You can make almost any recipe without electricity.
I lived on a sailboat, in hotels and in an RV while traveling around the world for almost 6 years, and became very creative.
For this recipe, I’d build a solar oven.
Making and cooking with a solar oven is a cheap and easy way to minimize your power use. You can make a good solar oven for under $40, and it works even if you do a messy job of construction. In fact, they’re so cheap, building a sloppy test oven to learn the ropes is a good strategy. Then you can build yourself a quality unit that’s more convenient and lasts a long time.
Here’s a parts list for the oven itself:
- Plain old cardboard box, around 20 inches x 20 inches x 18 inches deep; double-walled corrugated cardboard walls are best.
- A sturdy piece of flat cardboard that matches the top of your oven; if the oven is 20 x 20, that’s the size lid you need, with a little overlap.
- Tape. Good old duct tape works just fine. Masking tape also works, but not the kind for painting because the adhesive is too weak.
- Standard household insulation (not white styrofoam, but hardboard style), 1 inch thick; this stuff is around $11 for a 4-x-8-foot piece.
- Aluminum foil, heavy duty with one shiny side at least, about 10 square feet.
- White glue.
- Flat, black spray paint designed for barbecue pits or woodstoves.
- Turkey bags or big roasting bags.
After you have collected you materials, follow these steps to assemble your oven:
After you know how to build a basic solar oven, here are some ideas for improving the design:
- Reflectors: Cut some cardboard, glue aluminum foil to each piece (shiny side out), and tape the reflectors together and onto the oven.
You can boost the heat quite a bit with a reflector
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which increases the amount of total sunlight radiation that gets into the oven cavity.- Mounting: The best way to mount a solar oven is on a cart with wheels. That way, you can easily twist it around and point the oven toward direct sunlight.
- Glass window: Go to a window shop and get a piece of glass that looks around the size of a good solar oven lid. Glass is a much better insulator than a plastic bag. Double-pane glass is even better, as long as the seal between the panes isn’t broken, in which case it’s useless.
Be careful if you have an aluminum frame, which can get very hot. Wooden frames have such good insulation that you don’t need a hot pad to move them.- Size: With a good-sized, glass-windowed oven and reflectors, you may be able to roast a turkey on Thanksgiving Day, depending on the weather.
- Plywood box: The sturdiest boxes are made of plywood.
From: How to Make a Solar Oven
Originally Posted: https://www.quora.com/Can-you-make-this-recipe-without-any-electricity
Originally Posted On: 2015-01-30