Martha

I will have to research the freeze thing, mines been frozen and I have seen no iil effects to date, dh pointed out that have never taken it from hot to freezing, that I always take it from room temp to cooking and or fridge chilled to freezing..

Farmgal, thanks for the input, I was hoping that avoiding swift temperature changes would be sufficient to keep the product in good condition. I'd like to actually contact the manufacturer though but I couldn't find it on the internet.

Ranger, I discovered a few drawbacks to the solar oven, I'd like to hear your thoughts. First couple of times I tried to use it I got everything ready, and then some little fluffy intermittent clouds started passing through. Pretty soon there were more clouds and now medium sized ones... So the oven was only getting intermittent sun. It made me think of the possibility of leaving a chicken in it unattended in the morning and having the weather take an unforseen turn, cloud over and ruin the food altogether.

Then there's the need to keep it aimed properly - tweak it every half hour or so, and make sure wind doesn't blow it away. I also had to be vigilant that my dogs didn't try anything naughty... All in all, I'm thinking it's still a good product, but requires more babysitting than a thermal cooker, and could potentially spoil food. I'm thinking it would be good for days you're working out in the yard already.

Ranger do you have any pics of your solar oven?

2X portable Butane cookers with 8 fuel cannisters, a fondue set with a cast iron pot and alcohol burner.. heavy duty foil and box for a solar oven. not much but a lot of my foodstuffs don't need cooking- can be eaten cold.

Last year we had a get together in Hamilton where I showed my solar oven and made one in situ with a cardboard box, aluminum foil and a pane of glass, (I gave it to oldschool, since she provided the materials). She and a few other people took photos. I am horrible at getting anything digitally posted here.

Martha, you are right to a point on the solar cooker. On a cloudy day it sucks, but on the sunny days it works great. If you set up your solar right you only have to realign ever 2 hours. if you have a bit of imagination and ingenuity, you can add a small solar cell, a small electric dc motor from a toy car, and a lazysusan, you could make a self tracking solar oven. Sold one to a friend last year.

Great posts with great ideas.I'm especially interested in your tracking device Ranger.Can you tell us more about the design and operation? Thanks.Would it adapt to a fresnel lens?

I'm a little slow on the uptake, I just discovered your idea here ranger, about a tracking device for the solar oven. I'm with Naka, can you tell us more?

If you gear it right, you want the motor to turn the solar oven 120* in a 6 hour time frame using a spring tensioner to get it tight. There is a you tube demo out there some where that shows this.

Without electricity - I am not very prepared for that situation. I wish we could use a solar oven but here in Calgary we don't get enough sunlight even in the summer let alone winter time. I have built a small solar cooker just to practice and it would get hot enough to cook potatoes in a long summer day with very bright sun. Unfortunately we just don't get many of those days here. We have three propane tanks to be used with the BBQ then a few camping stoves with some small fuel canisters. Since our major fuel sauce is propane I definitely should consider one of those thermal cookers.