Solar ovens really do work
Posted
Jun 26 2008, 04:37 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Frugal Babe has boiled water, made both oatmeal and rice, baked biscuits and reheated lasagne in her new-to-her solar oven/cooker. Pretty impressive, no? Next she's going to bake a chocolate cake.
We've been reading about solar ovens and wondered if they really work. In her post and the comments that followed, Frugal Babe answers a lot of questions about them. For instance, does solar cooking take more time? Just a little bit more with the one she bought, she writes. Hers gets to 350 or 400 degrees quickly and stays there if the oven's position is changed every half-hour as the sun moves.
The solar oven she bought used on Craigslist costs about $250 brand new. She said she and her husband decided not to make one because the model they bought is sturdier, better insulated and gets hotter than a homemade solar oven.
But if you want a low-cost cooker, designs are plentiful. Solar Now provides step-by-step instructions for making a solar oven from a pizza box and a few other things. We kid you not. The Web site says it will reach 275 degrees.
A much sturdier homemade version can be found at the urban-homesteading site Path to Freedom. Another resource for information about solar cookers is Knowledge Hound.
We first read about solar cookers at Money Changes Things. Blogger Betsy Teutsch wrote that a charitable organization, Solar Cookers International, is helping distribute free ovens in refugee camps. Solar cookers provide free energy with no pollution, and reduce the time -- and risks -- associated with foraging for firewood. Betsy wrote, "Women who leave the camps to collect wood are often raped and brutalized."
