Survival "Kyoto" Cooking - No Smoke! Easy and Cheap to Make.

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Jon Bohmer has invented a cheap, solar-powered cardboard cooker.

It consists of two cardboard boxes with an acrylic cover. This allows the sun’s power to come in and not leave.

A layer of straw or newspaper between the boxes provides insulation, while black paint on the interior and the foil on the exterior help ion preserving the heat.

Link


Great *Bug Out* stuff this!

Obviously you can’t use oil with it, but, I still can’t imagine this thing wouldn’t work great in a pinch - especially in the case of not wanting to give away your position by using wood.

I read for boiling water it’s great - though not instantaneous of course.
Bake bread, cook food - you bet.

Wouldn't is work just awesome for making jerky, drying fish and tomatoes, etc!

I’m going to try the K-Box this weekend and let everyone know how it worked!

If any of you have used something like this - or have suggestions for cooking in a *hide out* situation I hope you share it with the rest of us.

EDIT: More Info!

Inventor turns cardboard boxes into eco-friendly oven

The trapped rays make the inside hot enough to cook casseroles, bake bread and boil water.

What the box also does is eliminate the need in developing countries for rural residents to cut down trees for firewood. About 3 billion people around the world do so, adding to deforestation and, in turn, global warming.

By allowing users to boil water, the simple device could also potentially save the millions of children who die from drinking unclean water.

peace


[edit on 10-4-2009 by silo13]

I have been looking for something like this. I live in a building where our stoves are all electric and in an outage I can't even cook the beans and rice I have stored for an emergency.

There was no information on the specifics of constructing one, do you have any instructions?

Great silo thanks for the link, be sure and let us know how it works out in reality.

I read on a survival site some years ago about how you can use one of those potato chip bags with the shiny inside for making a small solar cooker in a pinch or on the go. The point was that there is always trash blowing in the wind and those bags can be found quite easily.

I'd definitely have to test it, with a thermometer, before I trusted it. The cardboard boxes aren't going to be great retainers of heat themselves, but once the air inside warms, expands and tries to rise, it'll find a way out of something that simple rather easily.

That's not to say that it won't have some specialized uses, and that itself makes it of some value, but my guess is that it'll get no hotter than 200F. That would be hot enough to sterilize water, but might not be hot enough to thoroughly cook food.

interesting.
nice info, thanks! flag for you.

I just wanted to add for those who may need it also in an emergency pinch.

You can take a tuna can, roll cardoard in a spiral inside of it. (the desinger borders they use in the class room work great.)

and fill it with wax. let it cool and harden. then you put a large soup can or coffee can over it. Metal, to be specific.

and you have a homemade bunsen burner. you just light the wax.

reply to post by redhead57


I'm glad I posted this if it's something you were looking for.
I didn’t find any directions but I think the following would do?
It’s how I’m going to try it.

~ 2 Large cardboard boxes, one about 2 inches smaller than the first.
~ Line the complete inside of the large box, including the *flaps* with tinfoil - shiny side out of course.
~ Paint the inner box with black paint (a few coats I'd think).
~ Position the smaller box inside the larger and stuff any space around the smaller with newspapers or grass, something to hold in more heat.
*I'd choose fresh grass - not too wet. It holds in tons a heat and is less flammable than hay (just in case).*
~ Cover with Plexiglas or clear plastic.
~ Position the *flaps* to reflect even more sunlight into the box.
~ Put whatever it is you want to cook into the smaller box under the Plexiglas or clear plastic.
~ Make sure the Plexiglas fits snuggly on top the smaller box, not letting any heat escape.


Good Luck!

reply to post by vor78

That's not to say that it won't have some specialized uses, and that itself makes it of some value, but my guess is that it'll get no hotter than 200F. That would be hot enough to sterilize water, but might not be hot enough to thoroughly cook food.

There is another site where this man won an award for this box.

He claims it does in fact boil water - and wants to distribute the box in poor countries where children die of foul water diseases.

I can't remember the name of the box and the article but I'll go find it.

He claims it boils water, bakes bread, cooks chicken, etc.

Not as fast as a conventional oven of course, but, slower the better I say - if no ones going to follow the smoke to my hidey-hole.

The smell might lead them in! Nothing like the smell of fresh bread - or chicken for that matter!

Let me go find the info and I’ll be right back!

peace

Originally posted by vor78
I'd definitely have to test it, with a thermometer, before I trusted it. The cardboard boxes aren't going to be great retainers of heat themselves, but once the air inside warms, expands and tries to rise, it'll find a way out of something that simple rather easily.

That's not to say that it won't have some specialized uses, and that itself makes it of some value, but my guess is that it'll get no hotter than 200F. That would be hot enough to sterilize water, but might not be hot enough to thoroughly cook food.

I'm going to disagree, It was designed for Africa where its nice and sunny.
In a study at this link: www.mydogiscool.com... (they were testing for pet safety) an automobile interior temp reached 159 degrees F. Meat can be safely cooked at a core temp of 160. And unlike a auto, this thing deliberately concentrates the suns energy. I think it would work pretty good in a pinch. provided you're not in a hurry.

