How to Make a Cooking Box (Hay Box / Hay bag)

This article is a draft. It was just started and needs further work.

Short Description

• Problem: Lack of wood or of cooking fuel, low energy cooking
• Idea: Bringing the food to the boiling or cooking temperature as usual and right after the first boil putting the pot in an insulated box where the food keeps on cooking
• Difficulty: Easy. Important: no vapour shoud come out of the cooking pot
• Price Range: Depending on material used, normally cheap
• Material Needed: A box or a basket with at least 10 cm space between the pot and the box walls, insulation material ( wood ashes, hay, saw dust, straw, newspapers, wool, cotton...) fabric bags for the insulation material, tape to stop vapour from the cooking pot.
• Geographic Area: Global
• Competencies: No special competencies
• How Many people? One person
• How Long does it take? Half a day

Description

Bringing the food to the boiling or cooking temperature as usual and right after the first boil putting the pot in an insulated box where the food keeps on cooking. The insulation keeps the heat in the cooking box. It is perfect for food like rice, beans, cooked vegetables, food that stays long in a closed pot. It takes longer to cook, but it reduces extremely the amount of wood, using one quarter to one third of the wood normally used to cook the same amount of food.

Difficulties

Important: no vapour shoud come out of the cooking pot, because the vapour would enter the insulation material and reduce the efficiency of the hay box. Wet insulation doesn't insulate anymore. When the insulation became wet by accident, you should take it out of the box and let it dry in the sun before using the box again.

Links

Link to Fourthway's poster "How to make a fuel saving stove": http://www.fourthway.co.uk/posters/pages/fuelsavingstove.html