Urn Jacket - What the best dressed Urns are wearing.

I work at a school where coffee and tea are available all day. It occurred to me that a lot of energy is being wasted keeping the urn on all day.   I carried out an experiment using first one layer and then two layers of batting in an urn jacket.

On 6 trials the urn used an average of 0.280kW/Hour, with one layer it was 0,215kW/h and 2 layers and a hat brought it down to 0,198kW/h.   This is a saving of 37%.   The saving is not so much in the initial boiling of the urn but in it maintaining its temperature.

The urn has to be fitted for size and holes for handles, controls and outlets.   I used velcro to connect padded strips above the handles and at the front top and bottom.   The eyes are just for fun.   The hat is a circular cushion with a hole in the middle, filled with polystyrene beads which help it settle down on the slightly domed surface of the lid. An elastic band was initially used to keep the jacket snug but is no longer necessary.

Meringue baskets

(using a solar cooker only)
Meringues cooked in a solar oven are superior to those cooked in a conventional oven. They stay fluffy and white and will impress all your friends. Meringue baskets can be filled with ice cream, cream, berries or anything that your imagination can suggest. These quantities make 3 – 6 baskets depending on size.

3 egg whites
1 cup sugar or castor sugar
1tsp lemon juice
Beat egg whites with one teaspoon of the sugar until stiff. Add the rest of the sugar gradually beating well in between. Use a piping bag to form baskets onto a baking tray which fits into your solar cooker. Start with a circular base and then pipe the sides on top of the base. Make meringue triangles for garnish. Cook in the solar cooker facing the sun for two to three hours. Fill with ice cream or other filling of your choice.

Granny Chicken

(uses a solar cooker only)
This recipe is a family favourite and is adapted from a recipe given to me by my mother-in-law. It is a simple no fuss recipe cooked in one pot. It serves 3-5 people.

1 skinned deboned chicken fillet per person
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup chutney
2 cups water
1 pkt Brown Onion soup
40g rice per person
1 – 2 cups frozen casserole vegetables.
Place the chicken fillets at the bottom of a cast iron pot or black pot of suitable size. Mix the next four ingredients together and pour over the chicken. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix all together. Replace the lid and put the pot in a solar cooker facing the sun or facing north if you are going to be out all day. Serve with green peas and tomato wedges. Cooks in about 3 hours depending on the weather.

The biogel stove

The Biogel stove
Biogel stoves became very popular during the period of load shedding in South Africa. The fuel is an ethanol gel which is a renewable energy source ie it is not a fossil fuel. Most biogel stoves are very simple, having a reservoir for the fuel, an adjustable vent and a stable base for a pot to rest on. The most popular are double plate stoves which means one can cook two separate foods at once. At the time of writing the stoves and the gel were available at Pick and Pay stores.
Advantages of a Biogel stove
The stove has a wide flat base and can’t be knocked over.
Because the fuel is a gel, not a liquid, it can’t spill.
The vent controls the amount of air getting to the fuel so the stove can be adjusted for low, medium or high cooking.
There is no unpleasant smell, just a clean alcohol smell.
The stove is portable and easy to carry.
Disadvantages of a Biogel stove
Once the food is cooked, if all the biogel has not been used up, it can’t keep in the stove as it dries up. It is necessary therefore to know exactly how long you want the flame to last for and use the appropriate amount of gel (see table below)
Biogel fuel at present is more expensive than paraffin and so is more often used as a back up for electricity cuts in urban areas than as a normal method of cooking in poorer or rural areas where the increased safety would cut down the number of fire related accidents.
Table showing amount of Biogel to use for various times of cooking (measuring cups were used to measure gel)
Volume of Gel                                          Time of burning on high (minutes)

100ml	27
200ml	54
300ml	81
400ml	108
500ml	135

The Hot Box

In days gone by farmers’ wives knew that if you heated up porridge to boiling point for five minutes before bed, it would continue cooking if the pot was placed in a box and completely surrounded by hay. The next morning there would be a
warm breakfast. They called it a Hay Box. This is the basis of the Hot Box, also sometimes known as the Wonder Box. It relies on the principle of insulation. Food heated through for five or ten minutes and then well insulated, will continue
to cook as the heat is kept in.
At the simplest, place the pot on a dish cloth on the middle of a blanket. Fold the blanket around and over the pot and put it in a corner out of the way. The Wonder Box consisted of a specially shaped cushion inside a box and was  marketed by various charities. Any good insulation can be used in a Hot Box, even balls of crumpled up newspaper.
How to use a Hot Box for cooking.
Use the smallest pot that will take the amount of food you are cooking. The fuller the pot , the more efficient the cooking. Any source of heating can be used:- open fire, biogel stove, gas, paraffin or electricity. Heat the food and
enough water in the pot with the lid on and allow to boil for 5 or 10 minutes. Switch off the heat and place the pot upright in the box so that it is surrounded by the insulation or cushion. Leave for the appropriate amount of time (at least one and a half hours but it will continue to stay hot for up to 10 hours).

Recipes

Rice
Boil 2 cups of water and 1tsp salt and a stock cube. Add one cup of rice and allow to boil for another 5 minutes with the lid on but allowing a small gap for steam to escape. Place in Hot Box for an hour and a half.

Mielie meal
Use the quantities of meal and water you would normally use for the consistency you require. Boil for 5 minutes and then keep in the Hot Box for at least an hour or until required.
Chicken and Lentil soup
Add 4 cups of water to a chicken carcass, 1 tsp salt, 1 chicken stock cube, 1 cup lentils, a chopped onion, chopped or grated carrot or any vegetables of your choice. Boil for ten minutes then place in Hot Box for at least 2 hours. Can start
it before work and come back for supper. Remove the bones, scraping off any chicken still adhering to them. Liquidise if you prefer a smoother soup.

Foods that can be cooked in a Hot Box
The Hot Box is ideal for foods that cook slowly. It is excellent for rice, stews, one pot meals, dried legumes, vegetables,
mealie meal, soups. It works well at keeping most things hot and is ideal for transporting a hot dish for eating with friends. It is not suitable for foods that need brisk boiling like pasta.

Introduction

We are all aware of the energy crisis and of the fact that electricity is going to become more and more expensive.
Responsible people have already exchanged their incandescent light bulbs for the energy saving equivalent. They have turned down their geyser and insulated it with a geyser blanket. They switch off unused appliances and lights. Gas heaters have become more popular.
Energy does not only apply to electricity. Fossil fuels when burned provide heat energy. This is how we generate our electricity by burning large amounts of fossil fuels and then converting the heat energy produced to electrical energy.
In the process of conversion, a lot of the energy is lost. For heating and cooking many people go the direct route and burn something to use the energy produced. People without access to electricity have only this option and they will burn wood, coal, paraffin or gas to cook food and heat their homes. Wherever there are open fires there is the danger of houses burning down, people being burnt and toxic fumes being given off. However, with proper care this can be a fairly efficient way of utilising energy, especially if the fuel is renewable eg wood, charcoal, biofuels.
Then there is human energy. In our modern hectic world, we try to conserve our energy – to do things quickly and efficiently. Cooking is no exception. In the next couple of blogs I will be thinking about saving energy during cooking.