Solar Cooking and Self-Reliance

We are now well into hurricane season here in South Carolina. While it is been a very long time since we've had a major hurricane hit here, the threat is always very real each summer/Fall.


The last time the Charleston, South Carolina, area had a major hurricane hit was back in 1989 with Hurricane Hugo. It devastated the area, and there were many places that had no electricity for up to two or three months. 


Supplies were also very hard to come by - ice, clean water, and food were difficult to find for the first few days. In 1989 there were no price gouging laws in effect, so being charged $10 for a bag of ice wasn't uncommon. Food was equally hard to come by, and expensive. 


One of the other issues, if you were fortunate enough to have food, was finding a way to prepare it. Having sandwiches and cold foods from cans may help you to survive, but a hot meal can do as much for your morale as it can for your nutrition.


You can prepare nearly any food in a solar oven that you could in a crock pot - breads, cakes, casseroles, rice, beans, meat, soups, stews, vegetables, potatoes - the list is endless. If you have several solar ovens, you can provide food for even a very large family - even the neighborhood - provided you have enough sunlight.


I conduct workshops to explain the benefits of solar cookers and solar ovens in Charleston, South Carolina. In these workshops I teach you how to construct your own solar cooker as well as give you tips and advice for purchasing a commercially made solar oven. 


I also provide recipes and I explain how to adapt traditional recipes so that they will work in a solar oven. If the weather permits, I also prepare a meal using a solar cooker for the workshop attendees while we are having the workshop. 


I am also very much an advocate of emergency preparedness. I talk about how to use a solar cooker as part of your emergency kit and also how to help others in your community turn to solar cooking.


I know that we don't like to think about emergencies happening, but they do. Historically, we know that hurricanes do hit this area on a regular basis. We have been lucky for the last few years - I know that I personally haven't had to evacuate for a while now - but that can all change in a short period of time. The tropics are heating up, and are getting ready to move into the busiest part of hurricane season.


I urge you to be prepared - educate yourself about solar cooking and about the benefits. It's not a difficult thing to learn - if you can operate a slow cooker in your home, you can learn how to use a solar cooker.


Expense is not a problem either - I can show you how to make a solar cooker using materials that you probably have around your home. At the most, I can show you how to spend around five dollars or so and have an efficient solar cooker.


If you would like more information about having a solar cooking workshop for your organization, school, or group - please contact me at scsolarcooking (at) gmail [dot] com.

Can Solar Cooking Help Eliminate Poverty in the U. S.?

Take a look at this video and then I'll comment.


It's a little long, but worth the time.





Now, this video is about bringing solar cookers to Africa, but when you think about it, this could also work here in the United States.


In areas where there is adequate sunlight, you could supply the inexpensive solar cookers to lower-income citizens and significantly reduce the amount of money they have to spend on cooking.


If they use electricity or gas to cook with, they would save the money that they would normally spend on their electric or gas bill. They also would save money in the summer because they would not have to have air conditioning to cool down the house after using the stove.  This would be especially helpful in the areas of the country that have a lot of sunlight, because those are generally the areas that have higher temperatures and would have higher electric bills for cooling.


What do you think? Is this a plan that might work?  Would the reduced cooking costs and air conditioning costs, etc., be a viable plan to help put an extra few hundred dollars a year back into the family budgets?


I think that it's a very, very good possibility.

Does the outdoor temperature affect cooking times?

This is a very good question.


The answer is:  sometimes.


As long as it is a sunny day, you can nearly always cook using a solar oven.  That's because the oven operates on the principle of focusing the sun's rays, not on using the outside temperature.


If you are in some of the Northern states, however, colder temps usually mean that daylight is very limited.  


You'll have to make sure you do two things:


1.  Make sure you position the oven so it is facing directly towards the sun.
2.  Make sure you cook during the brightest/warmest time of the day.  (Usually this is between 10 am and 2 pm.)
3.  Make sure you adjust the position of your solar oven every hour to maintain higher temps.


Here in Charleston, SC, the temperature really isn't much of a factor.  There are only a few weeks where it gets really cold here, and it is usually sunny.  


But I do have a backup system, just in case.  :)

Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down....

It's a chilly, rainy day here in Charleston, SC.  Not a heavy rain, but a drizzly one.


And so this means no cooking in the solar oven today. :( (It's overcast, not just scattered showers and clouds.)


Normally, this isn't a problem.    If you can't use the solar oven, you simply cook indoors.


But in an emergency situation, you need to plan ahead for days when you can't use a solar cooker.


Here are a few ideas:

• Invest in some thermos-type containers.  Cook extra food when the days are sunny and store them in these for later.  
• Bake breads, cakes, etc.  These will keep for several days (even without refrigeration - remember, we're talking about an emergency situation), and will help provide sandwiches and snacks on the days that you can't use your solar oven.
• Have an alternative cooking source, such as a hobo stove.  (This is basically a metal can, like a coffee can, that you use pine cones, twigs, etc. in to light a fire in.)  While it's smoky and sooty, it'll at least let you heat up food.  (Have canned food on hand for this - things that will heat up quickly.  Also, you can have things such as instant rice or potatoes, too.)

