Best solar cooker?

What solar cooker do you use and how do you like it? Did you buy it or make it? My husband and I have made a few over the years but nothing has been entirely satisfactory.

Hi Tyler,

Thank you for posting this, I've been wondering about the best ready made or DIY Solar Cookers, also.

A friend has the Solar Oven, which she uses year round. She thinks it was wellworth the money. (about $300)

This organization has a program for helping villages to put the ovens together and sell them in their area.

Solar Ovens International also makes a huge VILLAGE sized solar oven on wheeled trailer which can be used to cook for many folks. They have videos on their website.

Blessings,
Max

Thank you!

http://www.sunoven.com/

Hi Tyler, THIS is the name of the SUN OVEN which my friend has.

SUN OVEN, not Solar Oven...

Here is a link to reviews on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Global-Sun-Oven-Solar-Cooker/dp/B00286KQ1W

This is what I use camping.

http://www.mollybakersolaroven.com

Hi Robert, thank you for sharing about this cooker. It looks remarkably easy to use.

Do you have favorite foods/dishes you prepare in this? What kind of cooking pot do you use on your adventures?

Thanks.
Max

You can cook just about anything in a solar oven that you can cook in a slow cooker.
Approximately twice as long as a regular recipe We kayak a lot in wilderness areas and can leave a solar cooker and kayak, coming back to the campsite and have hot food.

Hi again,

found this website:

http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Cookers_World_Network_%28Home%29

Many interesting models for solar cooking...

This seems very promising. One of these, and a good collection of cast iron, and you should be able to cook just about anything.

We have been using the Sun Oven for over a week now to make meals every day. LOVE it.
Made blueberry cobbler today. The other day was pork loin.
We avoid heating up the kitchen and save on electricity as well.
Highly recommend to have, plus you don't have to worry about having extra wood or fuel around as with other cooking methods.

Thank you for the recommendation!

This grill is pretty freaking awesome. Solar, portable, lightweight. What do you all think?

It depends on what kind of cooking you want.

The parabolic dishes have very high temperatures - good for sauteing, etc

For "oven" style dishes use box designs.

The use of a ''Hay box cocker can cut in half the amount of Solar energy that must be ''Captured" by the Solar cooker - note that any sauté`-ing /

frying must be done 1st ! For the Crafts Big AL

Guys,

As mentioned before we were getting feedback, now my friends have gone ahead and launched on kickstarter! Check out their video, the have seriously upped their game!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/photongrill/photongrill-inflatable-high-power-portable-bbq

I have a Sun Oven brand solar oven, and I've had it for 15 years. It's in as good a shape as it was new and I use it regularly. It was hard to pay that much, but amortized over even 5-8 years it's not a lot of money. It works in 9 out of 12 months for me, more on the occasional sunny winter day where it's protected.

I do have to plan on 4-6 hours for cooking time, even when it's hot because if I don't keep turning it into the sun, it will drop in temp and take time to get back up.

I do keep it out of the wind because the silver reflectors can really catch a breeze and I don't want it to go over. It does help to have it level, especially since I have to spin it into the sun about every 20 mins or so. but it easily gets up to 300 F and (350 F in summer) when it is angled correctly, and the angle needs to be checked with just stepping back and eyeballing if it's really directly facing into the sun.