# Cooking with a Solar Oven



## preparednesspro (Apr 17, 2009)

Has anyone else tried a solar oven in their homesteading/preparedness endeavors? 

You can use a solar oven on any day of the year in which you have full or almost full sunlight, even in the winter. It makes absolutely no difference what the outside temperature is when you use it. The majority of your dishes will take only 2 to 4 hours to fully cook. Your food will never burn or scorch (although baked goods will dry out if left in too long), and you will have effortless clean up afterwards. (Thereby conserving your physical energy as wellâa big plus!) There is no danger of a fire, and with the exception of frying foods, thereâs not much you canât prepare successfully in a solar oven.

I recently baked some bread in my solar oven, it was amazing! You can even make your own solar oven! http://tinyurl.com/ozodls

Would love feedback on using solar ovens if anyone else has used one.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Some folks down in the Survival forum have used their solar ovens for cooking. You may want to drop down and take a look in that forum and do a search for things already posted, or start a similar thread to get fresh and new responses.

Angie


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## wy_white_wolf (Oct 14, 2004)

Yes some of us do. Here's a picture of bread baked in our SOS oven.










Put it away for the winter and would have brought it back out last weekend but didn't have the energy to deal with because of a cold. we'll have it out soon.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

http://store.altenergystore.com/Ene...r-Ovens/Global-Sun-Oven/p1654/?source=froogle

Sun oven in use,pretty good day,86 outside,few fluffy clouds,4:15 PM.


*Click to enlarge thumbnails,then click again,these are big pics....
*

Sun oven


Temp 330 degrees,will see if it gets any hotter today in a bit...


Now for truth in advertising.The build quality on MY unit was poor.Might just be mine,I havent seen others complain.

For starters all 4 ends of the 2 side pieces split.I decided to just epoxy them back together and that has worked well.



Then when I took it apart to repair there was about a 4" round section where there wasnt any insulation,it was jammed down when they put it together.Upper left corner on this side,inside.



Finally where the plastic base meets the wood frame there were several areas with bad fit and air leaks.I myself did a rather ugly silicone job there,but again it fixed the problem.
This also shows the adjustable leg to aim cooker.Sorry the unit is dirty,I just pulled it out 




Finally this pic shows the inside oven tray,it swings on the 2 bolts on side to remain level when leg is used to adjust sun capture angle




*Now even with all that said I LOVE this oven*.I just hope my build problems were the exception and not the rule.

Tomorrow I will try bread and a roast and HOPEFULLY it will come out good.....Now that Ive committed to it I'd hate to see it bomb,bad loaf,bad clouds or something,LOL!
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BooBoo <-----"It'll NEVER Work!"


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Hunk of Chuck roast,partially defrosted.Covered with peperoncinis, after a dusting with onion flakes and onion flakes in a tad of water in pan...Start 12:15...




Cut up after an hour....still red in middle...




3:30...meat is tender,added 1 can beef broth,will let that cook in...

4PM. Its done cooking!




Shred some beef,put on toasted bread (also made in sun oven),a little juice...Toasted French Dip Sandwiches.


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## mightybooboo (Feb 10, 2004)

Bread rising...




Cooking....It fell a little,It rose too fast and took me by surprise...




All done,took about an hour,10:30 to 11:30...


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## WisJim (Jan 14, 2004)

We've been using our Sun Oven for over 15 years. Only disaster was when we put bread in it to bake,, then went to town and it turned cloudy. Oven cooled enough that it didn't bake but just kept rising. Imagine the mess! But it works well for us. We also made a bunch with the homeschooling group (well, actually the kids made them) using cardboard, glass, and aluminum foil, and the homebuilt ones cook as well but are harder to use or store.


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## wendle (Feb 22, 2006)

I just made some apple crisp today. Yummy. I also like to bake bread, and pizza in mine. I would highly recommend this oven. So far have had no problems, except in high winds it can tip. My LGD's have figured out how to tip it when there is something yummy cooking in it. They have also figured out my portable camping grill. Nothing like having your food upside down.


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## gwest (Oct 9, 2008)

Hello everyone,and you too mightybooboo, I'm kind of fond of this site and I'm sending the link to the Sunny Cooker-Construction Plan by Teong H Tan. He has a lot of inexpensive cookers you can build here, http://www.freewebs.com/sunnycooker/sunnycookerplan.htm
You could use other materials to build these with but like Mr Tan says he trys to keep the cost of construction down to earth.


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## preparednesspro (Apr 17, 2009)

Great to hear so many success stories on solar oven cooking! I have successfully baked bread as well as made delicious chicken in my solar oven so far. Here's a pic: http://twitpic.com/60rgi


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## Bricore (Sep 8, 2007)

preparednesspro said:


> Has anyone else tried a solar oven in their homesteading/preparedness endeavors?
> 
> This is the one my husband made me (the top isn't on it yet. Going to put that on today. Making manicotti in it tonight.)
> 
> ...


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