Uses

• On a camping trip, a solar cooker is very useful.camping image by DOLPHIN from Fotolia.com
  
  Solar cookers can be used to cook meats, casseroles, vegetables and even breads. In your own backyard, a solar oven can cook a meal for free, using no electricity or gas, but just solar energy. On a camping trip, a solar cooker means you can bake rolls or a ham, and many other dishes too difficult to accomplish over an open fire. In emergency situations and at disaster sites, a solar oven provides the means to prepare hot food when utilities are non-existent or unreliable.
  
  

Environmental Considerations

• Solar ovens can be used to purify drinking watewater spash image by Warren Millar from Fotolia.com
  
  A solar cooker is non-polluting, and consumes no resources but freely available sunshine. It therefore can help to conserve scarce fuel in impoverished areas. The oven can also be used to "purify drinking water, treat infectious medical waste, and preserve (dry) food," according to Deborah Mitchell, a Senior Editor on the CharityGuide.org site. Thus solar cookers are a boon to individuals, families and communities without access to the equipment normally used to do these tasks.
  
  

Box Cookers

• Three main types of solar cookers are in use. The most common is the box cooker, consisting of an insulated box covered with a pane of glass. This was first designed by Nicholas-de-Saussure in the eighteenth century, according to information on the SolarCooking.wikia.com. The design has remained virtually unchanged since then. These ovens can be built from readily available materials and operated successfully with a minimum of practice.
  
  

Parabolic Cookers

• Curved concentrator, or parabolic cookers, use precisely curved surfaces of highly reflective material to produce high heat, but are complicated to use effectively and safely. Most require frequent adjustments to track the sun's rays and keep them concentrated in the cooker. The high heat generated can also be hazardous if the ovens are not supervised carefully. See the resources below for a description of a parabolic cooker that can cook for two hours without adjustment.
  
  

Panel Cookers

• Panel cookers combine features of the box cooker, with reflective panels similar to a parabolic cooker. Food is cooked in a closed container. Many user-friendly designs are available. The SolarCooking wikia website provides construction information for many variations. These cookers reach temperatures of only 200 to 250 degrees Farenheit, making them hot enough to cook most foods, but not well-suited for baking.