Solar Oven

[farm_mom]

Does anyone here have one? Did you buy it or make it? Are you happy with it?

 

[Dace]

I don't have one but I Googled directions a while ago and have been asking my DH and 12yr old son to make me one. DH is worried that a homemade one will be garbage, so I am anxious to read everyone's responses!

 

[farm_mom]

That's my situation too!!

 

[Zenbirder]

I have had my solar oven for about a year and a half, and wouldn't trade it for anything. It has really revolutionized the way I cook. I use it very often, but there are considerations of cloudy days and if there is too much wind. Mine is a Sun Oven brand, they go for $279.

http://www.sunoven.com/

It is portable, so you could take it camping. It gets to 300 to 400 degrees even in the winter. My family is so much better off nutritionally now because I cook those foods that require longer cooking times much more often than if I had to use my stove or oven and pay for the gas. You can also leave food cooking in it and leave home without worrying that your house might burn down. I make casseroles, stews, baked potatoes and sweet potatoes, grains, breads, deserts including brownies... and I bake all the empty eggshells in it before I feed them back to the chickens. We are vegetarian, but my Mom also has a Sun Oven and she regularly cooks meat in it. She swears that the solar oven does a better job because the food is cooked at a slightly lower temp for a longer time.

I find that if the day is sunny I will be thinking mid morning about what I have on hand that will make a nice supper. Put together a pot and let it cook. By late afternoon it is done and my nerves are much less frazzled in the evening when I am tired from the day's work. It is kind of like take-out

I have done up to four different cookings in one summer day in the oven. For example: first bake eggshells, then throw in a desert, when it is done bake bread, then a main dish. If you want to maximize the temps you do need to do manual tracking, everytime I or DH walks by the oven we make sure it points toward the sun. This is very easy to tell, you just make sure the shadows are balanced.

Please ask any other questions you have, if it is about meat cooking I will ask my Mom for you.

 

[farm_mom]

Thank you so much for replying! And what a beautiful oven! How is it at maintaining the temp? I live in MI, so I imagine I would have a vastly different experience, but I'm still really considering one of these.

 

[Zenbirder]

I pre-heat mine most of the time. When the food is in the oven there is a thermal mass that will help hold the heat. Even on partly cloudy days the heat doesn't make great jumps up and down, only gradual ones. In the winter I have started some pots on the top of the wood stove in cast iron, then it helps with the mass to keep things cooking just fine. In general you want a dark colored pot like the one sold with this set. I also use amber colored pyrex and any baking pans that are dark and not shiney. For a sweet potato you just need something under it to catch the juices. For baking I often just use a clear pyrex.

 

[FarmerChick]

I heard they work wonderful also....never had one but will build one.

they are super easy to build...just google...make your own solar oven....and voila, up pops tons of sites to let you try one cheaply to be sure you like it. I have this on my project list. In NC I have tons of sun all the time!

One of my big projects yet to be tackled is a true outdoor kitchen....wtih brick etc. etc. and all that....and the solar oven would be part of that whole project....ahh, to dream and get my outdoor kitchen done...I wish..LOL

 

[Beekissed]

Try the Countryside or Mother Earth sites....both of them have featured articles in the recent past about making ones own solar oven.

 

[Zenbirder]

I heard they work wonderful also....never had one but will build one.

I have seen home built models side by side with mine. They do work! A poorly built one will collect at most 50% of the heat mine does. A good one can go 75% or more. The main issues are:

Can you actually get someone or yourself to build it? I asked DH if he wanted to build me one and he declined. I don't have the skills or inclination.

Do you have the materials? Probably scroungeable in most areas, glass and insulated box plus reflectors. Also nice to have a thermometer inside and some way to adjust declination (up and down not just side to side) to better face the sun.

Does it matter if it is portable or not? Most of the home built ones I have seen are limited portable. I like mine for folding up like a suitcase and brought in the house out of the weather. If you have a way to cover it or protect it in place from wind, hail, and snow this would not matter.

I just wanted to raise some thoughts as you look at the different plans on the internet.

 

[FarmerChick]

I agree.
but there are great ways to make a great one with lower cost than buying, but like you said, yours is "truly built" for portability, true heat conduction, etc. etc.

Good question to always ask is---can I truly build a good one or should I buy? this question can be asked of a ton of my projects..LOL