{"id":16607,"date":"2014-06-18T08:01:04","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T14:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=16607"},"modified":"2014-07-06T10:39:56","modified_gmt":"2014-07-06T16:39:56","slug":"slow-cooking-without-electricity-diy-plans-hay-boxes-wonderbags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/slow-cooking-without-electricity-diy-plans-hay-boxes-wonderbags\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow Cooking without Electricity: DIY Plans for Hay Boxes, Wonderbags, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When I first discovered the Wonderbag<\/a>, I remember thinking “What a cool idea – I’m amazed no one’s ever thought of that before!” Turns out I was just displaying my ignorance to myself: the concept of cooking with insulation, or “retained heat cooking,” has been around for ages (and is very common at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage<\/a> – I just missed it somehow). Essentially, once you bring a soup, stew, beans, rice, or other food cooked in liquid to a boil, you can place it in the insulated box and let it cook. You don’t need to use any more fuel. It’s slow cooking without the Crock Pot!<\/p>\n

Hay boxes and other insulated cookers are like rain barrels in the sense that they all contain just a few basic elements: in this case, a container and an insulating material (which doesn’t have to be hay). So, you could simply use a cooler and a quilt. Unlike some of the other DIY projects we’ve featured here, though, a hay box could be designed to fit in your kitchen… even to work with your decor. So, I gathered up some project plans for various insulated cookers, with the hopes that you’ll let your imagination run wild… and that you’ll start cutting way back on your electricity or gas use for cooking.<\/p>\n

The Original: the Hay Box<\/h3>\n

The hay box cooker probably originated somewhere in Scandinavia, but can \u00a0now be found all over the world… you could see how such a simple device would be very popular in the developing world. Want to make one of your own for camping, or for the kitchen? It’s pretty easy: the folks at Root Simple have created a very thorough overview of hay boxes<\/a>. Want more of a step-by-step plan? As you might have guessed, there’s (at least) one at Instructables<\/a>. And if you’re feeling really ambitious, you can make your own box from pallet wood:<\/p>\n