Last updated: 31 October 2026

Sims 4 October 2026 Update: Food, Leftovers & Dine Out

The free Sims 4 update of October 27, 2026 ("Order Up!") makes hungry Sims eat leftovers from the fridge or counter before they cook anything new, adds over 375 existing dishes to Family Recipes, and retunes the price and calorie count of every food and drink in the game.

01Update at a Glance

EA released the update on October 27, 2026. It is free and lands on every platform: 1.129.39.1030 on PC, 1.129.39.1230 on Mac and 2.40 on console (the notes list a single console version).

Food is only one part of it. The same patch brings free Elder Create a Sim and Build items, toggles for muscle and weight changes, a consolidated "Sim Options..." pie menu, and over 150 bug fixes plus 14 crash and assert fixes. This page covers only the food, dining and drink side.

02What Changed for Food and Drink

• Leftovers first: when a Sim is hungry they now autonomously prefer eating Leftovers (in the fridge or on the counter) instead of cooking a new meal.
• Price and calorie pass: EA retuned prices and calorie values for all food and drink items across the base game and all packs. The patch notes give no per-item table, so check your own save in Buy Mode rather than relying on old numbers.
• Family Recipes: the pool of valid dishes for the Family Recipes feature (Businesses & Hobbies) grew by over 375 pre-existing dishes from the base game and other packs. A few items, such as graham crackers, did not make the cut.
• Fridge menu: "Open" is now at the front of the fridge pie menu.
• Quickly Decorate: a new interaction on Baking Skill items that are not centred on a counter (Get to Work).
• Bartenders: Sims can order food or drinks from a bartender while doing something else (base game).

03Eating Behaviour Fixes (Base Game)

• Sims are more likely to stay seated while they eat at a table.
• Sims no longer put food in odd places such as display cases; dining tables and counters are preferred.
• You can drag food that another Sim prepared into the fridge.
• Sims no longer get stuck jogging with food in their hands.
• The skill book title is corrected to "Cooking Vol 2: Let's Keep Cooking!".

04Dine Out Fixes for Restaurant Owners

The notes list 25+ Dine Out fixes. Most stop customers from wandering away from their table. Customers no longer:

• leave the table to jog when energised, dig in the trash, hug, do University homework, play with paper airplanes or duel with swords;
• get distracted by N.A.P. activities, watch TV while waiting for food, or give themselves a pep talk in the mirror;
• stop eating when Celebrities are around, or leave food and drinks unconsumed before checkout.

Management and menu changes worth knowing:

• Dine Out recipes that were wrongly tuned to need Cooking Skill level 1 were rebalanced; EA says this had broken Chef progression and menu balance.
• Waiter shifts were being missed and customers ignored employees because of special Employee Sims from other packs. This is fixed.
• Waiters clean dishes when several Sims dispose of dishes at the same Waiter Station.
• Customers order Snowy Escape menu items when you add them to a menu, and Boba Tea (High School Years) now gets a liquid, cap and straw.
• "Guest Attire" in the customer dress code now has Hot and Cold Weather outfit options, and changing a staff uniform no longer reverts to the default or jumps to Create a Sim unless you press Edit. The uniform fix is not retroactive for old saves.
• Toilet Pranks no longer happen at restaurants or small businesses.

Old builds warning: square tables with a light in the middle had their footprint readjusted so Sims stay seated. EA warns that some of these tables could be deleted from old builds, especially if you placed them with the Move Objects cheat. Back up your save before loading a restaurant lot.

05Pack-Specific Food Fixes

• Seasons: food stalls no longer stay closed during a festival, and Sims stop autonomously using grills when it is snowy, rainy, icy or stormy.
• Eco Lifestyle: Fizzy Juice prices no longer drop after the first sale on food stands, and Sims autonomously drink Fizzy Juice, Seltzer and Kombucha for fun.
• Cottage Living: Sims can grill salmon or cook raspberry pie with the Simple Living lot challenge active.
• Horse Ranch: Sims no longer sit down before pouring Nectar, and the Nectar bottle count in sale notifications is correct.
• For Rent: Faux Meat Butter Chicken from a Pressure Cooker no longer gives Vegetarian Sims the "Tainted with Meat" moodlet, and Sims no longer obsessively use the Pressure Cooker.
• Outdoor Retreat: Sims no longer skip eating to play Horseshoes.

06What to Do After Updating

1. Back up your saves before opening a restaurant lot (see the table warning above).
2. Re-check menu prices on your Dine Out restaurant and food stands, since base prices were retuned.
3. If you use Family Recipes, open the recipe list again; many more dishes qualify now.
4. Mods that touch food, hunger or restaurants may need an update from their creator. Clear the cache and test with mods off if something breaks (see the crash fix guide).