So this is more of a question than a critique but those anyone else find crafting kind of useless? There are a lot of thing there that are useful but most just aren't worth the effort to try and craft them. Want to know if this is just me or no.
I used to think so too, but then I realized you can craft pretty much anything you need to save or complete a run.
The first real key thing here is understanding how to properly manage weight so you can actually haul all materials you need for crafting. The Material Pouch, as Overload53 mentioned, is really helpful in that regard. But also increasing your strength and resilience by min maxing carry weight and using residual energy through exercise before sleeping is important.
Secondly, when you start remembering what types of items you need for certain recipes, it's easier to recognize when you are in a situation or place where you can quickly gather everything you need to craft something useful.
Generally just try to use the crafting system just because it's there for now, and with time you will get the hang of it and see how crazy good it actually is.