Weekly DIY: Solar Pizza Box Oven

Are you sick of using cars’ hot engines for cooking food? Are you as poor as me? Well, look no further. I’m here to show you how to make your own solar oven out of a pizza box, paper, and some foil. It requires no gas and no electricity to run, so it won’t cost you a cent to use. What’s that? Is it safe to use in your cardboard house? Of course, it may even heat up your living space a little. This bad boy will reach temperatures in excess of 150 degrees Fahrenheit, so it may take a little longer to get your food cooked, but when you’re as desperate as me, what’s another 15 minutes?

Save some energy, save some money. Detailed instructions and link after the jump.

Pizza Box Solar Oven (K)

Objective: To make a solar oven out of a pizza box and other readily available materials.

Outcomes: Describe ways to rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle

Materials: Pizza box; black construction paper; aluminum foil; saran wrap; hot dogs; toothpicks; tape; glue

Doing it: Open up a clean pizza box. The box will have a top flap, and a bottom box. Line the bottom box with black construction paper and glue it down. Cover the top flap with aluminum foil and glue it on as flat as possible. Bumps or irregularities in the foil will reduce the ability of the top flap to collect sunlight. Poke two toothpicks into each end of a hot dog to make a little stand. Place the hot dogs in the box, and cover it with saran wrap. Make the saran wrap as smooth as possible too. Put the box in a sunny place, and adjust the top flap so that the sun is being reflected straight into the box. You may need to prop up the flap. My box was capable of sustaining heats of around 150 Fahrenheit, and heated up very quickly.

Link, <source>