I bought my husband a solar oven for Father's Day. I know it's a bit of stretch since I do all the cooking. I'm not ranting about that since I'm a better cook and a picky eater. He can & does cooks sometimes but it was an interesting thing to experiment with and Father's Day was a convenient excuse.
I bought it from the Solar Oven Society. They're a great organization in the Twin Cities and their oven received the best ratings in Cook's Illustrated last year. They sold out this spring so we've only had it about two weeks. We're really enjoying it. Living in Florida's summer heat it's great to not have to turn on the oven or stove in the afternoon. It really does make a difference in the ambient temperature in the house. I'm still learning how to use it. It requires a lot less water than conventional cooking so I'm learning how to adjust recipes appropriately.
So far everything we've made has tasted great. I'm not expecting anything dramatic on the electricity bill but I'm really satisfied that I'm doing something proactive. I'm also really looking forward to teaching older toad to cook with it. It's wonderful to think about teaching him a skill that doesn't require electricity as well avoiding the safety issues of the oven.
The ovens are not cheap but I feel well worth the investment. Think about my product plug and consider unplugging something.
