When I heard about cooking in a hot box on Pia Taylor’s Mother City Living blog last year, I knew straight away that I had to have one. I’m always looking for ways to reduce my energy usage, so a hot box seemed a perfect addition to my energy saving toolbox. I did a bit of research into where to buy a hot box, and settled on buying a Salathiso hot box, because the sales of these particular hot boxes don’t line the pockets of any business owner, but have brought hope and light into the lives of unemployed single mothers in Kayamandi (Stellenbosch, South Africa) by allowing them to generate a small income for themselves.

Salathiso hot boxes are simply two polystyrene-filled cushions in beautiful Shweshwe fabric that can be placed in a cardboard box for insulation, but I’ve been using my hot box without the cardboard box and it works pretty well. During winter I plan to use a cardboard box for extra insulation.

Here’s how to use a hot box:

Once you’ve brought your pot of food to the boil, remove it from the heat source and place it (still in the pot) in the bottom half of the hot box (I put a folded piece of newspaper under the pot for extra insulation and to soak up spills should they happen). Then fit the top cushion snugly on top. You can now leave your food safely cooking away while you get on with your day.

I’ve made a series of very successful dishes with my hot box over the past few months including stews, savoury mince and curries, and my absolute favourite thing to cook in the hot box is rice, because, for the first time in my life, now I too can cook rice perfectly.

It’s been easy to adapt my usual recipes for use in the hot box, all you need to do is reduce the amount of cooking liquid (because less is lost through evaporation in a hot box than on the stove), and leave the food to cook in the hot box for a longer period than you would do on the stove. For example I’ve found that 2-3 hours makes for perfect rice, while stew, soups and curries need between 6 and 12 hours for optimal results.

If you’d prefer to get started with some tried and tested recipes, check out this link (pdf).

In South Africa:

Salathiso hot boxes are available in Cape Town from Wendy Walton who is based in Diep River. You can contact her at waltfam@telkomsa.net or on 021 712 6424 (please tell Wendy I sent you). A hot box from Salathiso will set you back R140, but if used often will save you far more than that in electricity in the long run. (BTW these are still cheaper than other locally available hot boxes.)

In the UK & US:

Hot boxes (or hay boxes as they’re also known) don’t seem to be available for sale in the UK or US.  So how about making your own.  Try the links below for instructions:

Mother Earth News
The Prepared Home
Instructables
Selfsufficientish

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Best price for one of these babies ever (so far)! If you’re feeling the pinch, you’ll be delighted to know that an OWL wireless electricity monitor will now only set you back £29.95 (they usually cost £49.95).

The OWL shows you how much electricity you use and how much it costs you, as well as the level of harmful C02 emissions you are contributing to the environment through your electricity usage. It gives you everything you need to know to start saving electricity, and can end up saving you up to 25% on your electricity bill. So at this low price, your investment will pay itself back in no time, and save the planet at the same time.

The offer is only valid until the 18th of August 2008, so don’t hang around if you want one! Find out more and read product reviews here.

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In these times of a tightening economy, sky high energy costs and rising food prices, UK households can weather the storm by going green – and save almost £400 a year on heating, electricity and grocery bills if they choose to live eco. Nigel of Nigel’s EcoStore has put together a list of money saving products that can help you to save over £350 a year, with a first year investment of £150. Here are his suggestions:

Energy saving light bulbs
Saving up to £100 per year. Initial outlay from £7.99 per bulb.
“A good start to cutting energy bills is to replace old fashioned light bulbs with energy saving ones – householders can reduce their annual electricity bills by around £100 and save money on buying ordinary light bulbs. For instance, our 11 Watt compact classic light bulb, equivalent to a 60 Watt incandescent bulb, lasts 15 times longer so consumers won’t have to fish out money for new ones every so often.” – Nigel Berman, Nigel’s EcoStore

Radiator booster
Saving up to £98 per year. Initial outlay £19.99.
“With radiators known for their inefficiency in distributing heat around the room, people tend to turn their thermostat up a notch using more gas, spending more money on heating bills in return and increasing their impact on the environment. By installing a Radiator Booster on top of their radiators, householders could enjoy significantly lower heating bills – by £98 a year – as well as warmer rooms. The booster’s fans suck the warm air up and push it out through the ends distributing it evenly around the room, in addition to reducing the heat losses through the wall behind the radiator.” – Nigel

Ecoballs
Saving you up to £74 per year. Initial outlay £29.99.
“When it comes to washing clothes, the average British family gets through 247 washing loads a year and with each costing about 33p, their yearly washing powder bill amounts to nearly £82. Although it doesn’t seem like a lot, replacing it with Ecoballs costing 3p per wash, they could be saving a massive £74 a year.” – Nigel

Ecobutton
Saves you up to £50 per year. Initial outlay £14.99.
“Householders could click themselves to even lower electricity bills by using an Ecobutton every time they take a break, as leaving a desktop computer on while not in use wastes around £50 a year on average. This great USB device that powers down computers at a touch of a button and will save them money, electricity and reduce their carbon footprint.” – Nigel

Bye bye standby
Saving you up to £37 per year. Initial outlay £29.99.
“And because people are generally notoriously bad at turning things off, they burn away another £37 a year just by leaving TVs, stereos, DVD players and other electricity guzzling devices on standby. They could be saving this money for a rainy day by plugging the Standby energy saving kit into any wall socket to control any appliance (up to 1000W) with a remote control.” – Nigel

Total annual saving £367 with £150.89 investment in the first year.

This post contains affiliate links.

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