Survival Skills: Making an Inexpensive Solar Oven

If you ever are in a survival situation, you will want a way to cook your food, even if you don't have any fuel or a fire. With a few common household items, you can build yourself an easy solar oven, almost free of cost. To make your solar oven, all you will need two cardboard boxes, and a roll of aluminum foil, and a roll of plastic wrap. You will also need plenty of sun if you want your solar oven to work, so this oven, of course, won't be useful on a cloudy day.

To make your solar oven, you will need two cardboard boxes. One needs to be slightly larger than the other one. The boxes you use for your solar oven should be wide and shallow. The smaller box, when set inside the bigger box, should leave at least a half an inch gap between the two boxes on all sides. The gaps can be wider than that, and they don't have to be the same all the way around. The air gap creates insulation that retains heat.

Cut off all four of the closing flaps from the inside box. Also cut off all of the closing flaps of the outside box, except for one. This closing flap on the outside box will be used as your reflector. Now, line the insides of both boxes with the foil, with the shinier side facing outwards. The bottom of the inside box should be lined too, as well as the inward facing side of the reflector flap.

You can glue or tape the foil on if you like, but it isn't an absolute necessity, as you can wrap it around the sides if you need to. The plastic wrap goes over the top of the inner box to hold in the heat and steam created by the sun reflecting inside the box. You might want to use a few layers of plastic wrap to hold the heat in better.

To cook your food, you can simply wrap it in foil and place it in the box if you have no other means. However, you can use any pot or pan that fits in the box. One of the best ways to cook food in a solar oven is to cook in glass jars. That way you can make foods like soups or stews, or other foods containing liquids, or for heating drinks. Make sure you poke holes in the lid of the jar to let the steam escape. You can even put in several jars of food at once. Use jars with wide openings to easily get your food in and out.

Solar ovens work best if you have several hours of sun. A solar oven can even be used in cold weather, as long as the sun is shining and reflecting into the box. Face the box towards the sun, and angle the reflector into the sun, so the light goes directly into the inner box. You can prop the reflector up with sticks or narrow sections of cardboard stuck in between the two boxes. Some foods will take a few hours to cook, so you will need to turn the box occasionally to keep it lined up with the sun.

Foods cooked in your solar oven can get very hot! Use care when handling your pots and pans, and especially if you are using glass jars. You can get burned more easily than you might think. Be sure to watch out for hot steam as well.