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How to Make a Solar Cooker at Home?

The sun is the oldest cook in the book — pun fully intended. Food cooked in solar ovens retains moisture and nutrients when cooked slowly. Unlike other heat sources, it is fairly difficult to burn food in solar ovens. There are all kinds of solar ovens and solar cooker designs, ranging from very affordable home made models to those one can buy ready-made. The cookbooks included below usually provide an explanation for the different types of ovens as well as tips for beginning solar chefs.

Handy Books on Building a Solar Cooker

Radabaugh, Joseph. Heaven’s flame: a guidebook to solar cookers. Ashland, OR, Home Power, 1991

Solar cookers and ovens: technology options. New Delhi, Consortium on Rural Technology, 1982

Internet Resources

Solar Cookers International
Solar Cookers International (SCI) was established in 1987 to spread the use of solar ovens and cooking. Their programs educate policy makers, maintain an international exchange network through conferences and publications, and ,by bring solar cooking technology to areas of the world most in need of it. The site contains clear explanations of the benefits, types and best uses of solar ovens, as well as a list of cookbooks and commercially available ovens.

Solar Cooking Archive
Sponsored by Solar Cookers International, the Archive contains a wealth of information, including newsletters, articles, discussion lists, plans for cookers, an international directory and more.

Baking in the Sun
NASA’s Earth Observatory site

Solar Cooking Plans
Presents plans for building box, panel, and parabolic cookers, as well as a few other types of solar appliances.

Solar Ovens Society
Solar Ovens Society produce and ship solar cookers overseas. They also sell solar cookers and have several recipes available on their site.

Solar Household Energy
Solar Household’s mission is “to harness free enterprise for the introduction of solar cooking to improve quality of life and relieve stress on the environment.”

Cookbooks

Anderson, Lorraine and Rick Palkovic. Cooking with sunshine:the complete guide to solar cooking with 150 easy sun-cooked recipes. Rev. and expanded ed. New York, Marlowe, 2006

Barker, Jennifer Stein. The Morning Hill solar cookery book. Canyon City, OR, Morning Hill Associates, 1999

Gurley, Virginia Heather. Solar cooking naturally. 4th ed. Sedona, AZ, SunLightWorks, 1999

Halacy, Beth, and Dan Halacy. Cooking with the sun. La Fayette, CA, Morning Sun Press, 1992

Kofalk, Harriet. Solar cooking: a primer/cookbook. Summertown, TN, Book Pub. Co., 1995