SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Today's Why Guy question from Ken, who asks "Why don't more people do solar cooking around here?"
Ken, it's shocking to me that more people in Northern California don't solar cook. We have nothing but sunshine for seven months a year and that's all it takes. That and a solar cooking device, like an oven.
One solar cooking expert says its like cooking in a crock pot.
"It's long and slow and it saves money and energy and its fun," Paul Barth, solar cooking expert, said. "I think if more people saw how easy it is they would do it."
Barth's been a volunteer with the Sacramento-based Solar Cookers International for 35 years.
If it’s a sunny day, put your food outside in a solar cooker, cover it and forget about it. You can slow cook roasts, whole chickens, vegetables, meatballs. Whatever you'd put in your oven, slow cook it outside all day at about 200 degrees.
"I'll put the food out in the morning before work, the sun comes up about 10 a.m. and you come home about 5 or 6 p.m. and it's really warm or hot and you eat it," Barth said.
Imagine the cash you'd save by letting the sun do the work. You don't use electricity to cook in your inside oven or to run your AC to cool down your hot kitchen. Solar cooking devices can run anywhere from $40 to $400. Best way to find them?
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