Not all campaigns have Outlanders and/or Druids. I run one that doesn't, and I play in one that doesn't. (In the other one I play... I am the Outlander! And we have a druid...)
The party is wandering open plains far from "settled" lands. Yes, they can forage for food. Yes, the cleric can cast create food and water. But no one wants to spend all day every day feeding 4 other mooches. And those 3rd level spell slots have a lot of other good uses (revivify and spirit guardians come to mind). So finding an abundant source of fish was a Good Day for them - 2 days they didn't have to forage, and were able to move faster. Having rodents get into the supplies one night was a Bad Day... they had to spend a day making no progress in order to repair containers (and waterskins!), and resupply. Were they at risk? Not at all. But these were interesting events in the travel narrative.
My players have also been conditioned in previous games to always be aware of time passing. There was always some looming threat, so lost day or half-speed really weighed on them. This campaign is more sandbox, and they are having a little difficulty changing the mindset. I'm using a few "travel montages" to help them get more into the feeling of exploring and beautiful vistas (and the occasional environmental discomfort) to focus on the adventure, not the campaign. They remember the night sheltering in the copse of trees, hiding from the storm. They remember the hidden stream leading to the fish-filled pond - and quietly watching some of the plains creatures drink and go peacefully on their way. Or the "successful" hunt by their soldiers, who after a full day of "foraging", brought back one gazelle... for the party of 12. Or the 90-degree weather that was baking the dwarf in his heavy metal armor-- but ended with swimming in a waterfall.
Sometimes, though, they find mysteries. The OP's examples were "you find this item because the hags stashed it here" - but the PCs don't know that. It's a mystery. My PCs found a battle site between dwarves and goblins (led there by circling carrion birds). The dwarves died hard, but curiously, the goblins all had multiple fatal wounds. Weird. [Later they found a goblin deathlock who was animating goblin soldiers, and had had one of his "gathering groups" wiped out by said dwarven patrol. They all went "oh!!!" as they connected those dots.]