Square Foot Solar Cooker DIY

Make a portable solar-powered cooker using a few simple and inexpensive materials.

By Craig Bergland
Updated on October 24, 2022
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by Craig Bergland
Panel solar cookers are simple to make and can be used at home or on the go. Beyond cooking food, they can perform myriad other tasks.

Make this portable solar cooker DIY project that also doubles as a solar still! DIY solar panel cookers can be built to fold up and go where you need them.

There are four styles of solar cookers: box ovens, parabolic cookers, evacuated heat tubes, and panel cookers. Good commercial box ovens are the best all-around option. Parabolic cookers and Fresnel lenses will get very hot quickly, but they can hurt your eyes and start fires if left unattended. Heat tubes are interesting, but they often need an extra reflector, plus they’re fragile and expensive. Panel cookers, on the other hand, are the easiest to build, and they’re portable, lightweight, and multifunctional. Here’s how I build my own ft2 — or “square foot” — panel cookers, and some common uses for these off-grid devices.

Tools and Materials

  • 18-by-24-inch piece of corrugated plastic
  • Tape measure
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