Omelette and Jelly - Enough's Enough!

How many Neopets have sat down to dinner, hungry after a long day exploring Neopia, only to be dished up omelette... again. And with jelly for afters (plain old strawberry or lime, mind, nothing too fancy). Neopoints, that’s the problem. Or owners not wanting to spend neopoints.

Sure, I know, you can fly on up to Tyrannia and scrape some hundred-year-old omelette off the ground for free, and then you can stuff it down your Neopets' throats, and yes, it will fill them up, but seriously, ew. And you can get free jelly, I’m told, from some mysterious place (ahem), also off the ground, but how much sugar can your Neopet’s teeth take? It’s no wonder Neopets have started to turn jelly coloured. It’s not all about filling your pet up; so what if they’re bloated? It doesn’t mean they’re healthy and strong, ready to be sent off to the Battledome.

There’s a better way to feed your pet, and it doesn’t have to be expensive. Other free food is around, stuff that isn’t made entirely from sugar or egg. That’s what I’m for, to liberate Neopets from the curse of jelly and omelette, and to teach you owners about a balanced diet.

Free Foods

Free food doesn’t have to come off the ground. There are all sorts of places you can get it from, the first of which is the Neopets Team itself; they give out free food once a month to each of your pets. You can also win it from different places all over Neopia. Try King Skarl and King Hagan, over in Meridell and Brightvale; they might offer you a tasty morsel in return for a joke or wisdom. After that, pop over to Mystery Island and give the Tombola a go. You may not even need to win; the kindly Tombola Man could offer you a booby prize! After that, try diving deep, deep down into the realms of Maraqua and do a spot of fishing. You may catch a fish for your supper. Lastly, stop off at the Lost Desert, where a quick spin of the Fruit Machine could win you a juicy fruit for supper, and where good King Coltzan may offer you a treat. This isn’t the end of these free meals, but I’ll leave you to explore the rest.

I’ll admit, this isn’t always the most reliable method of getting food on your plate, not like, dare I say it, the omelette and that elusive jelly, but there is one more place you can go. The Soup Kitchen can be found in the Marketplace, where, if you really are poor, the kindly Soup Faerie will feed your pets. And, to be quite honest, if you’re too rich to get a bowl of soup there, you’ve got enough neopoints to buy your pets a meal.

Buying a Meal

If you’ve decided to splash out on a meal, there are a few places you can go, all depending on your budget. If you have neopoints to spend, and plenty of them, there is a nice restaurant down in Maraqua. For those with a some neopoints to spend, try browsing the many shops all over Neopia (but don’t buy too much from that chocolate factory – that’s almost as bad as jelly!). And for those really on a budget, the marketplace is the best place to look. There, fellow Neopians can often be found selling food they got free, normally very cheaply! The shop wizard is always around to help you find the best deals. That’s what I’ll go into detail about here: good nutrition for your pets, at an affordable price.

Fruit and Veggies

There are lots of these around, for not very much. You can buy berries left over from people playing ‘Pick-Your-Own’ in Meridell. Try a Brightvale Berry, Jumbleberry or a Nutritional Blockberry. Playing Pick-Your-Own yourself normally isn’t worth it, but hey, feel free to give it a go. There are some delectable fruits from the Lost Desert, I’d recommend a Cheops Plant, Ummagine or a Tchea Fruit. Vegetables are equally as important, yet somewhat lack the abundance of Neopian fruits. A Tasty Turnip Tartar, Frozen Cucumber Slices, and a Bag of Peas would be your best option.

Bread

Where would the school lunch be without the humble sandwich? Bread is filling and full of lots of good carbohydrates for your Neopet. Ionic Bread, Altadorian Bread and Pyramibread are cheap and tasty. Try adding some Homemade Marmalade or Homemade Gooseberry Jam for extra flavour, and a Butterfish wouldn’t be too far off real butter!

Meat

Meat is very important for Neopets with a more carnivorous tendency, Grarrls , Skeiths and Jetsam, especially. (And by the way, feeding your Skeith all the rotten shoes you drag up in that underwater cavern is no better than stuffing them full of omelettes and jellies. There is no nutritional value in shoes, contrary to popular belief.) Orange Chicken, Blandfish, Lesser Spotted Fish, Large Giant Squid (if you’re feeling adventurous), Tin of Sardines and Squashed Salisbury Steak are very appetizing, and you can always spice them up with a little Brown Sauce.

Snacks

We all need a snack sometimes; they’re generally bad and unhealthy and all the rest, but couldn’t possibly be as bad as a never-ending stream of jelly. Try one of Coltzan’s delicious Sutek Muffins (make sure it isn’t burnt, though!) or Illusen’s Cream Cookie. For a slightly healthier alternative, Dried Apricots or Dried Prunes. Then there’s always fruit, as described above.

Beverages

The merits of buying drinks is debatable; after all, Neopia’s finest water is available straight from your Faerie Kitchen Sink. And you must remember, sweet drinks are very bad for your Neopets' teeth. Dandelion and Burdock Drink is tasty and cheap, as is Black Cherry Tea. Drinks tend to be more expensive (perhaps TNT agrees with me on the free water thing), so unless you want to go for a curdled Lime Milkshake, that is really all I can recommend.

So there you go. It isn’t hard to feed your neopet well, and cheaply. It doesn’t have to be expensive, or difficult. And that isn’t all the food that’s available, take a look round, perhaps on the Trading Post, you’re sure to pick up some bargains. And go easy on the omelette!