Originally posted by PakaNoHida:

Someone is going to tell you to use mod "X"

As for suggestions, there is a whole subforum regarding suggestions.

I don't want to use mods, at least not for my first time around.

Originally posted by M'Hael:

How much food could you possibly be making to need it to be an automated process? It takes like a minute to craft 3 stacks of food.

"Like a minute"... as for how much food, I fall asleep already when cooking a 10 stack. Roasting Meat is at least interactive, you put it up and wait for the sizzle. But the Cauldron crafting can even be interrupted by pressing the "craft" button twice.

Originally posted by us271934:

On the other hand (no pun intended) people playing in groups often divvy up chores so getting stuck making the grub for several players does sound a bit tedious.

The thing with several players is that usually people tend to split up the chores... few do them together. And then one might end up having to cook up food for 4+ people.