light, simple and cheap!cooking without smoke, fuel or power is a great option if the weather permits..: http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/windshield-cooker.htm
Hit the "goodwill"or"Salvation army" stores they always have shelves of old cookware for $1.99-$3.00,Don't have to ruin the family heirlooms...
What an awesome alternative to foil and cardboard. When I first saw the title of the linked page, I was thinking it was like my "Dashboard Dining", which is using the windshield to magnify the heat and cook what you want on long road trips (you just have to watch for sharp corners and fast stops ).
We're going to try this one today. We're going to bake brownies and I'm also cooking ribs (we're going to make 2 of them). I'll let you know how it turns out.
Re: very portable solar cooker for the bob I didn't bother with sewing the velcro on. Just flipped it around in a cone and held it together with a small piece of tape. Mine are cheap and flimsy, too, T3. I maintained the sides' stability by folding the top edge back over itself in the other direction. It seemed to work. I used a cheap foil pan and cover for the brownies and a small roaster pan that has a black interior and a glass lid for the ribs. After half an hour: Little Miss says "Hooray! Brownie soup!" Hmmm... Replaced reflective lid with clear one (duh!) on the brownies. Ribs are heating up. 3 hours later (cooking time has to end, I have to leave): Ooey-gooey underbaked brownies (though they can be individually removed from the pan). Super-hot, almost cooked ribs. Had I cut them into bite-sized pieces, or par boiled them, they would be done. I put them in raw to see what the solar power was capable of. I am fully convinced that if I had just needed to heat a can of soup, it would suffice. If I'd left it longer, I think the brownies would have been done. It wouldn't have boiled water. It will cook thinly sliced meats.