New things...

I got one of these radios from Emergency Essentials.  I was very impressed.  It has AM, FM, 2 short wave stations and weather station.  It works on batteries, solar, electricity or crank.  It has an emergency flashlight, SOS light and reading light.  It can charge your cell phone as well.  And it's not too big and doesn't weigh very much either.

What I really wanted from Emergency Essentials though was a solar cooker.  Here's the one I got
It was on sale in June so I had to get it.  It is very easy to use and wonderful in the summer.  No heating up the house!  It came with the two little pots shown, a thermometer, cookbook and a water pasteurization indicator and reflector.  The body of the cooker is plastic which makes it pretty light weight to carry but not too light weight that is going to blow away in the wind.  So far I've made  roasts, chicken and potatoes in it and today I made chicken, potatoes and meatballs.  Figured it wouldn't take too long to do all of that so we have enough for a few meals.  It is like a slow cooker really.  The meat comes out moist and tender and oh so flavorful.  I'm going to try to make some bread and see how it turns out.  The only thing that is difficult about using it is deciding what you want to eat 6-8 hours before it's cooked.  The potatoes don't take as long only 1-2 hours and the meatballs only took about 2 hours.  You don't add any water to the pan when you do the potatoes either.  I think it will be a wonderful thing to have if the electric goes out, of course only if it goes out in the morning cause it does take a few hours to cook everything and it works best on sunny days with little or no wind.  I did set up the reflectors on the first try but found I didn't need them down here in Alabama.  They are sturdy too.  The clips that hold on the plastic cover on the cooker though are hard to get on there but if they were too easy they wouldn't keep the cover on and I really don't want to be running after a cover after it has been pulled off by the wind LOL.  Plus with the clips on I'm sure that the animals can't get into it.  The cats really liked smelling the meat smells coming from it ;)

I was really pleased on how fast the items were shipped and the shipping charge was only $6 on my order which I thought was very reasonable.  Now anyone out there have any solar cooker recipes?