The Wonderbag is the key to really tender slow-cooked meat outdoors

These eco friendly retention cookers are ideal for cooking really flavourful stews and curries outdoors while using less resources and empowering women across Africa

Wonderbags are eco-friendly slow cookers, which use heat retention to cook your food. You bring a dish to the boil, simmer it for a few minutes, then place it in the Wonderbag to continue cooking: the bags are filled with foam chips, which insulates the pot, keeping heat in. They come in a range of pretty prints from their country of origin: South Africa.

They’re safe to leave unattended and will keep your food cooking slowly – retaining moisture, nutrients, and bags of flavour – while you skip off on an outdoor adventure. On average, dishes will stay hot (over 85 ºC) for approximately four hours and remain at 65ºC for a further four hours.

We cooked a curry, and found that slow cooking in the Wonderbag tenderised the meat, kept vegetables firm and allowed the flavours to really develop and deepen much more so than you can ever achieve with a typical gas stove. Plus when we took the curry along to a barbecue, it stayed steaming hot for hours while getting tastier all the time.

Wonderbags are great for outdoor use because they don’t require any power to work, and save on camping fuel. They even double up as cool bags: they will keep things chilly, too!

They were designed by Sarah Collins, who has devoted her life to improving the lot of women in Africa, where wood fire cooking is the source of major socioeconomic, health and environmental issues. By reducing the need for firewood collecting and usage as well as the time spent cooking, the Wonderbag empowers women across Africa to participate in more activities outside the home, enhancing their quality of life.

When you buy a Wonderbag , part of the proceeds goes towards donating Wonderbags to those in need in developing countries (do watch Sarah’s videos; she’s so inspiring!). Each bag also comes with a brilliant and inspiring recipe booklet.

Pros: Perfect slow cooked food; saves on camping fuel and safe to leave unattended
Cons: Bulky
Best for: Car or canoe camping, and barbecues.
Works with pot size: Small fits up to 6 litre pots; large up to 10 litre pots
Pack size: Small = 38cm x 38cm x 20cm; large = 47cmx47cmx22cm
More info: www.wonderbagworld.com

 

OAG