Save on cooking gas by having a solar cooker take on some of the load. India gets 4 to 7 kilo watt hour per sq. metre (KWhr/m2) for 300 to 330 days in a year. A whopping 5000 trillion KWhr per year! Most popular are the familiar box-type solar cookers with a single reflecting mirror. A family size solar cooker is sufficient for 4 to 5 members and saves about 3 to 4 cylinders of LPG every year. Lasting for 10 to 20 years, this cooker costs about Rs 1000 - 2000. A bit more expensive is the parabolic concentrator cookers that are very quick, and reaches up to 400oC. These are available for Rs 4500 – 5500. Up to 13 litres of rice, dal and other dishes can be cooked within half an hour. Contact your state’s non-conventional energy agency.You can look up the addresses in this website: www.indiasolar.com/mnes.htm

Check out the list of ingredients on the can of any processed food. It probably says ‘permitted artificial preservatives, colouring and flavour used’. While admiting it’s practically impossible to get food without preservatives, we should also know that there are an increasing number of products that use natural preservatives. Some natural preservatives are salt, sugar, chilli, turmeric, garlic and onions. Dry processing is a method which avoids preservatives. While food irradiation is being practiced in the US, Irradiation of foods in that country must be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA has approved irradiation for several foodstuffs, including spices and herbs, potatoes, pork, poultry and other meats, fruits, and vegetables. When ionising radiation strikes bacteria and other microbes, its high energy breaks chemical bonds in molecules that are vital for cell growth and integrity. As a result, the microbes die, or can no longer multiply and cause illness or spoilage.