Solar Cooking

many today — daily cooking has required fire, fuel gathering and frequent attention to be sure foods cook evenly, don’t burn and don’t stick to the pot.
Depending on where you live and how you cook, solar cooking can save you time, work and fuel. And it’s environmentally benign. All foods can be cooked in some type of solar cooker. This booklet covers low- to medium-temperature solar box cookers and solar panel cookers (“CooKits”) that slowly and gently cook all the foods you boil, roast or bake. Other types of solar cookers reach high temperatures capable of frying.
Slow cooking is different, but the differences are nice. Slow cooking retains flavor, moisture and nutrients, and makes meats tender. Recent studies indicate that foods cooked at moderate temperatures may be healthier.
When solar cooking, add approximately one hour to normal cook times. No need to watch, stir or worry about food. The cook spends just two minutes: one to put food in and one to take food out. For many of us, solar cooking has become our favorite way to cook.
Solar cookers complement traditional cooking methods, which are still used at night and during inclement weather.
This booklet includes solar cooking concepts, solar cooker construction plans and directions for use, recipes, student activities and examples of non-cooking uses of solar cookers including solar water pasteurization — a basic survival skill.
Solar cooking can make a world of difference if we each use it on sunny days and share this information with others. SCI depends on the support of its members and donors to continue to bring this life-saving knowledge to millions of families in fuel-scarce, sun-rich parts of the world. We invite you to join us in this effort.
Bon appétit!
SOLAR COOKERS INTERNATIONAL
WHY SOLAR COOK?
Solar cookers save money and time
 Sunshine is free. Solar cooking saves precious fuel for evenings, cloudy days and cold weather.
 Foods cook unattended while you do other things.
 Pots are easy to clean. Food doesn’t stick on the inside and there’s no soot on the outside.
 A solar cooker is easy to make from a variety of materials.
Solar cookers are safe, healthy and convenient
 There is no fire to cause burns or blow out of control.
 There is no smoke to injure eyes and cause lung problems. People allergic to smoke can now enjoy “solarcues” — barbecues without the smoke.
 Most solar cookers cook at 82-121ºC (180-250ºF), ideal for retaining nutrients, moisture and flavor and not burning foods. Wood and gas fire temperatures, by contrast, exceed 260ºC (500ºF).
 You can bake, boil and lightly fry foods in their own juices. Meats get very tender.
 Solar water pasteurization is a skill everyone should know for emergencies.
 When solar cooking, your kitchen stays cool on hot, sunny days.
 A CooKit folds for easy storage or carrying for meals away from home.
Solar cookers are versatile and adaptable
 The simple technology is easily adapted to a wide variety of construction materials, cooking customs and climates.
Solar cookers are life-saving devices for those in sunny, fuel-scarce regions
 Solar cookers help two of the world’s pressing problems — growing shortages of cooking fuels and the scourge of waterborne diseases. Half the world’s population cooks over wood fires. According to the United Nations, about one-third of us — two billion people — now suffer fuel wood shortages. Women, and sometimes children, must carry fuel further distances, and spend more time doing so, than in the past. Some urban families spend 30-50% of their income on
SOLAR COOKERS How to make, use and enjoy
cooking fuel or must barter away food for fuel to cook the remainder. Families drop the nutritious foods that require lengthy cooking — such as legumes — from their diet, contributing to malnutrition. Many governments import and subsidize fossil fuels. With solar cookers families often reduce fuel wood needs by half.
 Pasteurizing water and milk in solar cookers can help reduce Cholera and other waterborne diseases, which kill 50,000 people every day. The World Health Organization estimates 80% of all illnesses are spread through contaminated water.
Solar cookers save trees and soil
In deforested areas, efforts to protect scarce trees fail when people have no alternatives to wood-fueled cooking. As a government administrator in Zimbabwe said, “When trees are gone, then follows erosion of the soil. ... The farmer is unable to use the land. ... The soil is washed into the river. Water needed for irrigation is no longer there. Then cotton and wheat are more expensive. ... This is a circle without end.”
 Each solar cooker in sunny, arid climates can save one ton of wood per year.
Solar cookers help air quality
 Burning traditional fuels such as wood and gas pollutes the air and contributes to global warming. Solar cookers provide a pollution-free alternative.
A checklist
 Do you have mostly-sunny days several months of the year? (Essential)
 Do you have a space outside that is sunny for several hours, sheltered from high wind and safe from theft or tampering?
 Are your cooking fuels expensive or scarce?
 Does your kitchen sometimes get too hot or your barbecue too smoky?
 Do you worry about safety of small children near your kitchen stove or open cooking fire?
 Do you want to prepare for emergencies or camping when you may not have safe drinking water?
 Would you like carefree, absentee cooking?
If you checked several boxes, you’ll probably like solar cooking!