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 Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:14 pm
For my church's tutoring program two crock pots of food have to be made each time. I was thinking about using solar ovens - the foil covered boxes you put out in the sun to cook food in- because it uses energy from the sun but I don't know if it is practical. Do they take longer to cook food than "normal" ovens? Do they work at all if it's cloudy? How do you tell if the food is cooked?
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:54 pm
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:38 pm
The only thing that takes longer is getting the oven to temp. I think they tend to take about an hour to reach cooking temperature but don't take my word on it. Once to temperature (which you can tell with the addition of an oven thermometer) they'll cook at the same rate as a standard oven. Some even have fancy covers to block the sun to help control the temperature.
I think you need full sun to cook with or if it works in cloudy weather then it'll take longer to cook than if it was in full sun.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:03 pm
I've used one a lot, but only from the first day of spring to the first day of autumn. It does take a while for them to reach temp, but then, it's just the same as far as time is concerned, if the temp stays the same. They do take some tending, re-orienting them to the sun, etc., and it's more labor-intensive the farther the date is from the summer solstice.
I'm sure that latitude will make a big difference. I'm in southwest Missouri. You may be able to get better results in the cooler part of the year than I do, if you are closer to the equator. Or at a higher altitude.
Just remember that the whole oven can get extremely hot! It's easy to burn yourself on the oven itself, if the exterior is flat black. Just like the oven in the house.
Remember that the oven has to reheat every time you open it. So if you're planning to cook a couple of things, make them things that you can put in at the same time and take out at the same time. You can bake in them, they're just better for a few loaves of bread, all baked at once, than for cookies (unless just a few cookies are enough).
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 4:57 pm
We actually made cookies in a solar oven at Girl Scout camp once... but the oven caught on fire. sweatdrop
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:30 am
Brownies were always our compromise where sweets were concerned----although you can bake excellent pies in them!
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Posted: Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:06 pm
That's so cool! I've never even heard of these. Probably pretty impractical where I live since the sun is probably only hot enough 2-3 months of the year... but still!
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