7 Days to Die Where to Find a Cooking Pot — Loot Locations and Crafting Guide

You find a cooking pot in kitchens, ovens, cabinets and campsites across 7 Days to Die — it's one of the most common pieces of household loot in the game — and if loot luck fails, you can craft one at a Forge for 25 Forged Iron and 5 Clay (less with Advanced Engineering perk levels), or buy one from a trader for around 600 Dukes. The cooking pot is the key to the campfire recipes that matter: boiling water, boiling meat, and every stew in the game. This guide covers the loot spots, the forge recipe, what the pot unlocks, and how it compares to the grill.

Official resources: Steam store page · Official wiki: Cooking Pot · Official wiki: Craftable food/cooking · Official wiki: Beeswax (resource farming)

Where Cooking Pots Spawn

The cooking pot is a lootable item that spawns in the places you'd expect to find cookware in real life. According to the official Cooking Pot wiki page, it "can be found inside kitchen cabinets and Ovens, as well as on kitchen countertops or tables in certain residential Points of Interest." In practice:

• Kitchens in houses and apartments — check cabinets, countertops, sinks and stoves. The stovetop area is the single most reliable spot.
• Ovens — ovens are a dedicated loot container in 7 Days to Die and frequently hold a pot.
• Restaurants and grocery POIs — commercial kitchens (Shamway diners, Pop-n-Pills cafés, bars) often have several pots.
• Campsites and destroyed campfires — campfire sites in the wilderness are a classic early-game source.
• Traders — every trader's inventory rolls randomly, but cooking pots are common enough that they show up regularly; base price to buy is about 600 Dukes, sell value 40.

Per the official Cooking Pot wiki page: the item is "Obtainable Through: Forging, Looting, Trading" — all three acquisition routes are officially documented.

There's no biome requirement; any town or cluster of houses will produce one within a few buildings. If you're sprinting through Diersville (see the map guide for the city layout), kitchen-heavy houses are your best bet for a quick pot on day one.

Crafting a Cooking Pot at the Forge

If loot won't cooperate, the forge recipe is cheap and permanent — one pot is enough for the whole game since it never degrades:

The recipe needs the Forge workstation and either points in the Advanced Engineering perk or the schematic. Higher perk levels trim the material cost (the wiki lists 31/28/26/25 iron across perk tiers), so it's worth a point or two if you're going to forge regularly anyway. Crafting takes about 15 seconds in the forge queue.

What the Cooking Pot Unlocks

The pot is a campfire implement: place it in the campfire's cookware slot and the recipe list expands to every pot-based recipe. The ones that matter:

Without a pot (or grill), your campfire only produces charred food — edible, but wasteful. Finding the pot early is a priority specifically because boiled water is the path from "dying of thirst on murky water" to "stable water supply." Set up a campfire, add fuel, drop the pot in the cookware slot, and the recipe list populates automatically.

Cooking Pot vs Cooking Grill

You want both eventually — the grill handles meat, the pot handles water and stews, and they share the campfire. The pot is the higher priority because water is a survival requirement from minute one; grilling can wait until you have meat coming in.

Why the Cooking Pot Isn't a "Rare" Item

Compared to other early-game gear, the cooking pot is deliberately common — the game gates your food/water progression behind having the tool, not finding it. If you've cleared five houses and still haven't seen one, check restaurants and the trader before assuming bad luck. If you'd rather never hunt for it, the forge route (25 Forged Iron + 5 Clay) is reachable by mid-day two once you have a forge running — the same forge you need for so many other things. Other early resource hunts follow the same pattern; the beeswax guide covers the "where does this basic material come from" question for honey production.

FAQ

Where is the easiest place to find a cooking pot in 7 Days to Die?

Kitchens in residential houses — specifically cabinets, countertops and ovens. Campsites and destroyed campfires also spawn them. One or two houses of kitchen looting usually produces a pot.

Can you craft a cooking pot in 7 Days to Die?

Yes. At a Forge with 25 Forged Iron and 5 Clay (cost drops with Advanced Engineering perk levels), or from the schematic. It's a cheap permanent tool.

What can you cook with a cooking pot?

Boiled Water, Boiled Meat, Meat Stew, Vegetable Stew, Gumbo Stew, corn, soups and teas — basically every campfire recipe that needs liquid or stew cooking. It's the tool for the water- and stew-based half of the recipe list.

Can you buy a cooking pot from a trader?

Yes — traders roll it in their inventory regularly. Buy price is roughly 600 Dukes; selling one gets you 40. Buying is the fastest fallback if loot and forging both fail.

Is a cooking pot or a cooking grill better?

They do different jobs. The pot handles water and stews (survival-critical), the grill handles grilled meat. Own both; the pot is the higher priority because boiled water is essential from day one.

Related guides: 7 Days to Die Beeswax — where to find it and what it's for · 7 Days to Die Map — Navezgane, RWG and Pregen · 7 Days to Die Console Commands — full admin list · 7 Days to Die Modpacks — best overhauls · Is 7 Days to Die Crossplay? PC, PS5 & Xbox

Last updated: August 13, 2026.

Related Guides

• 7 Days to Die Beeswax — Where to Find It & What It's For
• 7 Days to Die Map — Navezgane, RWG and Pregen Worlds
• 7 Days to Die Console Commands — Full Admin & Cheat List
• 7 Days to Die Modpacks — Best Overhaul Packs and Install
• Is 7 Days to Die Crossplay? PC, PS5 & Xbox Guide