The technology in cooking nowadays has already grown in leaps and bounds. Harnessing the sun’s power for cooking activities is getting efficient and famous around the world. In places, both rural and urban, where people are confronted on issues on wood fire cooking, solar grills, solar ovens, and solar cookers have attracted the public’s attention.
Other places also have limited access to cooking fuels, like gas and electricity. Some can find charcoal, but this fuel is also getting expensive. Other poor communities in India and Africa also have problems with the scarcity of trees. Like in urban areas, poor people have to walk for long hours to collect firewood outside their residences.
Interestingly, solar grills, solar ovens, and solar cookers have become widely available as this technology can do high-heat cooking up to 200 degrees Celsius for 25 hours.
The technology behind solar grills comes from a compact lens used to gather or concentrate the sun’s light onto a thermal battery made up of molten salts, which eventually retain the heat.
This heat is stored during the entire day. When the sun is gone, the lens becomes the cover that heats up the molten salt piping. Then you can start cooking by simply opening the cover and place your food on the grill.
Since solar energy is free and available everywhere, people can maximize it as their fuel to do many things, particularly cooking.
Some benefits of solar grills
1. It is cost-saving
The sun gives out energy that is inexhaustible, limitless, and free. This is one of the foremost reasons why solar grills is beneficial. You do not need to buy gas, charcoal, wood, or electricity for you to be able to cook your food. In this manner, you can set aside the money for fuel to buy the other necessities at home.
Using the solar grills, especially during the hot season, gives you all the advantages. It will save your air conditioning system from overdrive. You can bring your food outside and put it in the solar grills for cooking.
Not to mention, you can reduce your electricity bills. In some developing countries, the use of solar grills and solar ovens helps families to do some business because of the money they can save from other costly sources of fuel.
2. Promote healthy lifestyle
The use of solar grills and solar ovens helps the community achieve clean air and help them have healthy living.
The use of firewood and other fuels brings irritants and causes other diseases to the body, especially the lungs. However, using solar ovens and solar grills will pave the way for improving the health to people of all ages.
The use of solar grills with no open flames also brings safety to children from burning and other accidents around.
This technology will also prevent women and children, particularly in poor and developing countries, from leaving their homes to gather firewood far from their area.
3. It is environmental-friendly
Cooking through solar grills and other solar-powered cooking devices can help you not to be dependent on other environmentally-hazardous sources of power, especially fossil fuels.
Also, using the sun’s heat will minimize the burning of charcoal, firewood, and fossil fuels that can harm the ozone layer and lead to the greenhouse effect and air pollution. Furthermore, using solar grills and solar ovens can be helpful to you during camping time when there are fire restrictions.
You will also have less garbage if you use solar grills because you will not be carrying stocks of butane and other fuel bottles.
4. It can heat water from clean sources
Solar ovens and solar grills can help you heat water from clean sources. Accordingly, unsafe water is the cause of 80 percent of illnesses and deaths in poor and developing nations.
The disease will be present in unboiled water in most developing countries. Having solar grills or solar ovens can allow you to boil your water to be safe for drinking while you are cooking in the wilderness. You can also use boiled water to sterilize medical equipment and dishes.
5. It provides easy cooking
“Cooking in a solar oven is easy. Food cooks slowly (much like a slow cooker), so it does not need to be constantly monitored. Therefore, time is freed up to enjoy other pursuits,” said food writer Merry Bevill.
Indeed, having solar grills or solar oven allows you to cook your food in different ways, either by baking, steaming, boiling, frying, grilling, or roasting!
“Keeping the heat adjusted only requires keeping the cooker focused into the sun. Solar cooking generally requires less water to cook because the water does not boil away taking valuable nutrients with it,” added Bevill.
Cooking your food using a solar oven and solar grills allows your food not to burn fast. In fact, the food will become more flavorful, moist, and tender through the use of solar grills.
“Foods with a high sugar content such as cookies will eventually burn, but even that has a long flexible cooking window.Parabolic Solar Cooker benefits of solar cooking,” according to Bevill.
6. Portability
You can bring your solar grills, solar oven, or solar cookers anywhere! You can bring it during camping, picnic, boating, and tailgating.
If you desire a hot meal during your camping, you can always rely to your solar cookers or solar grills, too. You can still use your solar cooker, solar grills, and solar ovens to cook your food and feed your family during power outages.
Furthermore, you can find convenience in setting up your solar oven, solar grills, and solar cookers if you are off the road, get lost, or if your car broke in the middle of nowhere. Just mount it outside your car or truck and get some emergency foods that you can heat up—from water, coffee, soup, or your favorite noodles—while waiting for a rescue down the road. Your solar grills, solar cooker, or solar oven will provide you peace of mind, comfort, and warm company.