Wonder Box

One of my most fave things I have made is my wonder box.  You can use it to keep things hot or cold and you can even cook in it!  No joke!  The best part about cooking in it...........it wont burn no matter how long it is sitting in the box!

I have a recipe for enchilada surprise that is delish but no matter what temp I cook it on or how long or short I cook it for in my crock pot it ALWAYS burns!  Now I assemble it in my hot crock pot and let it sit until its good and hot then I put it into my wonder box.  I do that in the morning and by evening we have a HOT non-burned dinner.

You can cook just about anything in it including BREAD!  I havent made bread in it personally yet but my friend has and it was delish!  When cooking or just keeping something hot or cold, make sure the food is in a pot with NO handle and the pot is as full as possible.  The handle will draw the heat or cold away from the food and the food will not stay as hot as you would like.  You also need to have water in your food.  Make sure the water has come to a boil for 10-15 minutes WITH the lid on.  You dont want to put a cold lid on your hot food.  The lid will draw the heat away from the food.

Have you ever had to take dinner to a friend and its nice and warm when you leave your house but by the time you get to their house the food has cooled off?  That will no longer be a problem!  Simply place the food into your wonder box and it will be just as hot as it was when you left your house.

I`ve talked a lot about hot food but what about cold food?  Yes, this truly keeps cold food cold.  I was asked to show some ladies at my Mom`s church how to make these.  I wanted to show them how it worked.  At 10am I went to the grocery store and bought a 1 gallon bucket of ice cream.  I put it in my box and it sat in my hot car (not ideal) until about 7pm.  When I pulled it out to show the ladies there were ice crystals on the bucket.  It was still frozen solid 9 hours later!

I have 2 baskets, one in my garage and one in my van.  The one in my van I leave there so when I am grocery shopping and find a good deal on something that is refrigerated or frozen but I still have 2 more stores to go to.  I just put it in my box and it stays cold until I get home.  I dont have to worry about hurrying home just to put away my cold items.

Click here to learn more about how to use the wonder box.  At the bottom of that page there are links to the pattern to make one.  These are SO simple to make.  Even if you cant sew a straight line you can do this.  You will NEVER see any mistakes you make.  If you dont have the money for material use an old sheet (MUST be 100% cotton!!)  I found the beads you need at Fred Meyers.  They are the bean bag beans.  1 bag will make 2 boxes.