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.

Quote from Fatewalker1 >>

I freaking despise this spell. Why is there even a Malnutrition or dehydration mechanic if this spell and others like it exist??

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)

It is funny that the Old Spell is much greater for the New DM's when a Player ask how much can get feed with this Spell and the New DM must first think about it:

You create 45 pounds of food and 30 gallons of water on the ground or in containers within range, enough to sustain up to fifteen humanoids or five steeds for 24 hours. 

Quote from Sternenpaladin >>

It is funny that the Old Spell is much greater for the New DM's when a Player ask how much can get feed with this Spell and the New DM must first think about it:

You create 45 pounds of food and 30 gallons of water on the ground or in containers within range, enough to sustain up to fifteen humanoids or five steeds for 24 hours. 

 

Quote from Sternenpaladin >>

It is funny that the Old Spell is much greater for the New DM's when a Player ask how much can get feed with this Spell and the New DM must first think about it:

You create 45 pounds of food and 30 gallons of water on the ground or in containers within range, enough to sustain up to fifteen humanoids or five steeds for 24 hours. 

 

Quote from Sternenpaladin >>

It is funny that the Old Spell is much greater for the New DM's when a Player ask how much can get feed with this Spell and the New DM must first think about it:

You create 45 pounds of food and 30 gallons of water on the ground or in containers within range, enough to sustain up to fifteen humanoids

 

Quote from Sternenpaladin >>

It is funny that the Old Spell is much greater for the New DM's when a Player ask how much can get feed with this Spell and the New DM must first think about it:

You create 45 pounds of food and 30 gallons of water on the ground or in containers within range, enough to sustain up to fifteen humanoids or five steeds for 24 hours. 

 

 But it is enough to sustain 45 people and 11 large mounts from hunger and 30 people and 7 large mounts from thirst according to malnutrition and dehydration rules

Context: He wants to feed the hungry in my campaign, and is planting a garden in his bastion to do so ...

It works if you add Hunting/Gathering as a game mechanic. Maybe your party just ended a big fight and they have no spell slots, maybe the party wants something tastier after having defeated this enemy. Or maybe your cleric has this last spell slots, it says the food is bland but in an open world game like Dnd it sometimes that can mean a huge difference. Sometimes a spell like this can mean the difference in the next fight by keeping them from gaining hazardous or negative status effects. Exhaustion is a huge detriment to the player so if you are running it in your campaign having this as an option can literally be a lifesaver, yes the party is likely to use this just before a short or long rest but maybe they're in a place where they can't take a rest, so having this as an option again can really be a lifesaver. It also means you have the option not to carry so much food potentially encumbering your player.

Boy, you sound fun.

I'm trying to create a banana wand that creates (you can choose) either a tungsten banana or a large banana, and would this work for it? Yes I'm using this for a campaign.

Quote from KirboCopter >>

I'm trying to create a banana wand that creates (you can choose) either a tungsten banana or a large banana, and would this work for it? Yes I'm using this for a campaign.

 

"...a tungsten banana..."

I beg your pardon, a what? 😕

My problem with this spell is it doesn't scale; it's just "here's a stupidly large amount of food and water that's far too much for an average party, and not near enough for a starving village". Honestly, I think it should be 1st level, and create up to 10 lbs of food and 10 gallons of water. Enough for a 10 medium creatures, or 2 large and 2 medium creatures (by the Hazard rules). It should then scale with casting level, something along the lines of an additional 10*Level for each level above 1st (so, 30/30@2, 60/60@3, 100/100@4, 150/150@5, etc.).