Originally posted by Midas:

I have noticed that, especially with regards to food, you basically move past a previous resource and then it becomes effectively worthless. Which is very unfortunate. I think the more advanced recipes should still include the lower level materials (because honestly, most recipes could use something like carrots, for example, as a staple vegetable), and older gear should be able to be upgraded to keep up a bit with higher gear, so you have more options.

I find lower tier food useful when doing mundane things like base modifications or resource gathering.

Why waste a higher tier food unless going out against higher tier mobs or bosses?