Fantastic work on that grub JustaPrepper.
You've got a good eye behind that camera to boot, Pics look as good as the food in them.
I'm with everyone, makes me want to get off my duff about "that solar oven project i've been thinking about".
Fantastic work on that grub JustaPrepper.
You've got a good eye behind that camera to boot, Pics look as good as the food in them.
I'm with everyone, makes me want to get off my duff about "that solar oven project i've been thinking about".
Just to add... The main key to a solar oven is the insulation. If you don't have the insulation in the main box to hold the heat all you end up with is a warmer so if your building one insulate your main boxes well.
Last edited by Evolver; 11-28-2011 at 12:55 AM.
That's awesome Justa!! Do you use it year round?
Do you notice a difference in cooking time from summer to winter?
Does it work inside your house, if you have it facing a window?
How long does it take to cook a loaf of bread? Or a lasagne? Stuffed portabellos?
Thanks Sniper!
Yes, I use it pretty much year round. The only time I really don't use it is during the heat of our summer when it's almost unbearable to walk outside of the air conditioning. Standing over an oven in 100+ degree heat with 80% humidity has a really high suck factor.
There's really not much of a difference between cooking in any season. The heat is not dependant on outside temps, it's dependant on the sun. The more sun you have and if you can keep the oven tilted and rotated the right way, the higher the oven temps will go. I said earlier, my SIL in Utah bakes bread in her oven in the middle of winter and they love it.
I forget how long it takes to bake a loaf of bread. We haven't done it in a while. Seems as though it took about an hour though. All the ingredients for the lasagna were already cooked so it just needed some time to come together and for the cheese to melt. I'm guessing about a half hour. Mushrooms, pretty much the same as the lasagna. I try not to ever open the door so I have to go mostly by look and just kind of knowing how long things take in general. I also sometimes use the remote thermometer that I mentioned, I think the link to it is on the first page.
I'll be setting it up again probably in the next week or two and start doing some more experimenting. I'll keep you all posted.
I'm curious as to whether or not this would be viable to me. We get some great sunny sunny days through most of our winter... but with outside temperatures reaching (and surpassing) -40F I'm wondering if it would cook or even heat up at all.
Sniper, with temps *that* low I would wrap the outside of the box with a blanket or something as an added layer of insulation but other than that, I can almost guarantee you it will heat up if you can keep it facing the sun. Even way down here our sun is low in the winter months so I usually have to use a different spot in the backyard when I use it so it doesn't get shaded from the house in the afternoon hours.
And here's something I found just for you...a guy in Ontario who made his own oven, I really like his design with the side opening door! A much better alternative for those of us who are vertically challenged and find it difficult to reach in and out when the panels are open. Anyway, it was a cold and windy February day. His oven hovered around the 350 mark all day and he cooked a whole chicken. It looked great! Solar Oven - First Issue - YouTube
We don't expect to use ours every single day. There will be days when it's too cloudy or raining. We just look at it as another layer to our preps and a cool thing for me to play with in the meantime.
Thanks Justa...
That gives me some hope!
Wanted some Bean Burrito's/Enchilada's for dinner and decided to try them in the Solar Oven. I have a little rectangular pan that fits in the oven but it's a tight fit and I always burn myself using it so I decided to use the round pan and "stack" them. I wondered how I would get them out of the pan so I made "lifters" out of aluminum foil. I had about a cup of shredded beef and gravy left over from last night's dinner so I used that and added half a can of Enchilada Sauce to it then smeared the beans on the tortillas, drizzled with gravy mixture and topped with cheese. It was done in twenty five minutes and the lifters worked perfectly.
Beefy, Beany, Cheesy Enchilada Stacks
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