Solar ovens aren't just an emergency preparedness item

Cody Clark - Daily Herald | Posted: Tuesday, October 6, 2009 12:00 am

          

You may, at times, have heard someone describe a particularly hot day by saying, "It's a cooker out there." Perhaps you yourself have said on a sweltering summer afternoon, "I'm cooked!" Did you know, however, that you really can cook your food with nothing more than the heat generated by ordinary sunlight?

Actually, quite a lot of local people may know just that. Paul Munsen, an executive with Sun Ovens (www.sunoven.com), said that Utahns are big purchasers of his company's product. "Right now about 40 percent of our total production is being shipped to Utah each year," Munsen said.

He thinks it's most likely because of the emphasis placed on family emergency preparedness by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "In Utah it's a preparedness item," he said. Lots of people own a solar oven, in other words ... and keep it in a box in the basement.

Solar ovens are simple. They look sort of like a picnic-style food chest with a glass panel where its top would be. The Sun Ovens models use anodized aluminum solar-reflecting panels that fold out from it sides like cardboard box flaps to capture and channel reflected light through the glass oven top.

"As long as you have enough sun to cast a shadow, you can use it," Munsen said. Not only that, but you can use it anywhere, in any season -- even if there's a foot of snow outside.

The basic item can be pricey. Some models are almost $300. Some are sold with reflector panels included only as an optional extra. And it takes time to cook your food: up to four or five hours, in some cases. In other words, you can't get home from work and throw something in your solar oven for dinner.

The concept is bound to seem gimmicky to people who are used to cooking with a conventional oven that sits in the kitchen and plugs into your wall. Add to that the fact that availability is largely limited to Web-based dealers -- local preparedness superstore Emergency Essentials doesn't carry solar ovens -- and well, maybe it's not so hard to see why a lot of people own a solar oven but have never used it.

Tastes great

That's why, on a visit to the Beehive State at the end of June, Munsen, 58, was busy arranging public demonstrations of what you might say is the hybrid-electric car of household appliances. His message: Get that thing out its box and use it to cook your food!

The benefits are numerous. Solar ovens don't require electricity, which makes them both environmentally friendly and hugely cost-efficient. They're also simple to use. Lehi resident Natalie Barron, a married mother of four, had a vague fear that her oven might be complicated, but only until she tried it out. "It sets up in about 15 seconds," she said.

Solar ovens don't heat up as quickly as a conventional oven, and can take somewhat longer to prepare some foods. What may be one of their biggest selling points, however, is the end product. "There's no movement of air when you cook in a sun oven," Munsen said. "Food doesn't dry out."

Meats, for example. Munsen cooked up some chicken at a demonstration in West Jordan. "People were shocked at the taste and wondered what I had marinated it in," Munsen said. "It was just chicken."

There's also a noticeable effect on breads, Munsen said, which are lighter and fluffier. Barron, who operates a home business selling preparedness supplies with her husband, Michael, agreed. "If I'm making bread," she said, "it takes maybe 10 minutes longer to bake a loaf, but my bread turns out much less dry."

Barron, 40, has also used her solar oven to make brownies, which turned out "super moist" in the middle and had just the right thin crust on top. "They were just incredible," she said. "The pan was gone in, like, 10 minutes." The Barrons like the product so much that they've started selling it through their home business, Bee Provident Supplies (www.beeprovidentsupplies.com).

And while price can be a deterrent, there are economy models available. The Solar Oven Society (www.solarovens.org) sells a model that includes the oven, reflector panels, two cookpots, a thermometer and a gauge to measure water pasteurization all for $190.91 (shipping included).

All around the world

A solar oven is versatile, too. "You can use it to bake, boil or steam," Munsen said. (Yes, preparedness enthusiasts, you can use it to purify water by boiling.) "You could make rice, make pasta, make a casserole. Virtually anything other than fried foods can be cooked in it."

Not only that, but you won't screw up your favorite recipes. "It's the most forgiving method of cooking you'll ever find," Munsen said. "When you put food in the Sun Oven, it's completely even heat. Food heats all the way through." By putting a raw egg in a solar oven, Munsen said, he can make a hard-boiled egg without water.

