The game won't let me make food how do you, I've died of hunger 5 times, and I'm loving the game so I really want to continue
making rations
Find a ‘datachip (schematic)’ somewhere. Then use it at the terminal in the Fabrication room to add ‘rations’ to the list. Now you can make new ration packs in the Fabricator, but you’ll need to collect some items with biomass (like old food) and maybe some polymers too, and throw them into the recycler so you have enough resources. If that gets too complicated, you can switch to ‘easy’ in the settings (and then you won’t have to worry about food).