Cooking With My Solar Oven: What it Actually Looks Like

 

 

People are usually surprised the first time they see My Solar Oven at work because of how ordinary the whole thing feels. There is no flame, no fuel, no noise. You set it up, walk away, and come back to a fully cooked and delicious meal.

We thought it might help those new to solar cooking and My Solar Oven to walk through what a real cook actually looks like, start to finish. A "day in the life" of solar cooking with My Solar Oven.

Every dish in these photos is a real cook, and each one has its full recipe on the blog already: the brownies from the hero shot, the sausage, potato, and pepper bake you'll see later, and the mac and cheese everybody asks about.

Picking your spot

Everything starts with the sun. My Solar Oven wants a flat, stable surface in full, direct sunlight, with no shade from trees, buildings, or fence posts at any point during the cook. Shade creeps across a yard faster than you'd think, so look at where the shadows will be a few hours from now, not just where they are right now.

There's a rule of thumb we love: if you need your sunglasses, you can cook. Clear skies and a high sun are your friends. Higher outdoor temperatures and summer months push the oven hotter, which is why August cooks run faster than February ones.

Setting it up

Setup takes about 2 minutes. Place the oven flat on the ground, then extend the rear metal stand to tip the glass face toward the sun. The angle changes with the seasons: in winter, when the sun sits low, the stand extends higher. In summer the sun is overhead and the stand barely comes into play.

The rear stand extended, tipping My Solar Oven toward the sun.

Next, unfold the reflector panels and lock each one with its metal tab. Then use the Quick Align tool, the two little holes in the white plastic at the base of the glass. When sunlight through the top hole lands centered on the bottom hole, the oven is aimed perfectly. That's the whole aiming system. It takes about ten seconds.

The Quick Align tool up close: two holes in the white plastic at the base of the glass.

One tip worth knowing early: when the stand is fully extended the oven can get tippy, especially in wind. The included ground stakes go right through the rear leg and solve the problem.

Preheating

With the door closed and latched, let My Solar Oven preheat for 15 to 30 minutes before the food goes in. The built-in thermometer tells you when you're there. On a clear summer day, expect 350 to 400 degrees. In winter, with the stand extended, somewhere between 275 and 350. Exactly where you land depends on your latitude and the day, but even the low end is honest baking heat.

Loading it up

Anything that's safe in a conventional oven is safe here, but dark pans are the move. Black metal soaks up heat and holds it. A glass lid is the other quiet cheat: you can check on your food without opening the door, which keeps the heat where it belongs.

Black bakeware with a glass lid: you can see dinner without ever letting the heat out.

Here's a tip that surprises people: solar cooking traps steam instead of venting it, so soups, grains, and braises usually need about 25% less liquid than the recipe says. Start there and adjust. Baking is the exception; follow those ratios as written.

When the oven is up to temperature, open the glass door with an insulated mitt, set your pot or pan on the self-leveling rack, close the door, and slide the locking tabs over the edge of the glass until the seal is snug. That gasket seal is what holds the heat in, so make it firm.

The part where you do almost nothing

Once the food is in, your main job is to nudge the oven to follow the sun. Check the Quick Align tool every 15 to 30 minutes and re-aim when it drifts. It takes less time than stirring a pot on a stove.

If you're doing a long cook and can't babysit it, aim the oven where the sun will be at the halfway point of your cook instead of where it is right now. That little trick keeps light coming in for hours.

Two things to know about timing. First, plan on roughly 50-100% longer cooks compared to the recipe's stated cook time. This is a very wide range, but short cooks tend to be on the longer end (75-100% longer than the stated cook time), and longer cooks often only add 50% or less. This guidance swings widely because cooking conditions (humidity levels, wind, etc.) vary widely.

Second, every time you open the door you release a trapped pocket of heat, which can add 5 to 15 minutes to the cook. The glass lid exists so you can peek without opening. Use it.

Taking dinner out

My Solar Oven is a real oven, so treat it like one! The glass door, the metal tabs, the rack, and the food are all hot. Even the black exterior surface gets very hot under direct sun. Always use insulated oven mitts for every step of getting food out, and mind the self-leveling rack, which can swing a bit as you lift your pot clear.

Mac and cheese coming out, edges browned and top golden, cooked entirely by the sun.

That's the Sun-Baked Mac & Cheese, by the way, and the full recipe is on the blog.

Cook to the same safe internal temperatures you would anywhere else. The heat source is different, but the food safety rules are not.

Supper coming off the rack. Mitts on, as always.

Cleaning up and packing it flat

After the oven cools, wipe the interior with warm, soapy water, and use equal parts water and white vinegar on anything stubborn. Leave the door cracked open between cooks so air moves through and nothing gets musty.

Then the part that makes people grin: unlatch the reflectors, fold them flat against the top of the oven, and snap the strap. The whole thing goes compact and light enough to carry one-handed, ready for the next cook or the back of the truck.

What it all adds up to

Here's an honest tally for a typical dinner cook:

• About 2 minutes of setup and aiming
• 15 to 30 minutes of preheat while you prep the food
• The recipe's cook time, plus the My Solar Oven additional time, with a 30-second re-aim every half hour
• Zero fuel of any kind

That's the entire experience, what it's actually like to cook entirely with the sun with My Solar Oven. There's no tank to refill, no cord to run, no kitchen heating up the house in July.

If you're ready to try it, the recipes here on the blog are all tested in My Solar Oven, and the Owner's Manual covers every detail this overview skipped.

If it's time to quit paying to heat your kitchen, My Solar Oven is ready when you are. Set it out, aim it at the sun, and let dinner take care of itself.

Happy cooking!

Caleb