Use a Solar Cooker
for a Unique Beach Picnic

Using a solar cooker can be a fun and memorable dining experience. Imagine setting up your cooker on the beach and playing in the sun until your food is ready! Even better, dinner will stay warm in the sun but not burn when you decide to play a little longer.

This chicken was breaded with crushed tortilla chips. Once the chicken was cooked we topped it with a can of diced tomatoes and green chilies and shredded cheese then seasoned it with cilantro and lime and cooked it until the cheese melted. Finally, we added a little garnish. Cooking times will depend on how sunny it is, but we’ve found that boneless chicken will cook in a couple hours. You can see the condensation in the cooker when it gets hot.

Just want a snack? Nachos are so easy. Just top tortilla chips with cheese and heating it until the cheese melts. Serve it with salsa. If you want to make a meal of it, try adding some refried beans, onions, jalapeno peppers, and/or cooked and shredded meat. For a very simple treat melt a bag of chocolate chips with a can of sweetened condensed milk. Use it as a dip for fruit or cookies or cool it and serve it as fudge!

These are just a few ideas. You can actually use just about any slow cooker recipe. Fish will cook faster than chicken and beef will take longer. For best cooking, stick with a single layer of meat in the pot and use recipes without too much liquid.

There are ways to build a solar cooker fairly inexpensively, but if you’re like me you will decide it’s much easier to buy one. The one I use is from Sun Toys. It’s quite inexpensive and can be purchased with or without an enamel pot.

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