How extensive is the simple living, canning, and large produce systems?

Nah, unfortunately you can't have it on bread (doesn't stop me from my sim eating a piece of bread and jam tho), BUT you can use some of them for other recipes. Like for example I can only make a chocolate pie if I have either a chocoberry OR chocolate syrup that you can make through canning. And blueberry or blueberry jam to make a blueberry pie. Usually put most of them on a shelf above my sims stove for keeping. Can usually get a few jars out of them when you make it.

I had my sim (once she was able to get ingredients) to bake some bread and also make cheese so she could make grilled cheese. I like that there's more steps in making more dishes now with this as it requires more planning. Running short on money definitely made it difficult.

I have a sim living off-the grid, so the little elderly couple grows everything. The only thing you can't make is things like sugar and flour, which I don't mind. Everything else you can either grow yourself, get from your cows/chickens OR you can get it from the grocer, but I found more challenge in my sim growing everything themselves and doing things from scratch. Starting off my sim was eating a fish diet for the longest time as well as whatever produce that foraged from around the neighborhood or bramblewood. It honestly makes the Welcome wagon coming bringing you fruit cake exciting because free food. :p

Simple living has been my most favorite feature added among all packs due to difficulty and my sim actually having to manage their money a lot better when locked out of cooking and such.

Not sure about the the restaurants, but I know a lot of new recipes can be added to the restaurants.

Made a small grocery store in town(having GTW), just so my sim can go into town and buy things opposed to the grocer less I needed to get a quest and it works really well. (Even though the grocer doesn't have unlimited amounts on most ingredients which adds difficulty ) With another sim, I mostly used the selling table to sell a lot of excess milk she had at about 25 to 50%. Helped in trying to fund money for her cross stitching, especially when she'd run out of llama wool.

The oversized crops can either grow into a big one if fertilized properly or can just make smaller crops. When I was fertilizing my sims watermelon everyday it grew into a big one, when I did only now and again (if i could afford it) I'd get smaller amounts like two or 4? Which was fine if I wasn't planning on entering a contest as the smaller ones I can use in recipes. Haven't gotten to winter just yet, but I noticed Oversized crops seem to stay in season since spring, summer and fall and might be the case for winter as well?

I've played plenty of games with crafting in it and I think this does a decent job. Doesn't go terribly deep like those games do obviously, but it's definitely provided a challenge and kept me busy up until my sim had some free time on their hands after about 6 to 8 hours of doing what they have to ensure they have the proper ingredients for survival. Don't think I've had sims fish as much until now. Things like cross-stitching doesn't lock you, but the cost will be reduced if you have wool on hand.

Wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the NPC tasks/quests myself, but I find them more than essential when my sims are hurting for ingredients, items and food that I'm doing like two or so a day to help them along. Having a sim wish much of nothing and struggling when you have under $100 and nothing but blueberries to eat or fish? Definitely worth doing them in getting ingredients when short on cash and you'll even get some uncommon items as well. There are some long term pay off once you do enough of a certain NPC's tasks (cept for the creature keeper) like with the Mayor you'll get a weekly subscription in getting a free jar of jam for example or discounted to free drinks from the pub owner if you've helped her out. Nice to stay around in town for a bit as chances are a NPC will give you a favor which is usually food or something else that's been thus far pretty useful.

@LadyKyn Wow thanks so much this was so informative!!!! I do not have GTW and so I dont know how the selling tables or anything works so that is what I have to research next. I have dine out but havent played around with making my own restaurants yet or the full extention of the features so its something I need to experiment with. Thanks so much!!!!

"StrawberryYogurt;c-17949010" wrote:
@LadyKyn Wow thanks so much this was so informative!!!! I do not have GTW and so I dont know how the selling tables or anything works so that is what I have to research next. I have dine out but havent played around with making my own restaurants yet or the full extention of the features so its something I need to experiment with. Thanks so much!!!!

If you have City Living, Eco Lifestyle, or Jungle Adventure you should have the selling table available and I believe the selling table used in Sims fest is still in the hidden objects still I think haven't checked to see though. Always use them on my stay at home sims that don't have a traditional job and sell their homemade items, crafts or anything else they find to be able to make money. The table itself has it's own inventory so you can just shove whatever can go into it. Food wise it about functions like a fridge, so it can hold food as long as the fridge does which keeps my sims from using ingredients and produce I want to sell.

