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Off-grid cooking: The 5 best solar ovens for RVers

By Cheri Sicard
The team from Techs You Can’t Live Without produced a handy video for RVers who love to boondock. In it, they share their top five picks of the best solar ovens, along with what they like about each one.

In the heat of summer, even RVers who do have hookups might want to use outdoor solar ovens, too, as they give you the functionality of an oven without adding heat to your RV’s interior.

Solar ovens have reflectors that reflect photon light particles and convert them to heat, which in turn cooks your food. All that is needed is the sun.

The team picked their top five using a combination of their personal experience and research coupled with consumer reviews.

Top five solar ovens

#5 KECOP Solar Oven:

Pros:

  • Made from food-grade stainless steel.
  • Compact and weighs just 4.8 pounds.
  • Load it up with food and relax—no monitoring required.
  • It can bake, roast, steam, and sauté.
  • Max temperature 550 F in full sunlight.
  • Foldable portable solar oven has an easy 2-step setup and is easy to store.
  • All parts can be washed with water for quick and easy clean up.
  • Insulated vacuum chamber keeps heat in and cool out, making it safe to the touch.

Cons:

  • This is a smaller solar oven and its trays are shallow. Therefore, it is limited in how much it can cook at once.

#4 MrMapMax Solar Oven

Pros:

  • Can cook even under cloudy skies.
  • Reaches temperatures between 240F and 550F.
  • Can be set up or stored in seconds.
  • Oven and all its accessories weigh only 11.22 lbs.
  • Keeps heat in and cool out, so safe to the touch.
  • Travel-friendly design.
  • Sealed cooking tube improves flavors.

Cons:

  • Not stable on uneven surfaces.

#3 Sunflair Solar Oven

Pros:

  • Essentially a foil-lined box that traps the sun’s rays to cook your food.
  • Cooks at a steady temperature and is suitable for anything regularly cooked in a slow cooker, roasted in an oven, or cooked in a microwave oven.
  • A larger size is best for families or when cooking for larger crowds.
  • This is the smallest solar oven when packed down.
  • Weighs only 1.9 pounds.
  • Reaches up to 550F.
  • Everything is included for cooking and baking: dehydrating trays, enamel and silicones pots, a solar thermometer, and a handy carrying bag.

Cons:

  • The front zipper should be more heavy-duty.

#2 SOL COOK Camper

Pros:

  • Largest solar oven on the market. It’s capable of roasting a turkey!
  • Reaches temperatures up to 550F.
  • Its panel design allows you to use cookware of any and all sizes.
  • Will work with any cookware you already own.
  • Weighs only 3.5 pounds.
  • Comes with a sunlight guide for optimal positioning.
  • Extremely easy and effortless to use.

Cons:

  • Can be tricky to disassemble and pack.

#1 GoSun Solar Oven

Pros:

  • The fastest portable oven.
  • Weighs just 1.9 pounds.
  • Reaches temps up to 550F.
  • Works on overcast days, albeit a bit more slowly and with less heat. If you see a shadow, you can cook with this solar oven.
  • Sleek, compact design and hard shell case make it easy to pack and take along.

Cons:

  • Its capacity is limited by its narrow cooking tube.

##RVDT2175

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