Sometime last summer I came up with the idea that I’d like to live for a few weeks on only solar cooked food.  I’m not sure of the motivation for this other than simply to prove that it can be done.  For those that don’t already know, I live in Pennsylvania, which isn’t exactly the sunshine capital of the world.  However, I now have three solar ovens, so when a sunny day comes along, I can cook a lot of food quickly.  Here are the rules I’ve established for myself:

• I won’t eat any cooked food except that cooked in a solar oven.  Precooked ham and vegetables are off limits.
• I’m not going to be religious about condiments.  I’ll allow myself to use ketchup, butter, and similar items that may have met up with a traditional oven in their past.  Just in case making Dr. Pepper uses an oven; yes, I’m allowed to drink that as well.
• Raw fruits and vegetables are OK (after all, I don’t want my survival to depend on the weather).
• Use of the microwave, even for thawing and warming of food, is off-limits.
• I plan to do this for two weeks or until I decide otherwise. 🙂

Today was an excellent day for solar cooking but we were planning to visit friends for supper.  Therefore, I decided to begin solar cooking today, and start my solar-food-only binge tomorrow.

Here’s what I cooked today in preparation for the days ahead:

• An entire chicken
• “Hard-boiled” a dozen eggs for making egg-salad (I don’t use water, so really no boiling involved).
• A batch of biscuits from those cans of dough you buy in the supermarket
• Some “crust-less” apple pie

New to solar cooking?  For a wealth of information on the subject, go to www.solarcooking.org.