Wonder Ovens and Feminine Hygiene

Wonder Box sewing instructions

Material:  3 meters (yards are 3” shorter than a meter) soft cotton or broadcloth so it will conform to the shape of the pot.

                                                (1/2 can be coordinated…..two colors)

19 scantly filled 1-gallon ice cream pails of Polystyrene beads (it is the insulation that looks like the tiny separate Styrofoam bits that make up the protective packing in electronics, etc.)

If you can only find polystyrene in whole sheets then you can break it apart by grading it.

Sewing instructions:

                When you sew the wonder box together you sew 2 of the 4 pieces together along the longest sides.  You open each of the pairs now and place them right sides together and sew those two together all the way around the outside, making an awkward shaped cushion affair.  Don’t forget the opening to fill through.  You then repeat with the 4 bottom pieces.  One pair together, sew along the longest side, then the other pair.  Open them up and place them right sides together, remembering to leave opening to fill through.  I am adding a loop at this point to hang this by when not in use, or to dry after washing.

The narrow part of the bottom pattern is the piece you till tuck into the bigger part of the bottom to make the pouch/nest for the pot to sit into.

Hoping not to confuse the issue.  If you start where the bottom pattern says 90 (degrees for the angle) and sew down the right side of the pattern and stop just after the second 11 ½ “ mark, before the pattern starts back up.  That will be one of the two pairs.  Do the same with the other two, put right sides together again and sew it all the way around the outside edge now, into the box or ball shape.  The same goes for the top cushion, start at the 100, sew down the right and stop just after the 11” mark.  The right sides together and sew again making the shape of the top cushion.

It will not lie flat.  It will take the shape of a square cushion when it is filled with the polystyrene beads, and the bottom cushion has a cavity like a nest or a pouch.

TOP:  Fill a little less than ½ full while the bad is hanging.  (Approximately 7 scantly filled 1-gallon ice cream pails.

A paper funnel works best, as the beads are very static prone.  You may want to use an ice cream pail to pour from.  Work with two people to fill – one to hold the funnel and the other to pour.  Spread a sheet on floor to catch beads.

Bottom:  Cut 4 fill approximately ½ full with polystyrene beads.  Approximately 12 scantly filled 1-gallon ice cream pails. 

The Wonder Box Cooking Instructions

The Wonder Box Cooker recipes: and instructions originated from a booklet published by “Compassion” of South Africa in 1978, 1979 and 1980.  “Compassion” registered name Wonder Box and the logo of the kneeling figure.  This information may be freely quoted, acknowledgements being made to “Compassion.”

Wonder Boxes work like vacuum flasks.  In these days when we are being warned of worldwide shortages of food and fuel, this wonder box and it’s simplicity is designed to keep food at the temperature needed for cooking.  Using very little fuel you only use about 15 minutes of energy to bring the food to the required temperature and then put it into the Wonder box.  It makes it as though it were a thermos.  On the flip side it will also keep ice-cream cold for about 4 hours.

Brief Instructions

Boil your food on the stove for 10-15 minutes until the food is heated right through.  (In practice this is too long)

Use any cooking pot, provided it does not have a long handle, but do not use a large pot for a small amount of food.  The W’box does not work well if there is a large are space.  Remember that the more food or liquid that, the longer and better it will cook.

Put the lid on the pot before you remove the pot from the stove so the lid can also get hot.  Make sure the nest in the bottom cushion is ready to take the pot and that it is nearby so you do not lose heat carrying the pot around.  Place pot into the nest of the W’box on a metal surface while it is being used.  Metal is a good conductor of heat and may draw off some heat through the bottom. 

When cooking anything like a roast or a whole chicken, the liquid around it can boil before the meat has reached the same temperature.  Make sure the liquid covers the meat and it has come to a boil.  MEAT MUST BE COVERED WITH LIQUID! The cooking time seems to be 3-4 hours to all day.  It is sure to never burn.

Note:  We had chicken put in at 9:30 in the morning.  The chicken was seasoned and placed in an oven cooking bag.  Then brought the pot of water with the pot of water with the chicken in to a boil and put it in the W’box.  We ate 4 pm and the chicken had steam “rolling” off. 

The W’ box was designed for cooking meals, but it can also be used for keeping food hot, cold, or frozen for 3–6 hours depending on what it is for.

The cushions filled with polystyrene can be washed with hot water and soap and hung on the line to dry.

