. This is because the XP is still pretty fast at low levels, very fastwhen compared to similar levels within other skills. Raw Shrimp is the bestthing to cook to get through the very first few levels, yielding30XP each withjust 81 successfully cooked Shrimp required to reach Level 15. This shouldtake approximately 5 minutes and cost next to nothing (<5k).

Level 15 - 25: Trout

Cooking trout successfully grants you 70 Cooking experience, therefore you’ll need to cook 78 trout successfully to reach Level 25. As you can see, these levels fly by and are not a problem at all. This is a contributing factor as to why obtaining high level Cooking is very common and popular. This process should take even less time than the shrimp, less than 5 minutes is definitely possible.

Level 25 - 35: Salmon

Cooking salmon successfully grants you 90 Cooking experience. Accounting for salmon burned, you should purchase approximately 250, as you'll have burned at about a 1:2 ratio without the cooking gauntlets by the time you reach level 35.

162 successfully cooked Salmon are required for Level 35, at a cost of around 10K GP and time spent being approximately 10-15 minutes.

Level 35 - 50: Tuna

Cooking tuna successfully grants you 100 Cooking experience. Accounting for tuna burned, you should purchase approximately 1015, as you'll have burned at about a 1:3.5 ratio without the cooking gauntlets by the time you reach level 50.

You’ll need to successfully cook 790 Tuna to achieve Level 50, this should take 45 minutes - 1 hour maximum. Raw and Cooked prices are similar, thus you’ll only lose gold on raw fish. Up to this point, cooking is effectively break even or at worst a tiny loss.

Level 50 - 68/75: Lobster

Some players may wish to wait until 74 Cooking before cooking lobsters, as that is the level required to stop burning lobsters (64 when using cooking gauntlets). This is fully dependant on your wealth and your priorities (XP gain or GP priority). For most players, I would recommend cooking Lobsters at the money lost is pretty negligible, whereas the XP per hour is about 1/3rd more.

9,243 successfully cooked Lobsters are required for Level 75. A net loss of approximately 1M GP should be expected from Level 50 - 75 due to burnt food and the fact that Raw Lobster’s are more expensive than cooked. This process is likely to take between 8 - 10 hours, depending on player speed.

Recommended Method - Level 68 - 99: Jug of Wine

An reasonably inexpensive and highly recommended (if affordable) method of training Cooking is creating Jugs of Wine. Making jugs of wine is one of the fastest Cooking training methods in the game. Players stop creating jugs of bad wine when they reach 68 Cooking, which is the recommended level to begin using this method.

To begin making jugs of wine, buy a jug of water and grapes. Use these two items on each other to make unfermented wines. Then, deposit the unfermented wines, rinse and repeat. Once you stop making all your wines the wines will ferment and become a jug of wine. If done correctly you can gain massive experience drops. Successfully making a jug of wine grants you 200 experience.

From level 68 onwards, making jugs of wine will grant the player around 400,000 - 490,000 experience per hour. This is extremely fast and highly desirable for all players that care about XP gains.

To achieve Level 99, you’ll need to gain 12,429,399 XP, which would require you to make 62,147 Jugs of Wine. At current prices, the cost per XP is just under 1GP/xp, meaning you can expect to achieve Level 99 at a cost of approximately 10M GP. A very reasonable price tag for a fast Level 99, in fact one of the cheapest.

For most players, this method is highly recommended, the only alternative being if your priority is ‘afk’ low effort skilling, or you simply do not have the bank roll to afford it. If that is the case, you should consider creating Jugs of Wine until the later levels, whereby you can cook Sharks or Karambwans at a profit to make up the money lost on Jugs of Wine.

Level 75 - 80: Swordfish

If you really can’t afford to use the Jugs of Wine method, your next best option is to cook Swordfish. Successfully cooking swordfish grants you 140 Cooking experience. You’ll need 775,647 XP to reach Level 80, meaning you’ll need to cook 5,541 Swordfish successfully, whereby you’ll be able to cook Sharks. Raw and Cooked Swordfish price is similar, so as usual you’ll only make a loss on your burnt fish, which is again fairly negligible.

Level 80 - 99: Shark

It is highly recommended to start right away at level 80 to cook sharks as you will only burn 11-12% at Rogue's Den. Players may wish to wait for level 94 (with cooking gauntlets) before starting to cook sharks, in order not to burn any. At level 91, players will only burn about 3-5%.

Successfully cooking shark grants you 210 experience, therefore 52,612 successfully cooked sharks are required from level 80 - 99, and 36,610 successfully cooked sharks are required from Level 90 - 99.

At current prices, Level 80 - 99 would yield 6M GP profit if no sharks were burnt at all. Generally speaking, after Level 80 you’ll be making a slow but steady profit, with break-even being the worst case scenario.