Solar Cooker

Prepare the food and place it into a large dark pot. Put a dark tight fitting lid on the pot. Insert the pot into a clear oven-cooking bag containing 3 small rocks or pieces of wood. Rest the pot on small stones or pieces of wood so that the air can circulate around the pot. Tie the bag closed with a twist tie or piece of string. Place the pot enclosed in the cooking bag into the Solar Cooker. Face the Solar Cooker toward the sun. Raise or lower the front flap of the cooker so that there is a small shadow. The shadow of the Solar Cooker should be directly behind the cooker. You may need to reposition the Solar Cooker several times during cooking process.

The unique design of the rocket stove enables you to use a very small amount of wood to create a fire that is highly efficient and non-polluting. A covered pot of food is placed on a grate on the top of the stove. The stove directs the heat to the cooking pot and the food is quickly brought to a boil. Food that has been simmered for 10 to 20 minutes can be taken off the fire, wrapped in a piece of cloth or blanket, and put in a hay basket to finish cooking or keep the food hot.

After heating the food thoroughly in a solar cooker or rocket stove, the hot pot is placed inside the insulated box, where it finishes cooking. The retained heat is enough to simmer the food to completion. A haybox does all of the simmering for us, saving not only energy but effort as well. Saving the firewood that wastefully went into simmering the food results in tremendous savings.

1. Pour water into a black pot or jar. Thin metal pots are ideal. If necessary, pots and lids may be painted black on the outside, with flat, nontoxic latex paint. Glass jars, painted black on the outside, also work well. Lids should have a small hole in them or be loosely screwed on to release steam pressure. Tip: Place a vertical strip of tape on the jar before painting, then remove the tape leaving a space through which to view the WAPI
2. Place a WAPI, washer down and wax up, into the water with the end of the string outside of the pot or jar. The washer end of the WAPI should rest on the bottom of the pot or jar and the wax end should be higher. Replace the lid.
3. Orient the solar cooker as you would for cooking. In general, face your cooker easterly in the morning and westerly in the afternoon.
4. Set the pot or jar in the solar cooker. If using a panel-type solar cooker, such as the CooKit, you can speed the pasteurization by placing the pot or jar inside a clear, heat resistant plastic bag. Though a plastic bag is required for cooking in this type of cooker, it is often not necessary for pasteurizing.
5. Leave the cooker in a sunny place for a number of hours, reorienting if necessary. Allow at least one hour per liter of water.
6. When the WAPI wax melts and falls to the bottom of the WAPI, the water has been pasteurized. Even if the water has cooled by the time you check it, as long as the wax is at the bottom of the WAPI then pasteurization has occurred.
7. Allow the water to cool before drinking.
8. Keep the water covered until use to prevent recontamination.
   • Don't let fingers or unclean objects touch clean water.