Wonder Oven Recipes and Ideas

(Recipes are worked out at a sea level.  Higher altitudes may need to boil longer.  Leaving foods in the Wonder Oven for more than 4-5 hours will not help to cook it more, but it will keep it warm until you eat it.

Cooking times:

Food:	Boil Time:	Wonderbox time:
Rice	5 min	1-1.5 hours
Potatoes/carrots	5 min	1-2 hours
Soup and stew	10 min	2-3 hours
Bread	12 min	3 hours
Pintos or other beans with meat	15 min	5 hours
Split pea soup	10 min	3-4 hours
Muffins	10 min	4-5 hours
Oatmeal	1-2 min	I hour or overnight
Meat Loaf	15 min	4 hours
Winter Squash	5 min	1-2 hours
Steamed bread	10 min	2 hours
Chicken	6 min	2-3 hours
Beef Roast	15 min	5-6 hours

Yogurt

Heat a half gallon of milk on the stove and when it is baby bottle warm, put a cup of yogurt from the store in it.  Don’t stir.  Then put it in the Wonder Oven and let it sit overnight.  It all turns in to yogurt.  You can add jam or other fruit to flavor it.

Ham, Poultry, beef and Joints

When cooking meats that needs long, slow cooking, the meat should be covered in liquid and boiled for 20 minutes (according to the size of the piece(s).  A large full pot that take a long time to reach boiling point will need less time actually boiling.  Place it in the Wonder Oven.  After 2-4 hours add any vegetables and herbs you may wish and bring it once more to the boil. 

Chicken. Beef or pork roasts can be boiled in Microwave Steam bag or baking bags, immersed in water so they cook in their own juices.  The bag should have its open end protruding under the lid unless sealed tightly.  The meat can be browned and then seasoned and put in the bag.  Bring it to boil for min then put it in the wonder oven for 5 hours. 

Bread

Use your favorite recipe for any kind of bread.  Mix up the dough and let it raise once, (If that is what your recipe calls for) and then after pushing it down the first time, you then put it in a 46 ounce juice can that has been greased.  The best is can with a gold lining that does not rust.  Fill the can less than half full and put in a pot of warm water, about 2/3 up the can.  (More than one can could be done at the same time) Let the bread raise until 2-3 inches from the top.  Cover the top with a piece of tin foil so the water does not get into the bread.  Put the lid on the pan and bring the water to a boil and boil for 12 minutes.  Put immediately into the Wonder Oven and “bake” for 3 hours.  It comes easily out of the cans and are nice rounded loaves, about the size of a hamburger bun.  (If you don’t have a can you can use a baking bag, just make sure that the bag opening is outside the pan lid, so not water gets inside.  However bread will not be nicely formed.)  Bungy the lid shut so the bread does not push the lid off and stop the cooking process.

Muffins

Make your favorite muffing the thicker the better.  Grease 5-6 small cans.  Fill them 2/3 full.  Cover the top of the cans with a piece of tin foil formed over the tops. Put in a pan and fill water around the cans about 2/3 high.  Put the lid on the pan and boil for about 12 min.  Put in the Wonder oven for 4-5 hours.

Rice

2 cups white or 2 cups brown rice

3 and a half cups water or 4 cups for brown rice

Salt to taste

Put the rice (brown rice is much more nutritious) into boiling, salted water.  Use a small pot for a small amount of rice.  Leave the rice cooking in the Wonder Oven for 40 min to 1 ½ hours (more for brown rice) or until you want to eat it.  With rice and other foods you need less water than I s shown in directions and recipes because the water does not evaporate.

Boiled Egg

To boil one egg, pour boiling water over it to cover it.  Put it in the Wonder Oven for 5 minutes or longer if you like it hard.  To boil two eggs you will need twice as much boiling water and so forth.

Macaroni, Spaghetti, and Noodles

               

Put them in a pot with plenty of boiling water and spoonful of salt.   Put the pot in the Wonder Oven for 15 minutes.  Not longer.

Vegetables

Potatoes or root vegetables may be cooked in their skins.  Merely bring them to the boil in a pot full of water and transfer them to the wonder oven for about twice as long as you would normally cook them.  They may be left all day without over cooking and can be more easily peeled after cooking.

For waterless cooking of vegetables or fruit cut them up and put them into baking bags.  Submerge the bags in water in a pot and boil them until the fruit or vegetables have also reached boiling point.  The length of time needed will vary with different vegetables, carrots being rather slow.  The bags should be left open protruding out under the lid so that no water gets in if they don’t have a zip lock.

Feminine Hygiene Patterns