Eternal Flame cooking bags

69% of Lesotho’s population live rurally and cook on open fires. Cooking this way is hugely consumptive of wood, water and time. The purpose of the project is to reduce the negative impacts of cooking using biomass in Lesotho. Traditional foods such as beans require long cooking times, meaning large amounts of wood. A typical Lesotho household cooks continuously for 5 hours each day. Fuel wood harvesting is hard, tiring and repetitive work often done by young women. This limits opportunities for education and independence, and exposes women to risk of assault. Harvesting also impacts local habitats and exposes soil to irreversible erosion. Water must also be collected, much of which is lost during the traditional cooking process. In partnership with local women, we are making heat retention cooking bags. Instead of hours of continuous cooking, the bag only requires the cook to bring food to the boil then place the hot lidded pot into the bag. This reduces cooking time from hours to 25 minutes. 79% less fuel wood is required, equating to CO2e reduction of around two tonnes per bag per year. 80% less water is required as water no longer boils away during cooking, which also means