Fuel-efficient cooking using an insulated box

[Onyx]

Someone sent me an article about cooking in an insulated box and I decided to try it. It makes the food really well cooked and the flavors and spices seem to blend together and make it really tasty. You basically just boil your food for 15 or so minutes (less for smaller particles like rice) and put it in an insulated container and wrap it in old blankets or any type of food-safe insulating material. I used an old styrofoam cooler I had, put an oven mitt so the hot pot wouldn't burn the cooler bottom, then wrapped it in an old sheet, covered it with the lid and my red bean soup turned out really good.

Roughly double the cooking time (and don't check it or you'll let the heat out and have to heat it up again) and your food is fully cooked and ready to eat.

The best thing about it to me is the time savings. I can boil beans or anything that takes a long time to cook, put them in the box and forget about them for the next 5 hours or so. Put it in at breakfast and it's ready by lunch. No more watching and stirring a pot and no more burned food from not making it back to the pot in time. I know you could use a crock pot to get the same result, but those things always make me nervous to leave on all day and maybe catch something on fire.

More detail here:

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/hayboxcooker.htm

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[pomba gira]

Sounds kind of like cooking meat on your car's manifold during a long trip... ingenious, but I think I'll stick with my slow cooker. Even tho this is certainly way greener!

[jynxxxedangel]

Fascinating. I'm going to try this, the next time I'm camping.

[StormKnight (1)]

used to be a solar oven you could assemble on the cheap. I made one in science class in junior high that could bake a cake it got so hot.

[Rev.Reverence]

..interesting...nay...intriguing!

...I must procure a set up.

[StormKnight (1)]

The oven I made looked like the ones in this link. basically, you need a box with some high grade insulation with an aluminum surface, some mirrors (though I used foil-covered cardboard,) and some high temperature glass, and a thermometer to monitor inside temperature. The inside has been able to get as hot as 600F+. To maintain a constant temperature, one should be able to jury rig a thermostat driven purge valve, or just open the door until the temperature drops down to a few below the desired temp.

You can also make a solar stove, making a parabolic mirror that you can make out of cardboard and aluminum foil. It can at least boil water, if not grill steak. Used to have an old Scholastic book of how to make solar powered things, I should dig that out and scan it into something.

[Rev.Reverence]

The oven I made looked like the ones in this link. basically, you need a box with some high grade insulation with an aluminum surface, some mirrors (though I used foil-covered cardboard,) and some high temperature glass, and a thermometer to monitor inside temperature. The inside has been able to get as hot as 600F+. To maintain a constant temperature, one should be able to jury rig a thermostat driven purge valve, or just open the door until the temperature drops down to a few below the desired temp.

You can also make a solar stove, making a parabolic mirror that you can make out of cardboard and aluminum foil. It can at least boil water, if not grill steak. Used to have an old Scholastic book of how to make solar powered things, I should dig that out and scan it into something.

I read some such thing back in my day..must brush up on that aspect of survivalist...

[pomba gira]

used to be a solar oven you could assemble on the cheap. I made one in science class in junior high that could bake a cake it got so hot.

There is a group that makes solar ovens and distributes them in... want to say Zambia... and also teaches local craftspeople to build them. Can't remember their name, they did a workshop at the U.S.-Africa Sister Cities Conference that my auntie hosted last summer.

This appears to be a similar outfit... not the one I'm thinking of, though.

[candyman]

This one works VERY well

Obviously, most of these need to be used outdoors to work. However, if you are really hardcore about this you can use it indoors, all it requires is a skylight system that uses special cut glass and sometimes mirrors to focus the suns energy into your home. It may cost a bit, but if you get it not only will you be able to cook in your home, you can also use it a a light source that can be focused and expanded not to mention HEAT when you need it.