Ok, there was a thread about scolding & food, but since the update I've noticed a change in the food bar. It seems to drop down a lot faster than before and I find myself having to prepare more meals to keep them from getting too low in the 'fed' bar (not complaining - just an observation). Also, if I praise them for preparing a meal, will they eventually 'get it'?

I wondered if others are noticing this, & if so are you preparing more meals or letting them get hungry and do they end up making meals themselves out of desperation?

And has anyone tested out exclusive organic foods vs non organic food families?

Yes, I've noticed it too, and haven't tested it to the extent to see how far down the bar will go. This is the first time I've ever had anyone's level say 'hungry'. It now forces me to pause the game when I'm away when I didn't have to before.. I'm not liking it at all.

Having said that, it doesn't seem to matter how often I praise for preparing a meal now, they 'get it' less than before. It's the first part of the game I've been disappointed in since the release though, when others haven't liked other aspects, so I'll take the bad with the good I suppose. One of the things I liked about this game was that it was more user friendly in the sense that I didn't have to sit with it as much as the VV games; that's not the case with this change now.

That change was made in version 1.00.04. See the readme.txt file. I prefer it. In the early versions They'd perhaps prepare a meal at the beginning of the game and their "Fed" bar would always stay high, so long as the fridge was stocked up with food. We'd never see them preparing or eating a meal later. When the peeps begin to get a little hungry now they'll start preparing a meal.

So you have seen them prepare a meal arnie? I was just a little worried if I didn't prepare meals to have their fed bar up high before turning the game off for the night they might go hungry. I have it reversed, so I'm turning the game off halfway through 'their day'.

Since the update (.04) I've noticed mine preparing meals even before they hit the 'hungry' mark on their 'Fed' bar. I'm sure they'll be okay, if you leave them for a while, especially if you've been praising them for preparing meals. I could be wrong, just saying, I haven't praised mine for preparing meals and they still do it without prompting or even getting so much as 'hungry'.

I'm seeing the same as Natasha. Someone will start preparing a meal unprompted. I've see a couple with a status of "Hungry" when I've opened the game, but they've immediately made a meal. I don't think there's any danger of them starving so long as there's food in the fridge.

Yup, I think we realized it was in the update.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Not having to babysit the feeding part of the game was one of the main factors that made me like this more than VV and is what allowed me to enjoy daily advancements even though I am not able to play the game as often as others.

It totally changed the dynamic of the game for me and once again made it a game like VV where I can only enjoy the advancements on the weekends.

I don't know why it was needed; I often saw my families prepare meals before, and even "calling children to dinner". I have one family out of 5 who does it on their own and it's not from anything I've done; it just started happening with the change.
As for the others, even though I *did* see them preparing meals on their own before, I don't now; I have to initiate it.

Also, it takes more than one sitting to get full, even if the bar was more than 1/2 full before the meal; that's pretty tedious.

Just my .02.

Adding to comment above: the only family that fixes their own meals now is the family started after updating with .04.

I never pause my game and my peeps still manage to get fed without me. No one is starving. I think just keep the house stocked with food and they will do the rest.

Has anyone gotten a "time-Line" on the amount of food they need per hour?

I left my families with over 200 food for the night and when I woke up most of them were Hungry.

It would be good to know how much food you need to leave them if you have to leave them alone for a period of time.

They are not going to starve if there is food. Period.

You can verify that by leaving them alone for a while and checking their health when you get back, it should be quite high (barring any illness).

The change we recently made, in fact, was a fix because they were stuffing themselves in game-off. Now, they will eat normal amounts while they are unsupervised, and the food will last longer so they can survive much longer unattended.