Here comes the sun

Several years ago, I got interested in cooking with solar power. My house is old with no insulation and minimal a/c and my kitchen routinely gets toasty in the summer.  I hunted around online and found several different sites that had plans for building your own solar oven.  I made the pizza box solar oven.  There's not a whole lot you can cook in one of those but the process is pretty cool. Then I graduated up and  for a few years I would build a larger Cardboard box solar oven.  Those are pretty cool, except my cat REALLY liked laying on it when it was all closed up.  Plus, we don't have a garage in which to store a big cardboard box so I had to build a new one, and sometimes 2 every season.  Finally, I took the plunge and bought a "real" solar oven.  I did the research and decided on buying an oven from the Sun Oven company.  This is the only oven I've had any dealings with, so my experiences are limited on the other brands.  

This is what my oven looks like all closed up.  There is a strap on the reflectors that has a snap to keep things all neat and from flopping around while you carry it. 

 There is a handle on the front.  It's fairly light.

In the back of the oven, there is an adjustable leg so you can tilt the oven according to the angle of the sun and the time of year

When you unsnap the reflectors, they unfold to capture the sun from all sides and direct it straight into the oven interior through the glass lid.

 I usually put the oven out to pre-heat about 30 minutes before I use it. .

 This is 10 minutes after it's been set up.

 On this particular occcasion, I was just cooking a whole chicken so I could strip the meat off and use it in tacos and other meals.  Since the kids are grown and gone, I can get about 3 meals out of a whole chicken.  This is one of my home grown chickens all tucked in to a black metal pan and the lid is put on.

 By the time I get everything together and ready for the oven, the temp is pretty high.  The average crock pot temperature is around 180, so I use my oven mostly for crock pot type of meals and dishes.  

The highest I've ever seen the temperature on the oven is close to 325.  You can bake bread and cookies in it, but you have to readjust the oven every 15 minutes so it can continue to get the maximum benefit from the sun.  I've not done that yet, but I'm hoping to do quite a bit of experimenting this summer

This is what my chicken looks like after being outside all day.  Notice that it's not really browned?  Because the oven is sealed tight with a rubber gasket, things don't burn or brown, which is pretty great.  Now I strip the meat, chop and distribute and then all the bones go into the stock pot.

After I cook the bones and skin for 24-48 hours with a couple tablespoons of white vinegar, I pressure can the bone broth.  These are still boiling after coming out of the canner.  Everything left from the stock pot goes out to the hens and then into the compost pile.

I have cooked casseroles, roasts, and soups in the oven and I have even sun dried tomatoes by leaving the glass lid slightly open so the steam can escape.  My goal is to use the oven at least 2 times a week,start baking in it and continue using it into the winter.  The outside air temperature isn't an issue, since the oven heats up by capturing the sun's energy.  I live in Texas, so sunny days aren't usually a problem, and it's a lot of fun cooking supper completely outdoors.  

I hope you grab some boxes and give it a try.

D