Food is one of the more important resources to have in your settlements. Without it, you can’t gain new settlers, and the people will become quite unhappy with their living situation. We have a full Workshop Guide that goes over the finer details of the system, but this item seems important enough to split off into its own topic.
So, where do you find food in Fallout 4? Essentially the answer is everywhere, but let’s break it all down. So, the key to getting the food that you need is to think of the game more like Minecraft. When your settlers first move into Sanctuary they’ll set up some farmland with melons and a couple of other items. You can quickly get more food by just picking these items and then replanting them.
You can do this with new items as well, so if you’re out and about, wandering the wasteland, and you stumble across some tomatoes or carrots, just grab them and head to a nearby settlement that you own. Plant them, give them some time, and reap your harvest. New settlements should also have some farms setup when they join your cause, so pilfer them a bit and you’ll have plenty to spread around.
One key thing to remember though: planting them isn’t enough. You need people to actually work the farm in order to gather the food there for consumption. To do this you need to assign a settler, which you can read about right here. It’s pretty simple. The basics are that you select a settler and then select what you want them to work, but check that other guide out if you have trouble.
That guide will also explain how to establish supply lines, which lets you share your inventory across your many settlements. If you have carrots stored at Sanctuary that you need at another settlement, then a supply line will let you plant it without having to fast travel back and forth.
Hopefully this helps. I know it isn’t as simple as “go here to get food” but these tips should get you a more sustainable system going so you can feed all of your settlers.