Did some more solar cooking

On Wednesday, it was a sunny day, so I decided to see how many things I could cook in my solar oven.  The only time you can use the solar oven is about 10 am-3 pm, and I learned that in November it cooked best between 11 am-2 pm.

First, I put in a pot of stew at 11:00 am.  The oven got up to 300 degrees, and I left the stew in there until 2:30 pm.  Wayne pronounced it "delicious!"

There was a space to the side of the pot, so I made half a box of chocolate cake and then divided the batter into 2 cans.  I sprayed the inside with Pam, and the cake later slid right out.

(These were cans I had saved, and spray painted the outside with black high-heat grill paint.  They were originally 26 oz or 28 oz. spaghetti sauce or kidney beans cans, which have white linings.)

The cakes baked in about an hour.

Then I added a bread pan full of cornbread.   That also baked in about an hour.  (I have learned that baked goods take about twice as long in the solar oven.)

I took the stew and the cornbread out at 2:30, and put in a pot of rice.  By 3 or 3:30, the solar oven was down to 200 degrees, so the rice wasn't cooking anymore (water boils at 212 degrees).  I had to finish cooking the rice on the stove.


So I learned that I could cook about 3 items in about 3-4 hours.  But all the quantities were small, about enough for 4 people maximum, without any leftovers.