solar cooker?

[Thevail]

I know there are sites out there that explain how. Does anyone know which one is a good one?

Are the homemade one's as good as the professionally made ones?

Has anyone ever used one?

I'm thinking of trying it out this year.

[ladykemma2]

in the summertime, when i am off school, i have and use a sun oven (purchased) . i use a polycarbonate face shield available from Lab Safety Supply to protect my eyes from sun induced cataracts. When you go to stir, turn the oven away from the sun - it's too intense.

i put a card table in the back yard and use the sun oven all afternoon to cook my meal you have to keep running out to adjust the angle of the sun (that bugger keeps moving!)

it cooks like a slowcooker, but keeps my house cool. i do not use it during the school year - get home too late, too dark.

edited to add: ya really need two sun ovens to get a meal for a family ready.

[Thevail]

I wanted to use it to make mac and cheese, or bake bread, or other stuff to go with things we cook on the barbecue.

[LastDragonfly]

Youtube has some showing their solar cookers and what they put in it. I believe threefloorsdown has one where it's winter and he cooks in it.

[2ndGenGranola]

I am considering the one called the "Sport". I have been wanting one since we went to a solar fair and I went to a little seminar on solar ovens. The presenter displayed several models the sport seems like it would be best for my family - it even comes with 2 dark pots.

[Momto2Boyz]

My mom and dad have one and they love it. They mainly use it when they are camping to keep their camper cool.

They had made one a few years ago and used it for awhile, then decided to actually suck it up and buy one. I know they are much happier with the one that the purchased only becuase they used it so much. The one they made was ok, but once they started using it alot, it didn't work as well.

I know my mom uses it for baked goods. She makes muffins and things like that in it. Since I don't camp with them, I don't know how great it works, but they love it!

[mrsfoamy]

I was just trying to decide which one I wanted to build too. I may just go look through DH's boat building stash and draw my inspiration from there.
It sure would be nice not to heat up the house with the oven this summer.

[familyof3]

I know there are sites out there that explain how. Does anyone know which one is a good one?

Are the homemade one's as good as the professionally made ones?

Has anyone ever used one?

I'm thinking of trying it out this year.

I'm glad you asked this because I've been thinking it might make a good summer project too. Something that DS and I can play around with putting together.

[mrsfoamy]

I finally decided what I want to make. We have a very small old gas grill that we use once or twice a year to smoke a turkey in. I'm going to built one of the folding panel types that will nest in it. We already have dark colored pans and roasters. So I'm set.
I'll post pictures when I'm done.

[Debbie-cat]

I found this one to be quite interesting seeing it is a permanent one.

http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/Pr...lar-cob-en.pdf

[Grainlady]

I regularly use 2 different solar ovens and have for many years now. No experience with homemade ones.

An excellent book on the subject is Cooking with the Sun by Beth Halacy and Dan Halacy. Instructions for making your own included in the book, as well as LOTS of recipes. The recipes will indicate if the recipe will work in a reflector cooker, a solar oven, or both. Check your local library for a copy, or have them get a copy through Inter-Library Loan.

The best one of the two solar ovens I use is the Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven - http://www.sunbdcorp.com/. I like it because it has an electric back-up. Should the temperature drop below what is safe for cooking (from unexpected cloud cover or you forget to go out and shift the solar oven to track the sun), it will bring the temperature up to a food-safe level. A lot of peace-of-mind for a food-safety freak like me! You don't want food setting for prolonged periods of time in an unsafe temperature of 140°F or cooler or it will increase potential for bacterial growth.

As a secondary use, you can use it with electric power ONLY and use this oven without the sun (like a giant slow-cooker).

I can make several dishes at a time in this oven using the "pans" that come with the oven (which resemble cookie tins with tight-fitting lids - they are stainless steel tins that are painted black outside). I also bake breads in this oven because I can add the reflective panels for additional heat in order to get the highest oven temperatures possible.

If I get an unexpected rain shower or cloud cover, I can roll the steel cart I keep the solar ovens on into the garage and finish cooking using electricity.

My other solar oven is a Global Sun Oven - http://www.solardirect.com/energy/sun-oven/sun-oven.htm. This is the same one Ed Begley used in "Living With Ed" on HGTV.

I use each of these for different things, but recommend both of them.

About the only time I can't use my solar ovens is when they burn stubble in wheat fields after harvest, or when there is a lot of pasture burning going on (this past week was awful around here because of burning). Even if it's a cloudless day, there will be too much haze to cook with a solar oven.

You WILL find solar oven cooking different from conventional oven cooking....

