As I mentioned before, I have installed a new propane burner on the boat earlier this summer and cooking with that is easier and more economical than my old burner. However, I have been exploring the idea of using a solar cooker to reduce my use of propane so I don’t have to shop as often. This fits in with my idea of reducing our needs and our consumption. (Don’t worry, I am not going off on a tangent about the news this week of the 7 billionth person on earth being born. I think actually it was my great-nephew Cyrus. Welcome, little buddy!)

In our modern world, even on my simple little boat, we simply turn a knob and have as much electricity or gas as we want and cook whatever we want and never even think about it. In many areas of the world there is simply no easy fuel to cook with and many folks need to walk for many, many miles every day just to gather a small bundle of sticks or animal dung to kindle a fire and cook a simple meal. Some aid agencies are sponsoring efforts to introduce and supply these folks with solar cookers, which I think is great work. Not only can these solar cookers be used for cooking but also for sterilizing water, which in many places is too polluted to drink safely. I am not sure how well the idea is catching on, though. New ideas, even really good ones, are sometimes slow to catch on. I know of one story where some primitive folks were given a very powerful parabolic solar cooker that got miss-directed and burned down the poor fellows shed. I think he lost interest in solar cooking. However, even for us modern folks I think this is a valid idea to spread around, to reduce our energy use and even if only for fun. We are all keen on backyard barbeque cookouts on the grill. Maybe solar cookouts could caught on. I can see it now, we could all gather round the solar cooker in the backyard and with a beer in one hand and hot-pad mitt in the other, your fat old obnoxious Uncle Zeke is telling lies about the fish he caught that is sizzling away in the solar cooker. Good times eh?

Anyway, while I am here in Utah I have experimented with solar cookers to take to the boat. On the internet there are plans for many different types of solar cookers. Funnel types, box types, parabolic concentrators, Fresnel lenses, all very cool with their pros and cons. Some of the designs were very effective but were big bulky heavy things with big arrays of metal reflectors, or some even used glass mirrors. No good for my needs. I needed a design that is small and light that doesn’t take up too much room on the boat, and in unbreakable. I discovered some plans for designs that are folded, origami style, into the right shape, made out of that plastic corrugated cardboard stuff they make little signs out of. One of the designers suggested waiting for an election season when signs made of this stuff sprout up all over, free for the harvesting. Somehow stealing from a politician seems wrong but I am still not sure why….. I was disappointed to notice that the only elections going on here in Utah right now are for school boards and city council positions and their budgets are too small to put out signs big enough to make solar ovens out of. I guess it takes a presidential election to make a solar oven. I had to resign myself to not being able to recycle/re-use old plastic until next years election. Luckily though, this stuff can be bought new for only a few bucks for a big sheets of it so I got some and proceeded to lay out and cut a design. I covered the sunny side with that shiny foil tape used for heating ducts. (not old fashioned “duck tape” that melts in the heat, but the good stuff made of thick aluminum foil with heat resistant glue.). I folded it up per the instructions, aimed it at the sun and voila! In no time, it was up to the proper temperature and I was cooking potatoes, my favorite food. For the handling of the food, I took an old camp pot and painted the outsides black with high temp stove paint. In the lid of the pot I installed a little thermometer I scrounged from an old barbeque cover. I place the pot inside a turkey roasting bag inside another bag to help hold the heat in. I am still learning how long it takes for stuff to cook. Since it doesn’t seem to burn inside the pot, I have been leaving it in the oven for about half a day and when I open it up the potatoes are soft and ready to slather with butter and garlic and chow down. MMM MMM . Gather round, Uncle Zeke, and dig in.









I have fiddled with a few designs, and it takes a bit of practice to get it aimed correctly, but now I am seeing temps of over 300 degrees in the pot. In addition to the potatoes I have cooked some flatbreads. Julio says they are like a Columbian bread he grew up with called arepas. It looks easy to also cook rice, beans, just about anything. Just like using the slow cooker in the kitchen, I just need to plan ahead for the next meal. And hope the sun shines. Today it is snowing which is why I am sitting here typing and not out cooking.

Out on the boat I will need to work out a cooking strategy, since the boat tends to move around a lot and it will be hard to keep the oven aimed at the sun. I expect it will work best to just go on land every few days, which I do anyway, and cook up a bunch of stuff for the next few days. No problem.

Sadly, there is not enough sun for brewing solar coffee in the morning, so I will have to keep the propane burner. Or perhaps just sleeping in until noon is the answer to fuel -efficient living…