Solar cooker cheap

I found this site www.solarcooking.org and it has several different type of plans for making solar ovens/cookers for really cheap, alot of them are made with boxes and aluminum foil and black paint, there is one made with a tire inner tube, piece of glass and piece of wood, these are totally cool. It does take 2-3 hours to cook something in them but it would save on fuel and we have so much sun here in OK (except for today it is actually, finally raining) that I think this might work well for me. I am going to get the paint this week and try this out. If anyone else gets to try this out before I do, please let us know how this works. We are due for more rain tomorrow, so probably the middle of the week before I can try it out.

They do look so easy and cheap anybody could afford to make some of these. I bought the car window shade foil thing and black paint today to make the car shade cooker one, supposed to be able to bake bread, cook and boil and pasteurize water. I will try it out when the sun shines again, we have not had rain since Oct and have been under a burn ban forever, it has rained for 4 days now (thank goodness) but of course there is no sun when I want to try this out.

Penham wrote: They do look so easy and cheap anybody could afford to make some of these. I bought the car window shade foil thing and black paint today to make the car shade cooker one, supposed to be able to bake bread, cook and boil and pasteurize water. I will try it out when the sun shines again, we have not had rain since Oct and have been under a burn ban forever, it has rained for 4 days now (thank goodness) but of course there is no sun when I want to try this out.

Femvet, on the main page click on panel cookers, it is the third row down, the first cooker, the Windsheild Shade Solar Funnel Cooker.

Penham wrote: Femvet, on the main page click on panel cookers, it is the third row down, the first cooker, the Windsheild Shade Solar Funnel Cooker.

Femvet,

Thank you!  I'm going to purchase supplies today.  I already own an expensive pot set that happens to be black--yes!   About 9 years ago, my eldest and I made a small box variety solar cooker, and made cookies.  I actually have pix somewhere.

2 cooking sources down, one to go...

 

 

 

Any input would be great! Would you just wrap the plastic bad around a cookie sheet/bread pan within the Solar set up to bake? Femvet- I also like the idea of not spending money on a commercial solar oven!

Omega.....  I Built an awesome "haybox" just for my pressure cooker and it works great.  It will keep food piping hot for over 12 hours if I put it in when it is up at pressure..... and the food is very cooked.  Also, if I don't pop the seal on it it will not spoil nearly as quickly as there is no way for bacteria to enter.  Send me a personal note if you want more info. John.

Penham, any idea if you need any particular kind of paint for the mason jars?? By the way, it looks like there all kinds of bugs since the upgrade. Please, be patient and give them soame time to work out the kinks. If this little stuff gets this much to you, how are you going to cope with BF?

The paint is supposed to be non-toxic after it dries, and flat black, I got the .97 cheap spray from Walmart, it has been cloudy here and rainy or snowy for the past week, LOL, of course we haven't had rain since October and when I want to try this out, I can't, oh well, I'm aiming for the weekend. As far as the being able to read the posts, it is still messed up, but I figured out if I hit the "quote" button I can read the entire post, so at least I am not missing important information. It was just frustrating reading 7 lines then not knowing what else was said, having no link to articles cause they are usually at the end of the post, but it's ok now. I am hoping I will do fine when the BF gets here, I work great under stress, having been a counselor for teenage gang members, also a counselor in a psych unit, also did child abuse and neglect investigations (alot of sexual abuse and court), also in a juvenile detention center, also in a juvenil drug/alcohol rehab, until suffering from burnout 15 years later. It's the little things that get to me, put me in a crisis situation (like a riot or send me with the SWAT team) and I do great!

Penham, are you planning on putting the bread pan inside a roasting pan? I may be totally wrong, but it seems to me that would more likely simulate an oven.

Here are my results!
At 9:25am the temp outside was 39 degrees, humidity at around 30%, snow on the ground in the shade, UV index of 4, slight breeze of 6 mph ESE, partly cloudy. This is in the foothills of Northern Colorado, just east of the Rockies. I put my solar windshield shade on my backyard trampoline (not on a bucket like suggested) with a small black pot with a black lid placed inside of a turkey-size oven plastic bag. In the pot, I put in one cup of water and timed it to see how long it took to boil. At 10:20am I looked in the pot and sure enough!!!! The water was boiling!!! I can't tell you how excited my girls and I were! It took approx. 50 minutes- I wonder how long it was boiling before that since I didn't even check it until 50 minutes into it.
My second experiment was at 1:45pm, partly cloudy, temp of 55 Degrees, UV index of 6, Humidity of 31%, winds were 7 mph SE. I put 3 pillsbury crescent rolls on a small black frying pan with a tight fitting black lid and put it in the plastic bag. At 3:00 pm, the temp was 55 degrees, wind was 9 mph SSE, humidity 29%, UV index of 4, and partly cloudy. I checked the rolls after 1 hour and 15 minutes and they were FULLY cooked! Maybe not as brown on top as the oven nor as fluffy but tasted just the same!
I am amazed that on a nice but not ideal day that this really worked! I hope this gives some insight on the solar oven idea- I'm sold!

Thank you for this information. I just printed off the directions for the sunshade cooker and ordered a 5 qt preseasoned dutch oven. Today I'll venture out to find the sunshades. This is such a great idea that I may end up using it a lot during our hot summers even if I don't have to. Thank you for posting this!

Penham, did you use a cooking bag too are just the pan and lid.  I just purchased my sunshade last week thanks to your posts.

This is FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What good news!

Oknut, where did you get your dutch oven from? I need one as well. TIA

 

Yes, I used the cooking bag and did it just like they said, on top of a bucket, I did have to put rocks in the bucket though to weigh it down cause it was so windy, the bucket was plastic and very light. I think I am going to try the tire oven, only instead of using the innertube, I think I will just try a regular tire, since I have one in the shed and I think I already have an old window and piece of wood out there too. Will have to wait until the weekend though, supposed to rain for the next couple of days.

On the solar cooker that was designed by the BYU professor, it does say he uses a mason jar painted black. It's the other solar funnel cooker on the site, has 12 printed pages of info (I printed some of it out). I hope to not have to buy anything special, I did get the black paint, and will paint the outside of a regular pan black and try the mason jar too.

Have you guys read the one solar funnel cooker instructions where at the end of it, it said that you can also make ice at night in like 50 or so degree weather? I'll have to try that as it gets warmer out!

Whoever lives in a warmer state than me, try it and tell us if it works! It sounds like a great idea.

Hi sweetpea!
I think if it only stayed around 50 degrees or so ay night it says it would work. I think any hotter it probably wouldn't make ice. I am looking forward to trying it soon!

Anybody else try to cook something yet?

Penham wrote: I have a pan of brownies in now, so will see how long it takes and how they come out.

I hope to try the sunshade cooker this weekend. I wonder if the glue on self-stick velcro would melt in the heat. I don't just want easy cooking, I want REALLY easy cooking!