Solar cooking is not only fun but it's a great educational tool. Solar Box Cookers, constructed using cardboard, newspaper, aluminum foil, and a piece of glass will typically cook at temperatures between 225 - 275 F. It's a working model of the greenhouse effect.
It is a real oven, and will cook most anything you would put in your oven at home. They are considered a slow cooker, usually taking about twice as long as your conventional oven.
Put your food out early and you can run errands etc, and not worry about your home burning down, and the food can be left unattended for hours without fear of overcooking or burning.
Unlike your oven, the solar cooker does not add heat to the kitchen.
There's no need to rotate the oven to follow the sun, though it will improve cooking times.
You can take a solar oven to the beach or camping, and you can also use it to pasteurize water.
Panel Cookers require only one box, aluminum foil, a jar and an oven bag, and can be constructed in less than an hour.
EPSEA publishes it's own Solar Cooking Guidelines which includes plans for box cookers, panel cookers, and simple hot dog cookers (great for the little ones). The booklet also includes design principles, curriculum ideas, cooking tips and cooking times.
For more information on Solar Cooking, check out the web site of: Solar Cookers International.
SCI is a non profit organization spreading solar cooking technology to areas of the world where it is most needed. In areas where people have always cooked with wood, there is now serious deforestation and associated problems. Women must spend days searching and carrying firewood simply to cook meals. There is however no lack of sunshine and with SCI's help, these women and men learn to build solar cookers and this simple technology has a profound effect on their lives and the environment.
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