Process of cooking rice:

1) Add 2 cups water to 1 cup rice (in that ratio) and bring to boil in a vessel Can use gas or firewood. Even if using firewood no need to put additional water -- just 2 water to 1 rice.

2) When rice and water come to a boil (bubbles and foam come on) then transfer the container to the hay box and cover vessel with lid and also cover haybox with its lid.

3) Then wait for 40 mins (more than 30 mins) and open the haybox.

4) you will find rice is cooked and ready to eat. If you leave it in the haybox it will remain steaming hot for 6 hours or so.

* if using electric cooker -- bring  to boil in electric cooker and transfer from electric cooker to haybox to complete cooking.  Will save on electricity.

1) Because we are transfering half cooked rice to vessel it saves on fuel.

2) In the villages when they use firewood they usually add 4 cups water to 1 cup rice (ratio of 3:1 or even 4:1 instead of 2:1). This is because otherwise rice will burn when it starts boiling and water starts evaporating. But now because we remove the vessel and put in haybox there is no fear of rice burning -- so we need to add water at 2:1. This means that all the extra heat needed to heat the extra water is also saved.

How much fuel is saved:

Almost 50% is saved and villagers are reporting saving of fire-woord or gas worth Rs 50 per month.

How much time is saved:

Village people generally cook a lot of rice and adding all the extra water also means a lot more time. Just for cooking rice village women spend typically 45 mins. With the haybox because of lesser water used and also because we remove the vessel when it comes to boil it reduces cooking time by more than half. Once rice is removed and put in haybox while they make the next dish onthe firewood or gas, the rice gets cooked in haybox. Also lesser fire-wood means time saved in collecting and getting the firewood.

First time-Users:

Be a bit conservative when you use the first time -- dont transfer the pot to haybox as soon as rice starts bubbling but keep it 3-4 minutes on the flame so we are sure it has boiled well -- this will ensure that the hay box will work well without any first time problems. The second time you can remove it a little earlier when it just starts bubbling. By experimenting once or twice people will adjust to the optimum time to transfer rice vessel. Also to keep cost down we have a jute cloth stitched (which is also a good insulator). But it will be good if people using it put a piece of cloth or a newspaper in the haybox and put the vessel on that cloth/newspaper. This will ensure no soot gets transferred to haybox from the vessel.

Keeping haybox dry:

Generally no maintenance is needed. If water spills in it then put haybox in sun for a day so it dries well. Hay box lifetime will be a few years -- nothing wd generally spoil -- neither bamboo nor hay as long as it is in a dry place. If it is used daily then since a hot dish will be in it every day it will be great. Out village folk are very happy and once people use it for a day or two they get addicted to it as it saves a lot of time.

Other Uses:

Haybox can be used for cooking boiled potatoes (after half-boiling put them in the haybox), some dals, khichdi and also is useful to make curds.