Two possible solutions came to mind to address my main issues with the game:
A) Mod the inventory/provision system to be less nonsensical.
B) Refuse to buy any provisions besides food/torches and retreat the moment further progress became impossible.
As it would happen, modding the relevant parts of the game is beyond simple; the inventory files are in plain text. Even better, it’s also pretty simple to remove/reduce the ridiculous hunger checks.
Those changes helped quite a bit. I still have to treat every adventurer as disposable meat, to be dismissed the moment they return from a failed quest, but at least some tangible progress can be made toward building up the Hamlet facilities. Can’t say I enjoy the game though… since having to face near-constant failure/retreat is more than a little exhausting… but at least it’s now tolerable as a periodic diversion. Sort of like an actively antagonist Rezrog (which is far more stable today than it was at release) in a way.