I am totally excited about the idea of using a solar cooked for Y2k If you have actually made a Solar Cooker from a cardboard box and used it to cook food please respond and let me know how you liked the results. Please and thank you

-- linda benson (lcbenson@bellsouth.net), July 11, 1999

Answers

Linda - I used my solar cooker for the first time this weekend. It is the box type, made out of two cardboard boxes. I put three foil wrapped potatoes in it at about 11:30 am and intended to watch them closely to see exactly how long they took to cook. Unfortunately I had to leave unexpectedly at about 12:30. When I returned at 4:00 or so, the cooker was in shade (I have no idea how long) - but I had success - all three potatoes were cooked! I will be experimenting with it for the next couple of months.

Nicki

-- Nicki (y2kaware@excite.com), July 12, 1999.

I also made the box cooker. It makes a great coffee cake in a dark amber glass cake pan. When I tried to cook 12 chicken thighs in salsa spread out in a 9x12 glass pan (clear) I let it cook for 4 hours and it was "almost" done. I recommend using darkened glass/metal pans - I bought "non-toxic when dry" flat black spray paint at Walmart for 98 cents yesterday to spray the OUTSIDE of some old glass pans - and put saran wrap over things you would normally cover in the oven. Otherwise the moisture off the food (chicken!) gathers on the window, inhibiting some light getting through. Also I think I would have had better success with the chicken if I had separated it into 2 smaller dishes AND covered them with plastic wrap.

Mine only gets up to 240 degrees but I love it - I am simply blown away at the simple yet effective way it works. My hubby loves it because the home-baked goods stop happening usually in the summer (yesterday was 106 with 98% humidity!) but now I can bake stuff outside. Keep in mind that it doesn't brown food - but definitely COOKS it! Good luck!

-- Kristi (securx@succeed.net), July 12, 1999.

They are fun little gadgets, aren't they?

Build extras for sterilizing utensils, washing clothes, etc. if you think you may lose power for more than 72 hours, or even if only for the novelty. I'd like to make one with a Fridge cardboard box.. just to see if it'd work.

I put mine together for three bucks. The most expensive component was the Reynold's Turkey Bag (what I've got on the lid)... and there are coupons in the paper for these all the time - if you shop at a triple- coupon store, they wind up being free.

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), July 12, 1999.

A few years ago we built a bunch of cardboard box solar cookers, or rather my wife supervised a bunch of young (pre-teenage) homeschooled children, who built them. We went to the local glass (window repairs, etc.) company and got pieces of heavy glass cut to size and edges smoothed for a dollar a piece or less, and the rest was aluminum foil for reflectors, glue to attache the aluminum foil to cardboard, lots of cardbord boxes, black paint to paint the inside of the oven, and shoestring or cord to tie the reflectors in position. Then we took a large batch of cookie dough and every one baked cookies. The all worked as well as our own personal factory built "Sun Oven", but of course the Sun Oven is more convenient to move around (such as taking it on camping trips, etc.) and the fiberglass outer shell is more durable than a cardboard box. But look at the difference in price!

Jim

-- Jim in Wis (jiminwis@yahoo.com), July 12, 1999.