A few weeks ago, I attended a community class on creating decorative containers.  The class was taught by Jill Evans, author of the book Creative Containers.  During the class, I learned how to make a cute table decoration resembling a Thanksgiving turkey (see photo) by using an old food storage container, some construction paper and hot glue.

Because I am always looking to use what I already have at home, I loved this activity.  The best part about making “Tom Turkey” was knowing that I could make more crafts for each different holiday without having to purchase expensive craft accessories.  Christmas is just around the corner, and what better way to present a cute and memorable gift than in a homemade creative container?  Imagine the look of delight on your friend’s face when she receives a decorated can of hot chocolate or holiday nuts from you.  Or imagine the glow on a teenager’s face when he opens a cute container to find crumpled dollar bills.  The book will show you how to make all of the containers pictured below.

Along with other holiday-themed crafts, Creative Containers even includes instructions and patterns to make candle holders, decorative boxes, gift containers, shelf decorations, watering cans and more.  For example, the book contains directions for making an Independence Day table decoration featuring shooting rockets and metallic streamers (see photo of book cover).  There are also crafts for major life events, like graduations and weddings.

The book comes complete with color photo examples of each craft and a section of patterns that will help you in constructing.  All of the crafts are based on a container you would likely have at home, like empty food storage containers, oatmeal containers, soup cans, fast-food soda cups and mini water bottles.  The other essentials are colored construction paper, hot glue, a black marker and in some projects, inexpensive ribbon.

Each craft is labeled according to a level of difficulty.  The Thanksgiving turkey I completed was labeled “beginner,” and I felt that label was accurate.  All I had to do was cut along a photocopy of the pattern from the book and glue the pieces of construction paper on the can.

Having personally created a craft from the book, I highly recommend using its ideas to turn items you have at home into cute and affordable crafts.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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Today’s adventure is just outside the kitchen.  I am going to tell you about my experience experimenting with a sun oven.

A sun oven is a box-shaped chamber made mostly of fiberglass, aluminum and plastic.  Through solar heating technology, food is able to cook inside the chamber without the use of fuel or electricity.  The sun oven is even able to cook in winter.  These features make it the perfect accessory for camping trips, home use and emergency preparedness.

The sun oven cooks food by sunlight hitting the aluminum panels at the right angle.

The sun oven is 21 pounds, can be set up in 30 seconds and can be carried like a suitcase using the handle on the side.  It can do everything a standard kitchen oven can, except frying.

Because I didn’t even know what a sun oven was until about a month ago, I decided I had better start with something small when experimenting with it.  Hence, I decided to prepare a boxed cookie mix.

First I had to pre-heat the sun oven.  Following the simple instructions found on the sun oven brochure, I set up the oven in my front yard where the sun seemed to be the most intense.  I opened up the folded panels and let down the adjustable pole ever so slightly to make sure the shadows on both sides of the box were equal.

The amount of time required for cooking in the sun oven is dependent on the type of food and on the temperature your sun oven reaches after 45 minutes of preheating.  By that time the temperature should be stable and will then be consistent throughout the cooking process.   Sun ovens typically rise to around 360-400 degrees Fahrenheit.  My sun oven reached 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Since the boxed cookies called for 12 minutes of baking at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, I lengthened the time in the oven to 25 minutes to make up for the lower oven temperature.

After waiting for the oven to preheat and mixing up the cookies, I placed the prepared tray into the oven and clamped the lid down.  I left the cookies in the oven for 25 minutes.  I checked on them about half-way through, just to make sure they were baking.  I did not open the lid.  If I had, it would have taken added 10-15 minutes onto the cooking time.

After the time was up, I actually forgot all about the cookies.  Ten minutes after the timer rang, I rushed to rescue them.  However, the cookies looked just fine!  That would not have been the case if I had been baking in a conventional oven.

I took the cookies out with hot pads, careful not to let the hot air escaping from the chamber burn me.  My husband and I tried them out, and they were crunchy, but definitely not burnt.  If I had left them in any longer, I thought they probably would have been burnt, though.  They still tasted great, looked fine (just darker than usual) and were perfect with milk.

As I read more about the mechanics of the sun oven, I discovered that the sun oven will not burn food unless it has a high sugar content, like cookies.  It will harden it and dry it out a little if the food is kept in the oven too long, but it will not burn because the sun is the source of heat and it is constantly moving.  So if you do not turn your oven to follow the sun, your food will not burn.  For a sometimes forgetful kitchen novice, this is great news.

Some may be wondering why a regular oven is insufficient, or why they really need a sun oven.  I was one of those people before I started using the oven.

As I read up about it, I realized that if I were camping with my oven, I wouldn’t need to bring fuel or worry about ashes in my food.  I would also have evenly cooked food because the air in the sun oven chamber is all the same temperature.  If I were to go to the beach for the day, I would be able to home-cook a meal while I read or swam.  If I wanted to bake bread or cook a roast in the summer, I wouldn’t have to heat up my house with my conventional oven.  I wouldn’t have to turn up my air conditioning or use gas or electricity, thus saving money on utilities.  If I was in a natural disaster and the gas line or electricity to my house was shut off, I would still be able to eat regular, cooked food.  If I needed to flee my home, as I have had to do before because of a forest fire, I would only need to grab the handle of the sun oven and put it in my car.  I wouldn’t have to go to a woodpile with spiders in it and try to scramble pieces of wood together to load into my trunk.  Additionally, if I am absent-minded with the cooking time again, I won’t rush out to the sun oven to find charcoal or a fire inside the chamber.  The meal may be a little dry, but it will still be edible.

In addition to the aforementioned benefits of having a sun oven, I should also mention that the sun oven is fairly easy to clean and requires little maintenance.  If properly cared for, it should last a lifetime.

If I can learn to use it, anyone can.  The sun oven isn’t just a purchase.  It is an investment, and one well-worth the cost.

Right now, Preparedness Plus Products, LLC is selling the sun oven for $299.00.  If you would like more information on this incredible product, please visit www.preparednessplus.net or call 1-800-588-5412.

Until next time,

Patty Prepared

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