Just stock your table, then tend and click on yard sale and boom. Have your own little at home business for sims to come up to and buy things. :)

Thanks! I dont own any of those dlc but ill keep it in mind.

So far, the only reason I’m doing the quests is to get the animal shed upgrade parts. Because I want to add a fox alarm and maybe some other upgrades, and I think that’s the only way to get the parts.

I heard that canning products cannot be spread on bread/toast etc. Where do you use the jams made? Only eating out of jar?

I only just started canning in the game, but you can make other recipes with it. If you use the simple living challenge then you get the ingredients list next to meals and you can see which require cheese or milk or preserves. There are more types of preserves than normal...stuff like meat substitute, mayonnaise, custard. You can also eat them straight out of the jar, pack them in a picnic basket, gift them, and sell them.

How detailed is the simple living? Do i have to grow or purchase everything? (If yes this is good for me, I like the survival aspect)

Yes. You can have a decent sized garden and sustain mostly on it. The food and produce have timers on them so they do spoil. It's not like buying a ton of stuff to last because it will spoil by next week. I have found it is a delicate balance between knowing when to store and when to sell. I actually really love this trait and I'm glad there is a need for groceries again. Another thing that you will have to beware of with your garden is foxes. I was protecting the chickens and didn't notice the fox was stealing all of my bell peppers.

Does simple living and farming make your game significantly difficult? (Please say yes, its too easy)

Yes and no. The game is still too easy for normal play, but it will help amp up your difficulty if you take on too many garden plots and too many animals. Throw in a set of twins and everybody's in the red. The cows and llamas are very time consuming. In one of my houses I have 3 cows and 2 chicken coops with 16 total. The cows take up about half the day just cleaning the shed, feeding them, and cleaning them. I don't understand how the cows get so dirty by sleeping in a clean shed, but those buggers sometimes need to be cleaned twice a day.

Can you make a farm to table restaurant with these features? How about a home grocery store/outlet?


I don't know if the restaurant will work with the produce. I've never played as an owner. But it is possible to make a grocery store. I have had a grocery store in the game since GTW made it possible. There I sell fully cooked meals, every type of fish, flower, every type of fruits and veggies, cakes, baked goods, with a cafe. And now I just add in the new preserves and harvestables.

I heard gardening the large produce is different from regular gardening. In what ways?

There's not much difference other than the different combinations of fertilizers you can use and the size of the veggies.

Those who play survival games, crafting games, or farm management, how does CL compare? Is it enjoyable?

This is not that type of game. You'd be imagining most of it. You can definitely challenge yourself by using multiple lot challenges, but overall, it's not that hard or complicated. The only thing that makes it hard is taking on more than your sims can handle and that's like everything in life.

Also, how necessary are the npcs tasking? This is the least appealing for me.

No idea. I've only done half of one.

@Mstybl95 THANK YOU!! This is so helpful!!! ????

Excellent details you provided @LadyKyn

"LadyKyn;c-17948990" wrote:
It honestly makes the Welcome wagon coming bringing you fruit cake exciting because free food. :p

This made me lol cos my sims were just starting out, had no money and the crops were not yet grown and they were living on donated fruit cake for 2 days haha.

My poor sim didn't get a fruitcake. I put her way up in Cordelia's Cottage and the Welcome Wagon never came. She got really hungry, and could only eat the carrots and peas she grew for days before I got her 2 chickens. She was so busy I never sent her to go fishing.

"elanorbreton;c-17950383" wrote:
Excellent details you provided @LadyKyn

"LadyKyn;c-17948990" wrote:
It honestly makes the Welcome wagon coming bringing you fruit cake exciting because free food. :p

This made me lol cos my sims were just starting out, had no money and the crops were not yet grown and they were living on donated fruit cake for 2 days haha.

Funny as I always snubbed the welcome wagon half the time but I'm just 'LEAVE THE FRUIT CAKE AND BE ON YOUR WAY.'

Just shove it into my sims inventory and not the fridge because they will help themselves to it considering I had no food to spare for other sims. :joy:

Even if my sim don't like it it's literal survival fruit cake.