Food and items don't respawn. That was something I thought about long and hard.
I really designed this game with the idea that it'd be played by a group of friends trying to survive in a single Journal - and another group would play a separate journal. So if someone uses up all the food and everyone loses then that was a bad play through of this co-operative game.
Your spawn actually changes to wherever the last player slept - so it's possible to move around the map while you scope out different areas and explore the story.
I'm pretty sure I haven't got the balance right and everyone will starve to death - but that's game jams for you!