Cooking with a hay box? How pacific islanders do it

[Silver Wanderer]

I hope I am not off-topic but could not find any posts re Hay Boxes. Perhaps some kind person could re-direct me.
On one trip I saw how the islanders cooked very efficiently. If I remember correctly they burnt some wood in a deep hole in the sand. When it had died down to embers they put a thin layer of sand over the embers. The food was then wrapped in large leaves and placed on top. Sand was then added to fill the hole. The principle of utilising the minimum amount of fuel and very efficient low cost insulation was put into practice without using manufactured materials. I think that in some places they use stones that have been heated in a fire but this would be less effficient as the stones lose heat during their transfer.

I am a retired physicist and think it sad that so many people have never been taught about heat transfer, whether by conduction, radiation or convection.

As a pensioner I avoid wastng heat that I have to purchase out of my pension eg I always measure a cup-full of water if I am making one cup of tea. Has anybody ever calculated the total quantity of heat wasted if everybody boiled an extra cup of water every time they made tea?

Pensioners try hard to reduce carbon emission because they also need to cut fuel bills. This also applies to driving at a modest pace. Please don't honk because I am driving at 30 mph in a 30 mph zone.

[Milims]

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/index. ... nev-sweeny

All about it from Nev the guru!
BTW - Welcome to the site!

[invisiblepiper]

Hello - hayboxes were also used a great deal during the war. Essentially a hay and newspaper lined packing case (wooden) which kept a casserole or similar cooking once it had been brought to boiling. At the end of the day the food only needed reheating. My gran still used hers when I was a child!
And Hi!

[stargazer]

You can do it with a cardboard box and shredded newspaper, I used to have one. Two cardboard boxes, one needs to fit snuggly over the other, and some newspaper or straw. My pan had a handle on it so I cut slots in both boxes for the handle to stick out. It was a bit of a pain that the paper went everywhere when I took the pan out but I am sure there are better ways of doing it.
I used it a lot and keep meaning to make one again. I used to boil up the soup well then put it into the box overnight, by the morning it was perfect. And the thrill of it hardly costing anything!

[ina]

Pensioners try hard to reduce carbon emission because they also need to cut fuel bills. This also applies to driving at a modest pace. Please don't honk because I am driving at 30 mph in a 30 mph zone.

Not only pensioners... I have been called an idiot before (on a different forum) because I don't always do 60 in the 60 mile zone. Yesterday somebody nearly killed me because they "had to" overtake others who were probably only doing 58, on a very bendy road.... If I hadn't been doing rather less than 60, I wouldn't be here now!

Anyway - welcome to Ish!

And I often finish off cooking in the bed (feather duvet works as well as hay!), or in a thermos.

[stargazer]

Finishing the cooking in bed is a brilliant idea! No need for a hot water bottle!