If you’re having trouble with overpopulation in your Elder Scrolls castle after breeding too many subjects when the game released on September 10, 2024, you’re not alone. Many players on Reddit are in the same boat, so here’s a guide on how to manage food consumption in The Elder Scrolls: Castles game.

Obviously, overconsumption of food is caused by having too many subjects in your castle for your kitchen. If you only have one kitchen, you should try to have no more than 50 adult subjects in total. As the children in the castle grow up, they will take a toll on your food supply, so you should plan accordingly and prepare your castle in advance.

A level 10 Kitchen produces 675 food per cycle – the time it takes per cycle depends on what decorations you have in your castle, but it is usually just under four minutes without decorations affecting it. In a castle with 50 adults, food consumption is 258 per minute without decorations.

This means that a level 10 Kitchen can feed all 50 adults without running out of food before the next cycle is over. However, if you want more adults in your castle – or if you have children who are close to adulthood – you'll need to produce more food.