-Your best time for cooking is between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and that's not always meal-convenient.

-Solar oven cooking often, but not always, takes longer than a conventional oven. Check breads and baked-goods EARLY AND OFTEN. That recommended 2-hours of baking time for cornbread may only take 30-minutes.

-You need some "special" cookware for use in a solar oven (thin pans and containers that are dark or black - no crockery or cast iron).

-Certain times of the year are better for cooking than others, but you can cook something all year long.

-You need to be around to move the oven to track the movement of the sun in order to maintain a food-safe cooking temperature. Another reason I keep my ovens on a steel cart - ease of movement.

-I use a pair of kevlar heat-resistant oven gloves when opening the ovens and handling foods. I find the safety of gloves is better than oven mits or hot pads. The best ones have silicon grips on the gloves. You'll find having all your fingers and thumbs available a GOOD thing. I also wear sunglasses to protect my eyes.

-There are a lot of do's and don'ts and tips and tricks.

-You need to pre-heat the oven for about 30-minutes before adding food. Once you open the oven, the temperature drops drastically and will take time to recover to optimal cooking/baking temperature. For this reason, it's best to not open the oven any more than necessary while in use.

-You'll find a lot of conflicting information about using them. For instance, you'll read where it's impossible to burn food in a solar oven and I'm here to tell you that's just not true....

-Most foods will cook at a lower temperature than what you would use a conventional oven. Cakes will bake in a 300°F to a 325°F oven.

-For a noon meal, start solar cooking in the early morning, and for the evening meal, start by early afternoon.

-Foods that are easy to cook 1-2 hours: eggs, rice, fruit, above-ground vegetables, fish, and chicken.

-Foods that cook in 3-4 hours: potatoes, root vegetables, some beans and lentils, most meat, bread

-Foods that cook in 5-8 hours: large cuts of meat, soup and stew, most dried beans.

-Cooking speed varies depending on the sun, weather, pots... The solar ovens cook the fastest when the sun is high in the sky in the summer during midday. Cooking is best with NO clouds and NO wind, so try to place your solar oven where it is protected from the wind. It's always windy in Kansas, so I use a couple bungy cords to keep my solar oven in place on the steel cart I keep them on during use.

Food cooks faster when it is in a small amount (bake an 8-inch cake rather than a 9x13-inch), small pieces (a cut-up chicken rather than a whole chicken), and when there is little or no water added. When I cook roast beef, I may cut it into 2 or three pieces for faster cooking.

You'll find cooking slow, or may not finish, if the sun is in the lower hemosphere - in the winter, evening, or early morning. If there is a lot of haze in the sky (even though there are no clouds) will cause the food to take longer to cook.

-If you make your own solar oven, you MUST include an oven temperature gauge.

[Thevail]

It's so often overcast or actually rainy here that I'm not sure a solar oven would ever be much more than amusing novelty for us. (The Pacific NW is absolutely famous for rain..we invented polar fleece up here)

Still thanks for all the awesome ideas, and info.. I think I'm going to build a hybrid..solar cooker/ brick oven in the yard. I like bricks!

[Grainlady]

It's so often overcast or actually rainy here that I'm not sure a solar oven would ever be much more than amusing novelty for us. (The Pacific NW is absolutely famous for rain..we invented polar fleece up here)

Still thanks for all the awesome ideas, and info.. I think I'm going to build a hybrid..solar cooker/ brick oven in the yard. I like bricks!

Years ago I purchased a flimsy little solar panel cooker from Lehman's (much different than the solar ovens I now use, but works on the same principles) and it came with information and recipes that were tested in Seattle, Washington with the commentary, "If this solar cooker will work in Seattle, it'll work anywhere!!!". Unfortunately they hadn't tested it in windy Kansas, so that's when I purchased the heavy-duty solar ovens.

Although you may not be located in the "solar belt", it's still possible to use solar ovens even as high as 50° north latitude. How efficiently it works will also depend a lot on your oven. If you use one that is well-designed with insulation, glass top (for holding in heat), and quality reflectors, you will have better luck even under less than ideal conditions, than one that is essentially a foil-lined cardboard box, like a Sun Spot Solar Oven. You have to cook everything within a plastic oven bag in a Sun Spot Solar Oven and they are essentially for infrequent use. A Sun Spot Solar Oven would work for small amounts of foods, but would be difficult to keep from blowing away if it's windy, just as my first solar panel cooker was. It was good enough to see that solar ovens really work and was something that was a good alternative.

Here is a link that may have more information about solar geography and solar ovens/cookers in general for you:

http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawes...ing_where.html