Solar cooking is a great way to get outside and cook. What is it about outdoor cooking that we all love? Is it the fresh air? Is the feeling of adventure? Is it the primordial memory of our pre-historic roots? Whatever the reason. Cooking outdoors is fun and festive. I love cooking outdoors. My outdoor kitchen includes smokers, grills, fryers, dutch ovens, and solar cookers. Although I cook with them all, and write about them all, my main focus is solar cooking. Why? Because I love it
Solar Cooking
What is Solar Cooking?
Solar cooking is a method of cooking food using nothing but the free solar energy that comes from the sun. The benefit of solar cooking is that you are not dependent on any other types of fuel. So while the sun is shining, you will not need to use your electricity, your gas, your firewood, your charcoal, or your butane. Save all of those for cloudy days or nights. Want to be environmentally friendly? Since there is no smoke, you are not contributing to the pollution of the atmosphere. Because there is no fire, solar cookers can be used in no burn areas and on no burn days. And no trees have to be chopped down to provide your fuel. And in emergency situations where there is no fuel, or the fuel is gone, a solar cooker can still provide a hot meal. For more information on the solar cooking, click HERE. To learn more about the benefits of solar cooking read, 5 Benefits of Solar Cooking.
What is a Solar Cooker?
There are three main types of solar cookers. Box cookers, such as the Sport Solar Oven, usually look like a box with a piece of glass covering the top. The glass traps the heat in the box, which heats to a temperature high enough to cook your dinner. Panel cookers are open cookers that will need some type of heat trap to contain the sun rays and concentrate them into heat high enough to cook. A heat trap can be made from a turkey cooking bag or an upside down glass bowl. The third type is a parabolic cooker. These are shaped like and, indeed resemble, old satellite dishes. In fact, many home made parabolics are made from recycled used household TV satellite dishes. A parabolic cooker reaches extreme temperatures and cooks food quickly.
The car sunscreen cooker is an effective low budget cooker and can easily be put together in an emergency situation.
What can be cooked in a Solar Cooker?
A box cooker can cook almost anything that can be cooked on the stovetop (except for frying), in the oven, in the microwave, or in a slow cooker. In fact, it is very much like cooking in a slow cooker. Panel cookers do not get as hot as a box cooker, but still cook very well and can cook almost the same foods. Because parabolics reach such high temperatures, they can fry, and boil water.
So come join me. Buy a solar oven
Yes, that is a whole chicken roasting in a Sun Oven. So pick a recipe and let’s get started.
Hi Merry! I was curious to see what you would recommend as far as the best solar cooker for a family if four to have during an emergency where power is not an option and solar cooking will be the only means of cooking rice, dried beans, meat, etc for all three meals? Thank you for your time and help.
Hello Charles, sorry for the delayed response.
There are a lot of things to think about when choosing a solar cooker. Did you see this post “What You Need to Know Before You Buy a Solar Cooker”? https://sunshineonmyshoulder.com/buy-a-solar-cooker/ There is a list of things to think about.
If you are looking for something for emergencies, then you want something that is reliable, cooks “solar cooking” fast, and holds enough to feed a family of 4. I would suggest the Solavore Sport https://sunshineonmyshoulder.com/sport-solar-oven/ because it cooks great, holds 2 pots that are each big enough to feed 4 people, and costs less than the other well known solar oven.
Then I would augment that with at least one homemade solar cooker like the “Windshield Shade Cooker” https://sunshineonmyshoulder.com/how-make-windshield-shade-solar-cooker/ or maybe even the Copenhagen Cooker, which you can buy or make yourself from plans online. Copenhagen comes in several sizes and is a great cooker. Even if you just have a couple of these and no box cooker, you will still be well prepared.
Be sure that you also get several WaPis so that you can make sure your water is safe.
But please don’t just get a solar oven and then stack it in the garage with your other prepping items. As with many things, there is a slight learning curve to be able to use a solar oven successfully because 1) until you use it, it is hard to really believe that it works; 2) you need to know how to set it up, focus it to the sun, reposition it when necessary, and cook with it: and 3) you need to know what foods you can cook that your family will eat. So practice using the cooker until you are comfortable and confident that you can rely on it.
Here is another post that you might like https://sunshineonmyshoulder.com/solar-cooking-in-an-emergency/
Thanks for stopping by. I pray that you will never face an emergency that requires you to use your solar cooker. So I do hope that you enjoy it and find it fun to use in other situations.
Merry
Using solar cooking while on the trail is a godsend for hikers and campers, lightening their load and providing a way to purify water. make hot coffee, and cook a hot meal, etc. It also doesn’t require gathering wood or other fire making materials.
Hello Thomas, Thanks for your comments. I am really glad to hear about using a solar cooker out on a trail. That is really awesome!! I would have thought that you wouldn’t be in one place long enough to set up a solar cooker. What kind of portable cooker are you using? Thanks for sharing. Merry
Hello,
Thanks for the very informative article on solar cooking. I am looking for nutritional benefits of food cooked using solar energy. Can you please help me in this regard and share articles, methodologies to prove this fact as compared to normal cooking?
Waiting to hear from you. Will appreciate deeply.
Thanks and regards.
Hello, Thanks for your comments. I do not have any definitive answers for the nutritional benefits of solar cooking. However, here are a few benefits. 1) Food is cooked slowly and is not boiled. The juices do not evaporate, so vitamins are not leached away. 2) Food is not fried so it is not soaking up extra fat, leading to extra calories, not to mention all of the risks of eating fried foods. 3) Food is not grilled. Some research shows that grilled foods are higher in carcinogens from the smoke. 4) Food is not microwaved which can also strip nutrients out of food. Plus, with microwaves there can also be a danger from radiation leakage.
I have never read or heard anything bad or harmful to the food from solar cooking. That being said, all food must always be handled safely and appropriately to make sure the food does not spoil or is contaminated before it is cooked. Solar ovens reach high enough temperatures to cook food safely. It is a good idea to pre-heat the solar oven prior to cooking to be sure the food will reach cooking temperatures quickly and is not in the danger zone of 40° – 140° F (5 – 57°C) for very long. You can read more about food safety in my post Solar Oven Food Safety. https://sunshineonmyshoulder.com/solar-oven-food-safety/
Thanks for stopping by. Happy Solar Cooking. Merry
I’m so glad I found your blog, Merry! I have got to show my readers your website! My readers love solar cooking! Hugs! Linda
Linda, Thanks, there are so few people who even have heard of solar cooking, let alone know what it is. I want to show that the food that comes from a solar cooker is just as nutritious and delicious as other cooking. And I want people to know how to use a solar cooker, so when emergency strikes, they will be able to cook their stored food. I am so glad to know you. I think we will be great online buddies. Merry