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Fireless cookers
The simple haybox and the more elaborate hotbox are fireless cookers.  They=
 work in the same way as a vaccuum flask, retaining heat by insulation.
Once a pot of soup or stew has been brought to the boil, it is placed insid=
e the insulated box, where it continues cooking for several hours without u=
sing any further energy. This slow cooking method is ideal for dishes like =
soups, stews, porridge, rice, grains and casseroles.  You can use it to kee=
p water or cooked food warm and to make yoghurt.

The hotbox gives slow even cooking which will make even cheaper cuts of mea=
t and tough old fowls tender and palatable.  Using this method you can't ov=
ercook, food can't boil over, burn or dry up so there are no scorched pans =
to scrape and clean.  Food is cooked in the saucepan or casserole dish on y=
our stove till it boils, or between one-third to one half the usual cooking=
 time, then transferred to the hotbox with the lid still sealed. The hotbox=
 is closed and the food is left for roughly three times as long to complete=
 cooking.

Porridge for early breakfast should be put into the hotbox overnight. Oatme=
al, rice, cracked wheat and other grains swell to the utmost when cooked th=
is way, but dried beans should first be soaked overnight before cooking.  P=
ut the evening meal in the hotbox during the day, go out, and enjoy it when=
 you return at night, tired and hungry."

"For bigger meals I have a haybox cooker in a tea chest.  it is half packed=
 with dry grass, with some more in an old pillow case.  Make a nest in the =
ahy to fit the chosen saucepan (or even better, pressure cooker), wrap it i=
n newspaper after boiling, put it to bed and tuck it in well. "

"a styrofoam picnic box or moulded plastic "esky" would make an ideal conta=
iner for an efficient hotbox  It already has a degree of insultation in-bui=
lt which can be further improved by adding insulation tightly packed around=
 the cavity where the cooking pot will sit."

"the simple haybox is made by burying a pot with a tight fitting lid (used =
as a food container) inside a wooden box in uncut hay.  a pillow or cushion=
 on the top makes an insulated cover. There should be at least 10cm of tigh=
tly packed insulation around the billy, adn 15cm of insulation material abo=
ve and below it.  The outside may be a metal or plastic garbage tin, a drum=
, bucket or kerosine tin.  Insulation may be shredded newspapers, polystyre=
ne packing, cotton, sawdust, steel wool, dried seaweed or an old woollen bl=
anket, as long as the material is dry and clean".

I hope this is of some help.

Kiriel