Has anyone cooked with a solar oven & what brand do you have?

[CrispyQ]

As summers get hotter & hotter, I'm thinking about getting one.

[hlthe2b]

1. I don't know how they work/are constructed now, but I remember a friend catching their lawn on fire

many years ago, playing around with one. I'm sure they were doing something stupid, but that is the limit to my knowledge. I'll be interested to read what others have to say and how one can adjust cooking when temperatures and the sun is most intense.

[packman]

2. I constructed one out of mirrors and foil

set the focus point with a wire rack and put on a hot dog - took 1/2 for it to even warm up. Tried a marshmallow next and it ignored the solar rays.

BUT, I understand they (The commercially built ones) do work quite well and are used in areas where firewood-fuel is hard to come by.

[hlthe2b]

3. I just googled commercially available ones--expensive. Did you know you can bake on a grill?

Weber's website has a lot of information on doing so...

Given I'd not want to spend almost $400 on a solar oven, the thought of using the gas grill I already have seems a bit more likely.

[CrispyQ]

4. I found a couple for under $100.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074S74FQC?pf_rd_p=183f5289-9dc0-416f-942e-e8f213ef368b&pf_rd_r=FDCV12SQ1BTGVM9XG8M4

For $80 I might give it a try. I already have dark cookware that I could use. My back yard has great southern exposure.

Here's a really different design!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CSPJT1Z/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=AUP77JXHDZKW3&psc=1

[hermetic]

6. That BBQ looks interesting

The $80 one might be good but doesn't look like it would survive a storm.

Something I did was buy a used office chair, $5, the kind that swivels, and remove the chair part. Then I attached a flat panel for the oven to sit on and I can turn it to follow the sun.

[trof]

8. VERY resourceful.

I admire that.

[hermetic]

5. I bought one in 2005

Sun Oven. It was awesome. I used it constantly for 7 - 8 months of the year while living in the northern boreal forest. I had no real oven in my house so it served me for 10 years even after being picked up a couple of times by super cell wind storms and tossed all over the yard. Ten years later, after moving south to high desert, I bought another since this house doesn't have an oven either. I bought the same brand but the company had been taken over by someone else and the design was changed somewhat and I was really disappointed with the new one.

I still use it several times a week right now since the weather is so hot but I also invested in a small convection oven to make up for what the new stove won't do properly. Plus I still use the old one to heat up a pot of water or something that I'm not actually going to eat since it takes a really long time and doesn't get terribly hot.

I think they are a fantastic idea but at around $350 now, quite overpriced for what you get. Someone smarter needs to start making them.

[CrispyQ]

7. Thanks for your responses!

I checked out the All American Sun Oven & it's nice, but the oven alone is almost $300! It's a box! And there are reviews that say that the quality could be better, which matches your experience with your second oven.

Yes, the $80 oven is made out of the type of material that political yard signs are made out of, but overall, for the price, the reviews are good. It's also a good size & doesn't need special sized cooking containers. Also, I could get the $80 yard sign oven & the $99 BBQ oven, which looks amazing, for much less than the Sun Oven, & have two ovens!

on your swivel chair solution! I have two in my basement that have been there for years!



Solar on!