Solar Cooking: Why It’s Great for RVers


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“You made THAT?!?! In there?!?!”

 

 

It’s become a thing. I make something rather un-camping-like in the solar cooker, and sure enough, my campground guests are dazzled and impressed.

That’s one of the things I love about our GoSun solar cooker.  It’s my one and only culinary workhorse we bring along in the RV, and it makes cooking on the road such a fun part of any RV adventure.  James and I were up in the Uinta Mountains recently, and as we were solar-cooking up our dinner, decided we wanted to share this video of our GoSun cooker in action.

 

If you aren’t familiar with solar cooking, think of it more along the lines of steaming. You won’t be grilling up burgers or steaks in a solar oven, but you can definitely bake, roast, and boil…which are way healthier options than grilling anyways.

 

 

Let me tell you a few other reasons why I love this thing:

 

It fits in Lance!

The GoSun is made for portability. It folds up to around 2 feet long, and is around 6” wide. That size works great with our campervan’s storage limitations. There are many other solar cookers out there, but the size and shape of this one makes it stow away quite nicely in our rig.

 

Oven temps are mild…and adjustable!

Since we do most of our solar cooking at the end of the day, my experience with the cooker is with temps maybe around 300 degrees or so. I think these lower temps are great…you really can’t burn anything cooking that low. And since some burnt foods quite possibly may be linked to increased cancer risk , I see solar cooking as a much healthier (and safer) way to heat your food. Plus, I love that I have some control over the temperature. If I were cooking in full sun at high noon, I could easily close the panels a bit to keep the temperature in the tube lower, or I could position the panels slightly away from the sun.

 

The GoSun doesn’t get hot on the outside!

Even though it might be 300 degrees inside the tube, you can touch anywhere around the cooker and not get burned. So, you can leave it out and not worry about your pets or kids (or scatterbrained husbands) accidentally bumping it.

 

Throw it together and take a hike!

This is one of my favorite things about the GoSun, and it’s kind of along the lines of crock-pot cooking…throw everything in and then go on with your life. When you come back, voila! Dinner is magically done. Makes it a great fit for active RVers who aren’t always hanging around the campsite.

 

Easy breezy clean-up!

The cooker comes with a scrubby cleaning pad that attaches to the end of the cooking tray. I simply hose the whole thing down, squirt on a little earth-friendly soap, and use the scouring pad to clean the inside of the tube…the whole thing’s not even a 5 minute event. It’s all actually kinda fun in a weird washing-the-car sort of way. Makes me want to don a bikini and crank Bon Jovi out of my boom box…

 

It’ll Shrink Your Carbon Footprint!

Since you’re not burning charcoal or using gas, solar cooking is environmentally-friendly.  That’s a big deal for me and makes me feel good each time I use it.

 

So yeah! That’s my little sure-to-impress camping toy! You can find the GoSun by itself right here on Amazon, and that’s really all you need, OR if you’re more hardcore and want the Pro Pack that comes with an extra tray and a very nice carrying bag, you can find that link HERE.

 

Anyone else have experience cooking with solar? Would love your feedback (and any recipe ideas?!?)! Feel free to comment below!

I’ve also got one of my favorite GoSun recipes here on the website already… a healthed-up apple crisp recipe, so be sure you check that out.

Happy travels, all!

xoxo,

Stef



After 15 years as an educator in both the public K-12 setting and the University level in Special Physical Education, Stef made the leap to her true passion… the fitness world. She’s currently a personal trainer and wellness coach specializing in seniors, medical conditions, and injuries. Stef loves running, cycling, and being “Mugga” to her two favorite mini-humans — Punky and Marshmallow. ❤️


    13 thoughts on “Solar Cooking: Why It’s Great for RVers

      1. James

        Well no. But Mel does prefer his food warm, so he’d probably like to use the solar cooker himself.
        If he could figure out the whole opposable thumbs thing, that is.

        Reply
    1. Ken Steitle

      We watched your video on the solar cooker and are interested. We are more interested in the item in the table that has a fan turning on top of it. I suspect it is to keep bugs away from your drinks. Can you tell us about that. Thanks, Ken and Dawn

      Reply
    2. warsurplus

      Now you can consider selling your carbon credits on ebay. 😉 Could you produce a video that demonstrates using the cooker, setting up, loading food, removing food, monitoring the cooking progress, etc.? This video was more of a testimonial.

      Reply
      1. Stefany - Post author

        Jeez, where were you when I decided to film about our GoSun! That’s a brilliant idea and makes sense AND would be fun to share. I’m all over this, thanks for the fantastic suggestion!

        Reply
    3. Larry aloha

      Loved the solar cooker! I wish you would of let us see the meal finished. How can you tell when the fish is done? I’am getting hungry, enjoy dinner.
      Love your videos keep them comming. Thx larry aloha

      Reply
      1. Stefany - Post author

        Ha! That’s so funny you bring that up, we realized we didn’t get any footage of the cooked food until AFTER we ate. Woops! And great question about how to know when it’s done. The thing about solar cooking, planning how long to cook takes some educated guessing, since there are SOOO many variables! At high noon on a full sun day, the fish could easily be done in 15 minutes. But, once you add clouds, and the sun’s now off to the west since it’s dinnertime, it’s going to take longer. Thick storm clouds for example could slow the times to a couple hours even. Since I’ve been using the GoSun so long now, I’ve gotten good at “predicting.” When I stuck the fish and zoodles in, I knew I was going to let it cook for an hour because of the late hour and the clouds, and it came out tender and flaky and delish, so I guessed well. It was probably done sooner than that, but I wanted to be sure. It is a bit like crock-pot cooking in that way, since it doesn’t hurt it to stay cooking in the very low temps a little longer. Hope this helps!

        Reply
        1. Larry aloha

          Aloha Stefany;
          Thanks for your fast reply. The wife and I look forward to getting the go sun solar oven and trying out the apple crisp recipe (dessert first)! We have been binge watching you guys and just had to subscribe. Great tips, good fun and very entertaining. Living vicariously through your vids, makes us want to do the same. We are considering going to the Pomona rv show in October, would you recommend that one?
          Mahalo
          Larry and Cindy

        2. Stefany - Post author

          Awww, such a nice comment, Larry (and wife)! I’m glad you found us! And yes we definitely recommend Pomona…WE’LL BE THERE!!! We usually go the first weekend, so that’s my guess for us but we haven’t solidified our plans yet. Would be so fun to meet in person!

    4. Paul Laroche

      I’ll be ordering one soon ,always great videos. Was that a fly and bug repellent spinning on your table? If so ware can I find one. Thanks Paul

      Reply

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