The Campers Guide to Solar Cooking
15 Dec
Let’s be honest, not everyone loves camping. It’s a very “love-it-or-hate-it” type of thing, and some people just plain hate it. There are varying degrees of campers too. From the people who drive their RV and occasionally walk through woods, to people who bring a sleeping bag and figure everything else out when they get there. Believe it or not, solar cooking is helpful no matter what kind of camper you are or aren’t. In a myriad of ways, a solar cooker is ideal. From not having to build a campfire, to cooking what you catch, to pasteurizing water to make it safe to drink, a solar cooker can provide all you need to have a satisfying camp cooking experience.
Who likes building a campfire? I know some people do (to be honest, I’m one of them), but most just don’t like all the effort. Even for those of us that do, there are times when it’s just not practical. Let’s say you just hiked a mile to the best fishing spot, but it was still 3 hours before you caught anything. Do you really feel like foraging for wood, having to light it, and fighting with the wind? I’m sure the answer to this for most would be a big NO. That’s when you pull out a light solar oven, throw your cleaned fish in, and take a nap. That’s really all there is to it, the sunlight will heat the oven up to roughly 275 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, so even though it isn’t as hot as a campfire would be, it will still cook quickly. All that and with no need to find dry wood, find kindling, dig a pit, or build a circle of rocks. No fire safety issues either as the sides are cool to the touch. The only real question is, what can you cook in it?
You can literally cook almost anything with a solar oven. Let’s take that fishing story as an example. Because the oven is about 300 degrees, it will cook a whole fish in less than 2 hours. While that may seem slow, remember all the work you’re avoiding. No tending to the fire, no making sure the little ones are too close to the fire (or throwing stuff into it), you just put the fish in and go do something else. Don’t want to wait that long? If you filet the fish first, the filets will take less than half an hour (assuming the oven is preheated or set up for about 20 minutes first). Even more fun is that the oven’s relatively low temperature (from a cooking standpoint) will make it pretty difficult to dry out the fish which is every fisherman’s nightmare when it comes time to bite in. As cool as all this is, your solar oven has an even more important use. Any idea what that is?
I’ll give you a hint: 70% of your body is made up of it. That’s right, water. Just set up your solar oven, fill a metal pot with water, and leave it in to boil for at least 10 minutes. Now, don’t misunderstand. If the water is chemically contaminated in some way, boiling the water won’t help. Boiling only kills the natural bacteria that would make you sick. So just make sure there’s no industrial waste by your water supply and you should be fine.
I think that that is a pretty amazing range of uses for something that weighs only ten pounds. Especially considering it needs no fuel except daylight, and even works when it’s cloudy (if you have reflectors). So now that you know all its great camping uses, go camping with your solar oven and eat well with no excuses! If you don’t have one yet, you can search online or just go to www.SurvivalOven.com for more information. Have fun not building that campfire this weekend and please feel free to share your solar cooking camping stories! I’d love to hear them!
Karianna Perry, http://www.survivaloven.com