That underscores another important aspect of Sun Ovens: the company takes its product to developing nations around the world, where water, and more importantly, fuel for cooking, are often scarce. In Haiti, Munsen said, some people spend up to 90 percent of their household income buying charcoal to cook with.

Using solar ovens solves two problems. It saves money previously spent on fuel. Perhaps more importantly, over the long haul, it's a boon to the environment. Haiti is almost completely deforested, Munsen said, but if the use of solar ovens were to become widespread in the island nation, it could replace "about 70 percent of the wood that's used there."

Not only that, but solar ovens reduce the risk of respiratory ailments commonly caused by cookfires and, if widely used, have the potential to reduce air pollution. "There's 2 billion people in the world who cook using wood, charcoal or dung as their primary source of heat," Munsen said.

A solar oven is also versatile: You can use it anywhere, in any season -- even if there's a foot of snow outside -- as long as the sun is overhead.

The disaster preparedness implications are obvious. Barron, who is LDS, said that she tries to store enough food to last one year. On the other hand, she said, "it would be very difficult to store enough fuel to cook food for a whole year. When we found the Sun Oven, it was like, 'Oh, this is the answer.' "

Barron's solar oven used to sit in its box, but you might say that she's seen the light. "I use it all the time now," she said. "If it's a sunny day, I'm using it."

Chicken Noodle Vegetable Soup (Food Storage Style)

• 2 12.5-ounce cans of chicken (reserve liquid)

• 5¼ cups of liquid (Combine reserved canned chicken liquid with water to make the 5¼ cups)

• ¹â„₈ cup dehydrated onion

• ¼ cup dehydrated carrots

• ¼ cup dehydrated celery

• 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules

• ¼ teaspoon pepper

• 1 small bay Leaf

Preheat solar oven. Place chicken, water, onion, dehydrated vegetables, bouillon, pepper and bay leaf in covered three-quart pot. Put in solar oven and simmer for about 1 hour (at about 250-300 degrees) or until dehydrated vegetables are cooked.

Add 1 cup of rotini noodles and ½ can cream-style corn to soup. Cover again and simmer for another 30-45 minutes or until noodles are cooked. Take pot out of Sun Oven.

Remove bay leaf and stir in 1 can of cream of chicken soup. Salt to taste.

-- Courtesy of Natalie Barron, Bee Provident Supplies

Tender Sunday Roast

• 3-4 pounds beef roast (sirloin tip recommended)

• ¼ cup Shirley J All-Purpose Seasoning

Preheat solar oven. Place roast in a covered three-quart enamelware roasting pan. Sprinkle seasoning all over the top of the roast. Place in solar oven.

Full Sun: To cook for a long time, aim the oven at where the sun will be two hours from now. This will ensure it is tender in about 4-5 hours. For a faster cook, aim the oven at the sun and adjust every 15 minutes for 2-2 1/2 hours.

Partial Clouds: If you have a few clouds in the area, add at least one hour to cooking time and adjust the sun oven to face the sun every half hour.

Variation: Add sliced carrots and potatoes about halfway through cooking time.

Cook until roast is falling apart and vegetables are cooked through.

-- Courtesy of Natalie Barron, Bee Provident Supplies

Hearty Cowboy Cookies

• Cream following ingredients together:

• ½ cup sugar

• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup butter

Add:

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 egg

Sift and add:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Add:

• 1 cup rolled oats

• ¹â„₃ cup coconut

• ¹â„₈ cup chocolate chips

• ¹â„₈ cup nuts (optional)

Preheat solar oven. Form dough into cookies and bake in solar oven at about 350 degrees for about 20 minutes (longer if temperature is lower) or until lightly browned on the edges.

-- Courtesy of Natalie Barron, Bee Provident Supplies

Honey Nut Granola

Combine in sauce pan:

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat until all ingredients are mixed well.

Combine in large bowl:

3 cups of rolled oats (not quick oats)

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Pour sauce pan mixture over oats, seeds and nuts, and stir until well blended.

Preheat solar oven. Bake half the mixture at a time in a three-quart enamelware pan and spread out evenly or place mixture in three uncovered pint jars. Bake (uncovered) in solar oven at about 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Granola will become crunchy as it cools.

-- Courtesy of Natalie Barron, Bee Provident Supplies