Shrinking your carbon footprint – it’s not all about sacrifice

I’ve spent the last few years striving to cut my use of fossil fuels in any way that I can. I’ve caulked, weatherstripped, insulated, cut back showers, consolidated my errands, changed which rooms I heat and how much I heat them, sweatered up in winter, quit baking…and had pretty much run out of low-cost modifications with immediate return on investment. As a result, I saved thousands of dollars last year in heating oil and propane, and without too drastic a crimp in my life. I’m still clean, well-fed and healthy, as are the various members of my fur and feathered family.

But the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf renewed my motivation, driving me to put my thinking cap back on, look for new ways to cut back, and revisit old trials that had not yet panned out.

A couple years ago I’d looked into solar cooking. The choices then seemed limited to high-end parabolic cookers that cost many hundreds of dollars, or cardboard and aluminum foil “do-it-yourself” projects doomed, at least in my clumsy hands, to failure. So as I watched helplessly as crude gushed into the gulf, killing all plants and animals unfortunate enough to be in its path, I decided to revisit Google where I discovered, to my delight, that solar cooking has enetered a new phase. Affordable. Practical. Efficient.

After researching a number of solar cookers currently available, I settled on the “Hotpot” from solarovens.net. Already, just 5 days after my Hotpot’s arrival, I am in love. On day one, I cooked experimental corn on the cob. I place 6 ears in the pot, set the pot on the reflectors, and headed to the lake with my dogs. An hour and a half later, a delectable aroma rose from 6 perfectly cooked ears. Day two brought me 6 perfect hard-cooked eggs. Days three and four brought me London broil simmering in onions, green peppers and garlic with a little Greek salad dressing for marinade. Today featured raspberry and cream cheese tarts.

Baking is back
As are simmering, stewing, boiling and braising. The advantages of solar cooking – aside from the obvious clean, renewable, freely available fuel -- are many:

* First, if you like to fuss over your cooking, lifting the lid, sniffing, stirring, adding a little more of this n’that as you go, you’ll have to change your habits some. Solar works best if you put everything in your pot and let it be. Aside from adjusting the position of your cooker, you simply need to leave it to the sun.

* The results are consistently fabulous. There is something distinct about the aroma and flavor of solar cooked food. A delicate purity – nothing to get “accustomed” too, it is simply scrumptious. It is nearly impossible to overcook, everything simply stews in its own juices.

* Although it takes longer to cook solar, it takes up far less of your time. You can adjust the position of the cooker every hour or so to speed the process, or you can set your cooker slightly ahead of the sun and just leave it alone longer. Cooking times vary with the amount and size of food chunks, not to mention the season, humidity and wind. So far everything I’ve tried as been finished within an hour and a half, but I know that when the sun is lower in the sky or when my pot is fuller, I can expect cooking times of 3 or 4 hours. But I won’t be tied to the pot for that time, so it is a matter of planning to return, not imposition or imprisonment.

Unexpected savings
At least with the Hotpot, no matter how inept you are, solar cooked food doesn’t burn to the pan. As a result, cleanup is easy. No soaking, no scrubbing, no scouring pads are needed. A gentle washing with a minimum of hot water and soap, and a quick rinse and your pot is good to go. The same with the outer glass bowl and the reflectors. Gentle wipe down and you're done.

Bottom line, I'm sold on solar
My conventional propane oven/stove is now officially semi, if not fully, retired and I expect my Hotpot to pay for itself within a couple of months. In addition to the Hotpot, I’m planning to get a second solar cooker of a different style that will enable me to cook multiple items – such as loaves of bread – at once and in different types of pans, from cast iron skillets to colored pyrex pans. Already I can imagine the soups, stews, breads and desserts I’ll be able to prepare and freeze throughout the summer and fall to feast on when the sun lies to low for cooking. Without sacrificing a thing, I'll be saving time, energy, money, and the earth.