Haybox

The inventor Karl von Drais developed a novel form of haybox in the first part of the 19th century.

Commercial designs based on this principle differed only in details of construction, and the kind of insulating material used.

A successful home-made strategy was to take a box so large that the cooking pot when placed in it could be surrounded by a thick layer of non-conducting material, such as hay, excelsior or crumpled paper.

[3] Versions of hayboxes that use wool as the insulator have been used as a cost-saving measure in the face of rising fuel prices caused by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[2] Haybox cooking can save vast amounts of fuel, but there is a risk of bacterial growth if the food items are allowed to remain in the danger zone (41−140 °F or 5−60 °C) for one or more hours.