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A Solar Oven
We bought a solar oven that we found on Craigslist a few days ago. So far we’ve made our breakfast oatmeal, my husband has boiled water for his coffee, we made yesterday’s lunch (brown rice, with eggs and frozen veggies mixed in at the end), and today I baked biscuits and reheated some lasagna in it. Works great! I love that we haven’t turned on the stove in the house at all today. It’s really hot here right now, and we’re running the AC, so it’s nice to not put any extra heat into the house. And of course it’s nice to not run the stove from an energy perspective too. All that sun energy outside - might as well use it. We live in a pretty sunny climate. It gets cold here in the winter, but the sun shines most of the year, so we should be able to use it pretty much year-round. I think I’m going to try baking this chocolate cake recipe that I found at Choosing Voluntary Simplicity.
I like anything that fits into a sustainable, eco friendly lifestyle, and is also easy on the budget. Cooking with solar energy definitely fits the bill, although the frugal part of it will take a while to realize because you have to account for the initial price of the stove. Helps that we found ours on Craigslist - we never buy anything new if a “new to us” version can be found, and this was no exception.
How cool is that!
I actually just heard of these for the first time today over on Path to Freedom. Very cool!
June 25th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I have NEVER heard of such a thing! Can you tell us more and maybe provide a link?!?
June 25th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
A few years ago we printed out instructions we found on the Internet but never got around to trying this idea. I think I will mention it to Mr. A again, it’s certainly hot enough here in the desert and it would sure be nice to cut down on heating the house by cooking during the hottest part of the day.
June 25th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
My husband looked into making a solar oven himself, but we ended up buying this one:
http://sunoven.com/usa.asp
when we found it on Craigslist. It’s sturdy (wind was blowing hard today, and it stayed in place in our yard), very well insulated, and it gets much hotter than the homemade ones he was considering (better insulation and better reflectors). This one gets to 350 - 400 degrees very quickly and stays there. It’s easy to tilt to follow the sun, and has a swing-like shelf for the food inside, so it always stays level even if you have to tilt the oven to catch the rays. We’re thrilled with it so far
June 25th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
You know, I love reading your blog and really should comment more often
Does the solar oven take longer to cook with than a traditional oven? I think I read that the solar grills can take much longer.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Stefanie,
It took about ten minutes longer to bake the biscuits than they take in the regular oven. Heating leftovers took about the same amount of time as usual. It depends on whether you go out every 30 minutes and reposition the oven to follow the sun. If you do, it will maintain 400 degrees without a problem, and cook almost as fast as a regular oven. But if you just leave it in one position, it doesn’t stay as hot and then stuff takes longer. And thanks for loving my blog
June 25th, 2008 at 11:03 pm