Allow the sun to help you with your meal prep by making this solar oven. To begin you will need to gather the following materials: a square pizza box, a black marker or pen, a straw or a stick, non toxic tape or glue, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, scissors, a ruler, paper plates, black construction paper and the food that you want to cook on your oven (hot dogs work well as they require less time to heat through). Start making your oven by drawing a square on the top of the box, 1 inch away from the edges. Cut along 3 sides of the square on the box. Do not cut along the line along the back of the box, these cuts form the lid of the oven and the connected pieces allow for the oven to be opened and closed. Cut a piece of foil about the size of the flap lid and glue it shinny side up inside the box flap. The flatter the foil is the better so press out the wrinkles in the foil with your fingers. Cut the plastic wrap to fit the hole inside the pizza box that the flap made. Make sure the plastic is not much bigger than the hole because you will want to make an air tight seal when you tape the plastic to the box.
Cut more foil and use it to cover the bottom and sides of the box. You can use glue or tape to hold the foil in place. Cover the foil inside the box with black construction paper and tape it into place. In order to work as efficiently as possible you will want to set your solar oven on a level surface in an area that gets plenty of sunlight. Set your food to be cooked on a paper plate in the center of the box. Keep the back flap of the box open with a straw or a stick.
The flap needs to be facing the sun so that the sun reflects off of the foil and into the box. Just as with any oven, you should be careful when working with this solar oven as it can get very hot. Cooking hot dogs this way can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes depending on the thickness and fat content of the meat.