These are a few ideas.  Just planning ahead will make things a lot easier to deal with, and in an emergency, you need to be able to feed your family whether it's raining or sunny.

Global Sun Oven - Product Review

I’ve always been a proponent of making your own solar oven, and I still think that you should know the basics of making one in the event of an emergency.

However, I have recently discovered that there are some real advantages to buying a commercially-made solar oven, and wanted to pass along some information along to you guys.

Solar ovens that you make yourself typically get into the 200 degree range, maybe a bit more. This is usually fine for cooking, but it will just take longer (up to four hours or so). Not usually an issue, but can be a problem if one or more things occur:

1. The day is only partly sunny with intermittent cloud cover.

2. The days are getting shorter (in the winter).

3. You have several items to cook and you need to cook in batches.

You get the idea.

So I was looking into some alternatives to a homemade solar cooker and found one that looked promising - The Global Sun Oven. (More info -click here: Global Sun Oven - Solar Cooker  )

There were other alternatives, but I wanted something that would last a long time, and other products I saw seemed to have a shorter life (according to customer reviews). I found a lot of other things that impressed me.

It gets as hot as a conventional oven.

This was one of the two biggest factors for me. If I was going to invest in a solar oven, I wanted to make sure it got hotter than something I could make myself. (Yes, I have seen people who say they can make ovens that get in the 300+ degree range, but I haven’t been able to do it myself.) The fact that this oven could get into the 300+ degree range (and possibly reach 400 degrees under ideal conditions) was a big selling point for me. It means that I can cut my cooking time by almost half, in some cases. That could also mean making more than one meal in it (such as lunch and dinner) OR being able to make large batches of food (such as stews, soups, etc.) and then stocking my freezer.

Because this oven gets as hot as a conventional one, make sure you follow some safety guidelines, such as always using oven mitts when removing food and supervising children when they are around the oven.


The panels to help focus the sun's rays into the main part of the oven are also a factor in why it gets so hot - very nicely done.

One quick note - make sure you follow the manufacturer’s directions before the first use. You need to let it heat up (empty) and then clean the inside well before using it the first time. (Like most conventional ovens and cookware suggest.)

It heats up quickly.

Because of the design and the way it seals, this oven heats much more quickly than a solar oven I can make. This also helps cut down on my cooking time, in combination with Reason #1.

One thing you will need to be mindful of is that the food will need to be covered. If you don’t cover the food while it is in the solar oven, the top window will fog up and this will decrease the effectiveness of the oven.

If you do not have a dish with a lid, you can use the oven bags that are used for baking turkeys.

It’s durable.

This product can be expected to work well for years, as opposed to one you make yourself, which needs to be replaced every few months (at least). It’s also of heavier weight than one you make yourself, which is another plus - it’s less likely to blow over.

There is a platform for food.

This is essential so that there is enough air circulation to cook food properly. Having the platform makes the air get up under the food, as well as around it. (Just make sure to balance the food properly - the platform does move. This is a good thing, so that you can position the food for the best cooking position, but just realize that you need to balance it.)

Better safety

The higher temps meant that I could cook meats and other temperature-sensitive foods on days when I otherwise might be leery of doing so. The Global Sun Oven helped me cut my costs because I could use solar cooking more often.

Overall, this is a great oven - hotter temps than one I can make, quicker to heat up, platform for positioning food and for air circulation, and it’s durable.


For more information, including pricing, please click here:  Global Sun Oven - Solar Cooker 

Solar Cooking Classes in Charleston, SC

Cooking with solar ovens is simple to learn!

You can learn how to make your own oven, or you can learn the different types of commercial ones to purchase, along with recipes and tips.

For information, contact us!

scsolarcooking (at) gmail (dot) com

Solar Hot Dog Cookers

One of the easiest and quickest things to cook in a solar oven or cooker is hot dogs.


This is a good thing for several reasons:

1. If you have a day with limited sunlight, it is a relatively quick meal (as far as solar cooking goes).
2. Most kids love hot dogs, so it's a popular meal.
3. You can cook the side-dishes with it - baked beans, for example - in jars.  This really only needs to be heated, so it's another (relatively) quick item.

You can use several methods, but my favorite is using the basic cooker (second pic from the top on the right) along with a covered Pyrex casserole dish (dark is better, but clear works).

Just place the hot dogs in the dish and cover them.  You can use a clear turkey roasting bag, but it's not necessary if it's a bright day.

Check the hot dogs after 15 or 20 minutes - sometimes that's all it takes.

Quick, easy and solar - the best combination!