Solar Cooking Archive Discussion Forums

UnicornKabobs · Joined: 02 Feb 2010 Posts: 3 Location: wichita, kansas

I have not seen any hotpots sold for under $99.00. (i am sure most people who would read this know already but hotpots are solar cooking pots--black metal sitting in a glass bowl and lid that fit together--perfect for use with panel cookers because of their built-in glazing and insulating airspace). Of course it is cheaper to make something like this yourself--there are pages featuring large glass jars with black jars inside and various black metal or ceramic pots sitting in some random glass containers. Most of these are somewhat inconvenient...grabbing a large hot glass bowl with no handle with mitts over my cement driveway sounds...precarious... and i am sure there are many people with me who prefer not to use the oven safe bags as they are all around flimsy, inconvenient, and impermanent..nor do jars allow ease in checking food or adding tender ingredients/spices. I believe $99.00 is too much to pay when larger containers- sizeable pyrex bowls and graniteware cooking pots- are much much cheaper. The only question is which of these will fit together well. Being able to recommend the size and brand of only two products to be used along with the very cheap panel cookers would greatly improve the chances of regular people trying out solar cooking. This would serve the people who are somewhere in between third world village poor and those who can afford fancy kits.it would also serve those who are trying to cook in the occasionally vicious Kansas wind.

there may be different brands that would work that i don't know about. One of the greatest benefits of this approach would be that one can use the pyrex bowl and the graniteware pot to cook in a regular oven or stovetop. it is important that they fit well together and have handles where needed. this would save newbies from the trial and error approach of finding the right vessel or otherwise blowing one's budget out the window...young people who have to be very frugal would benefit.

so, here are my candidates so far:

Pyrex® Sculptured 4-3/4-qt Bowl
Pyrex® 2-qt Casserole w/ Cover <--(only large one sold w/cover)
Pyrex® 4-qt Mixing Bowl
Granite Ware 4 quart beanpot
Granite Ware 4 Quart Stockpot with Steamer Insert
Granite Ware 4 Quart Covered Sauce Pot
Global Sun Oven, Granite Ware, Enamel, 3-quart Pot

some of the dimensions are listed on amazon for these products, some are not, they are all very cheap online. one problem is a glass lid-i have a pyrex 12 in glass lid that i might be able to use with some of those bowls. this is why i am only looking at circular shapes. square or oval might allow you to use a graniteware roaster, but it is my understanding that it is best to have a glass lid, correct? using the metal lid would open up many other possibilities but i think it would detract from the insulating potential.

i wish i knew the exact dimensions of all of those.. includng the depth of the graniteware without lids. as you can see a few of them might be a tight fit. if anyone can help by finding the dimensions of these or recommending a pair of products that fits together i would be most grateful. which ones do you think would fit best together? if i end up ordering a set then i will report what i find.

thank you,

Kirsten+Brock

micsolaire · Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:04 pm Post subject:

hello !
here is my hotpot that cost me less than 10$.

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webmaster · Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 6:12 pm Post subject:

This is great work. We will add this to the Solar Cooking Archive Wiki on the Pots page: http://solarcooking.wikia.com/Pots

Thanks,

Tom