362 A Healthy Home
Haybox cookers save fuel
A haybox cooker is a way to prepare slow cooking foods (like stew, beans, and
rice) and to keep food warm while saving fuel. A haybox cooker is made from
hay or whatever insulating materials are available to you. It can be made
from a cardboard box, a basket filled with straw or newspapers, or by simply
wrapping your cooking pot in a heavy blanket or cloth.
After the food on the stove boils for a few minutes, remove the pot and
place it in the haybox. The food will continue to cook for 2 or more hours. The
more food in the pot, the more heat it will keep. Haybox cookers do not work
well for small amounts of food. Let the cooker dry out after each use.
insulating
material (but not
plastic or foam)
Cooking pot
with lid
Box
Basket
lid
Cooking pot with lid
Cloth stitched
to basket holds
insulation
material in place
Insulating
material to
place over the
cooking pot
A haybox cooker made with a box.
A haybox cooker made with a basket.
An improved metal stove
The rocket stove is a small metal stove that can be used in temporary living
situations such as refugee camps, or any place where people do not have the
resources to build a full-size stove. It burns fuel cleanly with little smoke. The
rocket stove can be made from inexpensive, locally available materials.
(For more detailed instructions on how to build a rocket stove, see Resources
and Where Women Have No Doctor, page 396.)
How the rocket stove works:
The body of
the stove is a
big tin can.
Ashes placed
between the
Pot lid keeps
heat in.
inside chamber
and the outside
of the stove keep
heat in.
The fire is
enclosed so all
the heat rises to
the pot.
Metal skirt keeps
heat in pot.
The pot sits
right above the
fire so all the
heat touches
the pot.
The inside chamber can
be made from ceramic
floor tiles, at least 1 inch
(2½ cm) thick.
Wood burns a
little at a time.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012