Sunday, June 5, 2011

Solar Cooking Challenge

We recently finished our construction of a solar cooker.  It was simple to make with just cardboard, glue, and aluminum foil. For a pot, we'll just be using the black pot and clear lid from my slow cooker.  I've never used a solar cooker before, but am excited to see how well it works.  Does anyone else want to join me in experimenting with solar cooking this summer?

Why Use a Solar Cooker?
Solar cooking allows you to use the sun to cook your food.  Here in the desert, we have bountiful sunshine and lots of heat, so I am looking forward to solar cooking as a way to reduce the heat in our house this summer.  It should also help in saving a little bit of money on our electric and gas bills. 

Who Can Solar Cook?
The main requirement for successful solar cooking is that you have mostly-sunny days for several months each year. Solar cookers even work in the winter time as long as it is sunny outside! Solar cooking is very easy, similar to using a slow cooker.

Join Me in the Solar Cooking Challenge!
The challenge is simple: cook as many items as you can in a solar cooker during the months of June and July!  In August, I'll post a list of what items we cooked in our solar cooker, as well as any tips, tricks, and failures.  You can add your experiences by submitting comments, and then I'll tally up everyone's responses.

Resources for Getting Started
Here are some links to help in getting started:
Options for making your own solar cooker (we made the Cookit)
Options for purchasing a solar cooker
Options for solar cookware (or just use any black or dark colored pot you already have available)
Guide to making, using, and enjoying solar cookers
Solar Cookers International marketplace
Solar cooking FAQs

To join the Solar Cooking Challenge, just comment below.  Who will join me?

This post is part of Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist!

7 comments:

Laura said...

This is awesome! I can't wait to see how some of your stuff turns out.

Kelsey said...

How neat! Maybe once we live in a climate that actually gets lots of sun (instead of AK...) we'll try something like this out. :)

Kelsey said...

Or I guess I should say WARM sun... we get plenty of sunlight right now, just not very warm sun...

Anonymous said...

Oh, please link this up to the Real Food Emergency Prep blog carnival at Local Nourishment! I'd LOVE to learn how to do this!

Anonymous said...

Hello Solar Friend, I love your challenge. I have been solar cooking for about a year and a half. I find that almost anything can be cooked, baked, roasted, steamed in a solar oven. You don't need special recipes, just use your families favorites. Knowing how to solar cook is not only a great way to prepare for emergencies, it is a great way to cook all of the time. I'm sure you will be successful in your solar cooking. Txazlady

katherine said...

Thanks for the info. What a great post! My girls and I are making one today:
http://solarcooking.org/plans/paracuina.pdf

Gas range cookers said...

This is a good common sense article. Very helpful to one who is just finding the resources about this part. It will certainly help educate me.