I’ve been using my Sun Oven for every day cooking but this last week wanted to really put it to the test. The Sun Oven website claims it can be used to cook hard boiled eggs without using any water. That was my first test.
On a sunny afternoon, I placed two raw eggs on the leveling tray in the oven. The oven was hot, right at 350 degrees. No directions were given regarding the length of cooking time, so I just figured I would break open an egg after 20 minutes to see if it was fully cooked. To keep a short story short, the egg was perfectly cooked! There
image by basykes
was no dark green ring around the yoke to indicate over-cooking, and the entire egg was soft but definitely hard boiled. Impressive!
The second experiment involved a frozen chicken. The president of Sun Oven, Paul Munsen, says that he puts a frozen chicken in his Sun Oven in the morning, along with some seasonings and vegetables, and the chicken slow cooks all day long until it’s perfectly finished by the end of the day. Well, my chicken was well and truly frozen on the morning of the experiment. I spread a bit of olive oil over the chicken with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, popped it in a covered baker and into the Sun Oven a little after 9 a.m. I was running errands all day long, but when I checked on the chicken at 4:30 that afternoon, it was fully cooked and ultra moist. Wow!
The Sun Oven passed both tests with flying colors. (Did I mention what an awesome job it does with a pan of brownies??)
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Thanks for the info. A solar oven was the next thing on my prepardness to get list. (BTW, I cook frozen chickens in my crock pot and they turn out wonderful!)
My suggestion re: purchasing a solar oven is to research the different varieties out there, talk with people who use them (or read about their experiences online) and decide which features are most important to you. The inventors of the Global Sun Oven have thought of all types of little details that make their oven effective and easy to use, but then, the price is around $250-300. With some research, you may decide that a $75 oven will suit you just fine and that you don't really need this or that feature. The lower price being a more important factor. Just BE SURE the oven will get up to 350 degrees, at least. Otherwise, your cooking times will be longer, less convenient, and you'll likely stop using the oven.
I had a fun experience with the Global sun oven this weekend. My sister's freezer went out and she had 2 whole chickens and a turkey breast in it. They had thawed but were a little icy, so we had to cook them. We had to sun ovens available and a crook pot so in the ovens went one chicken and a turkey and in the crock pot another chicken. It took 2 1/2 hours to cook the chicken, we did refocus to get it done quickly and the crock pot took a few hours more. We got to taste the meat from both the oven and the crock pot and I truly could not believe how much moister and better tasting the one in the oven turned out. I was thrilled. I've used mine everyday since. : )
After the last big storm hit my home and knocked out the power for – get this – SIX days, I knew it was time to get a solar cook. After reading this, I'm now convinced that I absolutely MUST have one 🙂 Thanks TheSurvivalMom!
Hm.. I live in Oregon! We don't SEE the sun from October to April and then it is overcast until May or June. Does it only work on sunny days?
LOL. I'm with you. I live in VA and by mid-September, the main thing we could use it for is boiling water, MAYBE reheating something already cooked because the sun just doesn't give direct enough rays here then. I think the maps they have showing where you get enough vitamin D in the winter are good for the sun oven. If you get enough vitamin D in the winter, then you get enough direct rays to use the sun oven. If not, guess what? The Cobb Oven might be a better bet for you – it uses charcoal and can be used indoors.
Thanks for your response! I'll check it out. Otherwise I'm stocking up on propane for a while.
I’m in Oregon as well and have decided to purchase a Sun Oven – and it’s not because I have money growing on trees 🙂 I figure there are enough sunny days through the year that it’ll help save me money in the long run with electricity AND be around during a power outage (if there’s sun). Because of the sun factor (or lack of sun) I also have a volcano stove and a rocket stove. We pinch and pinch money so we can have a way to prepare food with no power.
I just got a group buy together where you just order straight from http://www.sunoven.com and not a middle man. And I don’t get anything out of it either. The coupon code is “SUNSOR” and is good until June 26th, 2012.
Just an Oregon update…I love my Sun Oven!
It’s been keeping my house cool this summer without air conditioning. What a difference! Plus I’m loving the ease if use and flexibility of use. Right now I’m baking biscuits and “boiling” eggs at the same time with no heat in my kitchen.
Don’t plan on using it much in the winter of course. I’ll have to check out the Cobb oven mentioned above.
Great! I think the best combination for emergencies is a solar oven and an energy efficient multi-fuel stove, like the Stove-Tec Rocket Stove.
You can easily construct a reflective insert, which I've detailed here.
http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/reflect…
so that during low sun angled days (Winter) or hazy conditions, you can get another 100-150F out of your Global Sun Oven (or any other for that matter). I covered the math in another post.
http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/solar-o…
and the spreadsheet for the oven calculation, is found as a link on this post (second sheet).
http://www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com/focal-p…
Enjoy.
Thanks for this post. We recently built our own solar oven and have been enjoying a variety of foods cooked in it. I'm anxious to try the boiled eggs!
I’m told that if you have any sort of shadow (on a high overcast day) you can cook with the GSO; I’ve yet to try that though. We have successfully used it on partly cloudy days. We have two and I am very happy with them. We have had ours at 320’F in the winter, in Montana with snow on the ground. In the winter I just make sure it is not in a windy area; a slight breeze is okay.
We use our Solar “CooKit” (from Solar Cookers International) on backpacking camping trips, but they are not very helpful in the winter or when you are without full sunlight.
I wholeheartedly recommend the Global Sun Oven.
I am very interested in purchasing this oven, but read the reviews on Amazon where people kept discussing a plastic taste in the food. Do you find this to be true?
Michelle, the first time I used it, I did not wash it out with soap and water beforehand, and the food did have a plastic-y taste. Once I washed it, though, that was never a problem, and I’ve used it many times. I hope you’ll give it a chance!
The Cobb America Charcoal Grill CANNOT BE USED INDOORS! Cobb America has sent letters out warning about the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning indoors and they have taken down all videos that show the grill being used indoors. Like all charcoal grills, this grill emits carbon monoxide gas, which can kill within minutes when used indoors. The Web sites, recipe book, and visuals in a promotional video create the impression that the Cobb Cooker can be used indoors. The recipe book says that it can be used on your dining room table, and the promotional video showed a man carrying the grill into the house while the charcoal was still burning. The promotional video, which created the impression that the grill could be used indoors, has been removed from the firm’s Web site, http://www.cobbamerica.com, and a warning about the hazards of indoor charcoal use and carbon monoxide poisoning has been posted. The firm is sending warning letters to all known consumers.
An alternative with electric backup for when the clouds roll in…
http://vimeo.com/78202798