Technical I am not, I couldn't even build a house with my Lincoln Logs when I was a kid! LOL

I am definitely going to make one of these things for an emergency. I live in the city and with barely enough money to make it from month to month, fleeing is not really much of an option for me and my family so we are going to have to figure out a way to tough it out.

I have used the can, cardboard and wax thing before during an outage and trust me it works! It is an easy inexpensive thing to make and if you have kids they love projects like this. I know it sounds corny but I save the wax from when I need to trim my candles for this particular use. It is a great way to provide light, cooking heat, and if it is cold enough you can light a few of them and they do provide a bit of heat as well.

Let's hope we never need any this stuff.

I think this is great. This could do some serious and efficient good in 3rd world countries. To be able to sterilize water so cheaply and easily? I could see them making some cheap fully plastic version of this.

I'm going to make one with my daughter this weekend. See if we can boil some water on sunny day. Or maybe cook a steak. Never had sun cooked steak. Wonder if it's tough to chew or juicy =-)

Thank you for sharing some useful knowledge! I am going to make a K-box and give it a go this weekend to see how well it works.

My favorite thing to eat when camping is hamburger, potato, onion and carrots wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in the fire for 40 minutes or so.

I will attempt to make this using the K-box... I'll report back later.

haha Made one of these in 6th grade science class. It really does work well. We had different mods though. We used magnifying glasses to concentrate the suns rays on the object being cooked. Our design was an upside down pyramid, but with a flattened tip. We used acrylic glass, painted the outside box a flat midnight black, and the bottom of the inside of the box was flat as well and the inside was insulated by newspaper and covered with tinfoil. I works extremely well...

[edit on 10-4-2009 by Akkadian]

no smoke... but that mirror finish in a bug-out sit.is bad news ..signal mirror for all rangers,drones,satellites,apaches's...checkout the dakota fire method..i think this would work great as a solar still to extract water from plant life.everything has its own applications for diff. situations,

Originally posted by vor78
I'd definitely have to test it, with a thermometer, before I trusted it. The cardboard boxes aren't going to be great retainers of heat themselves, but once the air inside warms, expands and tries to rise, it'll find a way out of something that simple rather easily.

That's not to say that it won't have some specialized uses, and that itself makes it of some value, but my guess is that it'll get no hotter than 200F. That would be hot enough to sterilize water, but might not be hot enough to thoroughly cook food.

I smoke meat a 165F for 6 hours and the meat just falls off the bone. I have never tried solar convection but I would think it would have same results without the smoke taste. I have cooked ribs in a oven on 200F all day and gotten great eats!

solar cooker!! were making stuff like those!! but of course not made from box and aluminum foil.

pretty efficient, we it everyday for lunch and dinner! can cook steaks in less than 2 hours.

*ehem* message me if you want to order one, pretty cheap *ehem* *cough* *cough*

Only problem with this is, wouldn't the heated paint be toxic and mix with the food?

If not then this idea is awesome.

For your bugout bags, a shipment of MREs might be easier to use as the chemical reaction process for heating up the meals only takes a few minutes. Probably easier also since time is of the essence in a survival situation and not everyone is going to have the materials needed for making an improvised cardboard oven.
One of those "just add water" things. Although of course there are a few specific MREs that you'd want to avoid for your tongue's sake.

reply to post by blkraven7

no smoke... but that mirror finish in a bug-out sit.is bad news ..signal mirror for all rangers,drones,satellites,apaches's...checkout the dakota fire method..i think this would work great as a solar still to extract water from plant life.everything has its own applications for diff. situations,

I have to admit I wondered about that...
And of course what the heck do you do when it's overcast...
But, all in all it's good information to know - if nothing else it's fun!

Thanks for your keen observations!



peace

reply to post by spec_ops_wannabe

For your bugout bags, a shipment of MREs might be easier to use as the chemical reaction process for heating up the meals only takes a few minutes. Probably easier also since time is of the essence in a survival situation and not everyone is going to have the materials needed for making an improvised cardboard oven.

Agreed, not everyone will have the materials for the oven, but it's a good back up when everyone doesn't have MREs.

And with the horrible possibility that many people will be stranded in big cities without electric, etc - And if you need boiled water? Also I can’t imagine it will be hard to find those kind of materials after a disaster it’s sad to say the streets will be littered with that kind of stuff. Maybe not...

No matter the situation knowledge is still our greatest weapon and lifesaver!

Thanks for the input!

peace

S and F for you friend!!

I had started experimenting with various items and have experimented with this type thing, I found an old chest and took the top off, then used a glass top from some outdoor furniture.

It does take awhile, I have not tried doing jerky or anything on it, that I use a dehydrator for. But.. in case of not having electricity it might work.

I have found many many "survival" websites and have incorporated regular household items to work.

BTW: another excellent thought for people to do.. which I have two different books on now. Is get a book about how to make meals and eat regular everyday outside plants. It is actually very interesting and good to have in a pinch also.

I have a huge file on my computer all about survival!

Also, after living for almost a year without electricity on an island after a hurricane, you realize it is good to have back up of everything. So, call me a nut, but hey, I got what I would need if any SHTF!

If anyone wants all the various book info that is online and other "survival" info, I will be happy to link them to you. Just let me know.