One tiny step forward toward my long-term goal of getting us off-grid. I just ordered and received an "All American Sun Oven". I plan to use it initially to dehydrate fruits and vegetables (it came with multiple stacking racks), to use it to bake bread, and to use it as a slow cooker during the day while I'm at work.
Yesterday was spent cleaning the sun oven as per the instructions (we had to allow the sun oven to heat up and then put 1.5 cups of vinegar and 1.5 cups of water mixed with a couple of drops of dish soap in the oven to steam for a couple of hours and then wipe the inside down).
It was very cold and windy when I did the "cleaning" and despite the condensation which built up on the glass from the steam (which the instructions say reduces the oven's ability to heat up), the oven got to 325 degrees F in the early to mid-morning timeframe. Ed was concerned that the oven wouldn't work in the winter; however, the manufacturer states that it will work just as well in the winter as it does in the summer so long as it's a sunny day.
With the high winds, we did have a couple of "tip overs" despite the stabilizing mechanism built into the sun oven and so we are in the process of devising a DIY improvement to prevent this in the future.
Supposedly, you can't overcook your food, things won't dry out, and it doesn't take a whole lot longer than a conventional oven to bake something (although, the liquid in recipes needs to be adjusted downward fairly significantly (anywhere from 1/3 to 2/3)). More to come when we cook our first meal, etc.
While the sun oven was more expensive than I would have thought, we won't need to pay for fuel to have it work. It's just another tool in the arsenal in our journey to off grid.
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