Use your headphones, you can hear the enemies coming before you see them.

Use a maxed blackmetal shield, you can parry seekers easily. For soldiers, get to high ground and they cannot reach you.

Use a blackmetal atgeir for swarms that are difficult to parry.

Use the root chestpiece to reduce pierce damage to basically nothing.

Craft mist torches to place along the way while you travel to see better.

Food takes time to make, but it’s worth making so you don’t die immediately. It’s just part of the game.