lmao'd at the title of this thread. Yeah, I hate that thing. Ummm, maybe don't try to save them all up at once? I just feed the thing whenever I teleport back to it and, while it does seem to take an absurd amount of the stuff, I don't think I've ever had to serve it anywhere close to 300 pieces total.

edit: I was beaten in by a far more useful reply, I see. But my "I hate that thing too" comment still stands, at least. Wow, so all this time I've been wondering and feeding that thing until I happened to meet it with 22 pieces? Damn, it's a wonder I ever got through that. Almost a dozen times, no less.