# Cooking with a solar cooker



## iPrepMan (Oct 6, 2013)

Hello everyone,

I've been wondering if some of you have any experiences with solar cookers. I've seen them recently in action and found them quite interesting.

Do you think it is good to have one?
And if yes, do you think it would make sense to buy one (how much?) or better try to build one?

I'd appreciate to hear your opinions or experiences!


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

I think it'd be a great idea to have one, the only problem I have is the price of them, I've been looking at building one but with all the other projects it's got moved to a back burner for a while it shouldent be that difficult if your the handy type.


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

OH and by the way welcome lots to learn here!


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

You left off "already have one" on your poll.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Country Living said:


> You left off "already have one" on your poll.


Fixed that for ya.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

You're the best!


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## cantinawest (Nov 9, 2011)

*A few Solar Cooks here in the forums*

You might be surprised at how many solar cooks belong to these forums.

Some of us solar cook almost every day (except on cloudy days of course) and use them quite effectively and efficiently.

In fact, as I write, I have seasoned tater tot fries and fish sticks cooking for my lunch in my All American Sun Oven (junk food lunch) 

I will be baking some bread a little later this afternoon as well.

You might do alright at building your own solar cooker if you like to Do it yourself and are handy with tools etc. I have seen some very well built and well functioning homemade solar cookers. I have built a couple of my own, but they were very simple and cheap solar cookers and so they did not last a long time, but the were effective.
I prefer the manufactured route because I know they will last longer.

In fact, I have a colleague who now lives in Arizona, who is going on her 30th year using her very first original Global Sun Oven that she bought when living in Wisconsin. 
That is a good long time to be using a cooking apparatus that doesn't consume a penny of fuel/energy.

I know a person who built a solar cooker that will rival any manufactured cooker, but he did put a bit of money into it, so he was not too far off the cost of a manufactured one.

If you are interested, here are some links to some of our pages on building your own solar cookers. These will give you some basic information on how to build some nice solar cookers.

Here is a simple and inexpensive, yet effective cooker: http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/build_a_simple_solar_cooker.html

and here is some info. on other people's solar cookers: http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/buildingasolarcooker.html#1

Hope this is helpful.


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## iPrepMan (Oct 6, 2013)

Thanks for your replies!

Cantinawest, glad to hear that you are so passionate about solar cooking. The link you sent looks very helpful, thanks for that! I'll give that a try!

Does anyone else have any experiences with homemade or bought solar cookers? I'd be glad to hear.


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## cantinawest (Nov 9, 2011)

*Teaching Solar Cooking to the Navajo*

My son and I went to the Monument Valley Navajo reservation last year to teach solar cooking and to donate solar cookers to some of the needy people there.
This was the project he chose for his Eagle Scout Project...



















This is my son, Josh, cooking burgers for the people at this demo...


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## cantinawest (Nov 9, 2011)

*Short Solar Cooking Video*

A day of solar cooking on one sunny day in November...


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## cantinawest (Nov 9, 2011)

*More than 75 People learned about Solar Cooking as an emergency prep tool*

Big Solar Cooking Demo for our church organization's Emergency Preparedness event on 29 March 2014.

http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/solarcooking-archive2.html


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## cantinawest (Nov 9, 2011)

*Compact, portable and very effective emergency situation Solar Cooker*

The Copenhagen Light Solar Cooker is one of the most compact and portable you can find for your emergency preparedness needs...and it is also a very effective solar cooker.
This cooker is affordable as well as practical.

Here is a very detailed and helpful tutorial on this small solar panel cooker:
http://rimstar.org/renewnrg/copenhagen_solar_cooker.htm


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## Tirediron (Jul 12, 2010)

Are the small current satellite TV dishes big enough to be an effective base for a solar reflector ??


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## cantinawest (Nov 9, 2011)

You can use the small Dish and Directv Satellite dishes and construct a functioning parabolic cooker, you would just not have a real powerful cooker but for a lot of needs it would suffice.

One thing you have to be aware of though is the focal point of the concentrated sunlight will be a bit eliptical and not real tight, and this is due to the shape of the Dish/Directv satellite.

That being said though; I have colleagues who have built and used several of these small parabolic cookers and they have heated water and cooked with them as well. Because they are small they do not have a lot of surface area to "grab" and concentrate a lot of the sun's rays. 
The bigger the parabola the greater concentrating ability it will have.

Here are a couple examples of people using these effectively:

*http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/old-satellite-dish-and-solar-panel-cookers.html*


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## cantinawest (Nov 9, 2011)

*Adapting the Fresnel Lens Solar Cooker*

Adapting the Fresnel Lens Solar Cooker to cook from the bottom rather than the top only...
This makes it a little easier to cook with.
It still is a little challenging to cook with since the focal point is so intensely hot, but if you happen to acquire a fresnel lens it is a good use for it.

see more here:
http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/a-fresnel-lens-cooker-that-heats-from-below.html


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