Solar Ovens – Green Gifts for the Holidays

Solar Cooker - a great green holiday gift

Its time to shop for the holidays!  And its also time for another installment in our Peachy Green series: green gifts for the holidays.  Today, we are highlighting just one, super green idea: solar ovens (aka solar cookers).  Never heard of this contraption?  Well, let us tell you all about solar ovens!  This is one green gift that you can be sure will not end up in the far reaches of the attic or a garage.

Solar ovens use a number of reflectors to concentrate solar energy on a cooking vessel.  You can buy a boxed solar oven, or a circular model.  There are also panel solar ovens.  The quickest cooking can take place in a circular solar oven.  Other types allow for moderate cooking.  Overall, meals prepared with a solar oven are more nutritious because the slower cooking method allows nutrients to remain in the food.

Although solar ovens have been in existence for more than 200 years, it is only in the past twenty years that technology has advanced to the point that consumers are ready and willing to use solar ovens to prepare meals.

Want to see a solar oven in action?  Watch the following video to see how easy it is to cook meals with power from the sun:

I am ready to convert to a solar cooker when I consider how much energy is required to preheat my oven, cook my food and then allow it to cool down.  Solar ovens are so much more efficient than traditional models!  And the idea of using natural, renewable energy to prepare meals is so appealing. In my childhood, I grew up in Girl Scouts.  Preparing foil-encased meals over a fire was exciting and new.  Why not use similar technology to create family meals with a smaller carbon footprint?

More solar oven models

If you don’t want to buy a solar oven this holiday season, then how about build your own?  Talk about a win-win-win in these economic times.  Your gift recipient loves it – you save money – you save the environment.  Isn’t that what the holidays are about?  Giving more than you receive?  Yes, that’s what I was taught!

OK, then.  I would say…. its a “wrap!”