Thermal cooking has been around for centuries, but we are just rediscovering it. This is essentially crock pot cooking without the need for electricity. The Wonderbag is simply the next iteration of it.
Here’s How I Use My Wonderbag
Get the food boiling and started for 20 minutes and then put in the thermal cooker to retain the heat and finish the cooking process. Perfect for a rocket stove application!
Wonder Box Bread
Katzkradul video on how to make a thermal cooker.
Step by step on making a wonder oven.
There are lots of YouTube videos out there. Of those I found, I thought these were pretty good. I do plan on making one and I will incorporate Mylar into my Wonderbag. Probably sit the pot on it as it is easily washed.
I ran a little Mylar thermal heat retention mini-experiment by boiling two cups of water in the microwave. I sat both on the oven top, but wrapped one in Mylar.
In just one layer of Mylar it lost approximately 15 degrees every 10 minutes starting from 212 degrees and using a meat thermometer. The uncovered cup was lukewarm within 10 minutes – very normal from my experience with coffee and tea.
The cup wrapped in Mylar was still 100 degrees after 1 hr.
Also, I’m inclined to put it in a box simply because I have critters that would see the whole bag thing as a potential toy – And of course, I would lose the top pillow!
Looking for other ideas on off grid cooking? Check out this post on 6 Ways to Cook When The Power is Out.
Brilliant idea. To buy a commercial version here is about $70 for a small one and up to $130 for one which will deal with a larger pot. And I can use a recycled bean bag for the beans.
Yeah Harriet! We finally hit something you like! LOL :-D
Coming up next week is Solar Cookers, including my homemade version and the WE2s experience with their Sun Oven. Solar cooking is ideal for warm, sunny climates like Australia has and the United States’ southwest.
We are under blizzard warnings today with 8″ to 14″ of heavy snow predicted, 45 mph hour winds and white out conditions. We can’t get all the snow off the roof and I’m just hoping the kitchen and garage roofs don’t collapse. I have the components for a thermal cooker and may just put mine together today and give it a test run. ;-D
Ditto on thermal “wonder box” type cooking. We opted for the large dark blue (heavy duty) tote. MrWE2 bought the “insulation buds” at Menard’s (a very very large bag full) very cheaply. I have two king-sized pillows that we’ll be filling and sowing the ends shut. Like you Bev, we just haven’t put the components together :-( I have a fairly large stainless steel pressure cooker that’s teflon lined that I’ll be using. Not sure yet how I’ll stop the steam vent but I’m betting MrWE2 will figure it out for me :-) Sorry to hear about your weather, hang in there for all of us here at SCP!