solar oven

[Deerslayer]

does anyone have a solar oven?? we are putting one in the budget next month and I am wondering if anyone has any experience with them--what brands, etc???

[LindaLou]

I have a Sun Oven as do my two sisters-in-law. One of the SILs lives in Texas and uses her Sun Oven all the time (of course the haze from recent fires made it a little more difficult). I use mine all the time too.

 

I bought mine from Sun Oven in California. Here in Tucson you can buy them at several solar stores so you don't pay shipping but the cost is a little more. The best price I have seen is through (I think this is the right name) Science Solutions (they are the people who do the Off The Grid newsletter). Through them it was about $50 cheaper than I paid. Both SILs ordered through them.

 

I would encourge you to get a solar oven. I have cooked a variety of meat and vegetable dishes in mine. I have baked bread and cookies, fried eggs and hard boiled eggs without having to use water. This last Saturday I put in 8 totally frozen chicken thighs (I couldn't even break them apart) with dehydrated tomatoes, beans, onions, carrots and some seasonings, topped it with salsa, put it in the Sun Oven and 5 hours later the chicken just fell off the bone and all the dehydrated veggies were perfectly rehydrated.

 

The nice thing is that outside temperature does not matter (okay, I live in Tucson so it is pretty much always hot anyway), it is just having the sunlight. Since I work during the week I general do my Sun Oven cooking on the weekends but my SIL in Texas who is retired uses hers pretty much to cook everyday (depending of clouds, of course).

[Poohbear]

I just got a Global Sun Oven last week. But with the holiday and hubby's relatives coming in, I haven't had a chance to use it yet.

 

I bought it on eBay for $225 with free shipping. This was a good deal cause most of the Global's are selling for $250 or higher on eBay (about the same on the GSO website too). I had to keep watching for a lower priced one. The seller must be a drop shipper because my oven was shipped directly from the GSO factory.

 

There are several others for sale on eBay for $197/free shipping, but I couldn't find any information on the company or any product reviews. They look nearly identical to the Globals but are 6 lbs. lighter. I didn't know if the difference was less insulation or more flimsy materials. GSO's have a repuation for durability, so I decided to pay a little more and get an oven with a proven track record.

 

Once I'm able to try it out I'll let the group know. I'm sure it'll be great considering we've used a homemade box oven in the past and had good results.

[Paradox]

Anyone use a Cook-it solar cooker? We don't have a box cooker.... yet. I've tried a couple of things in the cooker we have, but they don't generally come out very good.

[dogmom4]

I've have a tulsi hybrid solar cooker for the past 5 years. It switches to electric when the temp drops too low. It works for me because of the tall trees we have...there's always a period of about 30 min where there's shade no matter where you are in the yard. I can put food on, go to work and know it's safely cooked when I get back. The highest temp I've seen it get to is between 350 and 375...that was on a day we had over 100 degree temps.

It was pricey when I got 5 years ago...now the cheapest I see it is $300.

http://www.sunbdcorp.com/

If I had a completely unshaded area I'd get a Global Sun Oven. I've seen demonstrations with them and they work really well for the price. Plus...it has a deeper bed than the tulsi. I have to use pretty shallow pots.