Level
3rd
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
30 ft
Components
V, S
Duration
Instantaneous
School
Conjuration
Attack/Save
None
Damage/Effect
Creation
You create 45 pounds of food and 30 gallons of fresh water on the ground or in containers within range—both useful in fending off the hazards of malnutrition and dehydration. The food is bland but nourishing and looks like a food of your choice, and the water is clean. The food spoils after 24 hours if uneaten.
I freaking despise this spell. Why is there even a Malnutrition or dehydration mechanic if this spell and others like it exist??
I don't ban it, instead I have a house rule stating that any character that consumes their daily nutritional needs through a magical source does not regain spell slots during a short or long rest. Allows the players a choice when facing a survival situation. Risk of Exhaustion or loss of spell slots.
Why is there even a damage/HP mechanic if spells like Cure Wounds exist? Players should have to heal their wounds naturally!
It's a 3rd level spell. Common enough for PCs, though at the level it comes online reserving a 3rd level spell slot plus keeping the spell prepared is a lot of resources to dedicate to just eating. That could instead be another Revivify. But this is something the "normal people" of a DnD world would almost never see.
I find that heavy handed, "I am making this borderline useless instead of just banning it because I hate it" stuff like this doesn't make anyone happy. If you don't like it, either ban it or come up with something creative for players to do to make it work within limits.
For example, you could make Goodberry and Create Food and Water more difficult to cast in harsh environments. Where food grows easily, the spells work as normal. But in harsh environments, the spell requires a Nature or Survival check for the spell to succeed based on how harsh the climate is and how much the character knows about the land they're inhabiting.
It creates a situation where the characters may spend downtime learning how the locals hunt or grow food, or even incentivize hiring a guide that knows the surrounds well enough to assist them in procuring supplies.
Edit: I thought I'd clarify the difference between what I suggested versus the homebrew rule you mentioned, in case it wasn't clear.
The homebrew rule of "no spell slots from short or long rest if you eat magical food" is just mechanically punishing your players because you don't like that a solution exists for the situation you put them in. It's basically telling them "I'm not going to disallow you from trivialize my riddle with your spells, but if you do I'm taking away the rest of your spells so neither of us can have fun!"
A more balanced solution takes the world into account, explains why the "easy" solution won't work, and gives them a path to make it work if they so choose. It's more of a DM saying "I think this solution to the problem is too easy, so here's a in-universe reason to weaken it in this situation and a path to bring it back to full effectiveness if your character thinks it's worth working towards."
I have never seen this spell cast, it is level 3 (decent cost) and would love to see it!
same with elementalism for fresh water and goodberry for food to keep the party alive, now you have an immersive way to give tens of gallons of water to mounts in a desert (create food and water)