Who has an oven? Who uses it?

[ScottReb]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000YLJQ5U/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=366YQRLAMB1LK&coliid=IHML7YPHZY1II

Not a bad option if your just looking at infrequent use. Gets good reviews from the RV crowd.

 

[IdaSHO]

pies and cakes are one thing...

We do a lot in the oven. Much of it is entries from scratch, others are simply re-heating vacuum-sealed frozen items.

Works a great deal better than stove top, and in our experience is much more efficient on LP
Also doesnt require a ridiculous battery bank if your thinking about microwave or convection oven

best part about it for me... is that my wife is Italian.
Nearly everything we eat at home is from scratch.
We try hard to do the same on the road as well. But isn't nearly as easy.

With weight savings in mind, dry goods for making meals is key.
And being on the road, fresh produce is great to keep up on as well.


Just a few things that we do in the oven...

* corn bread - we do chili a lot, corn bread makes it 10x better! powdered mix, a bit of water, and an oven. Corn bread!
* good mac-and-cheese - no, not the boxed kind :Wow1: This is from scratch, and includes pees and tuna
* pizza - using pre-made crust. Super fast and good!
* meatloaf - Oh... so good!
* blueberry muffins - from powdered mix. great for easy breakfast item. Make one batch that lasts week or so.
* cookies - no excuse needed
* oven baked pastas - did I mention my wife was Italian :ylsmoke:
* bread - making bread, or simply re-heating a loaf of say, garlic sourdough for a meal is great!
* Pot Pies - EVERYONE loves a good home made pot pie!
* stuffed baked potatoes - yeah, YUM!
* stuffed peppers - again... YUM!
* Chicken wings and fingers - easy store bought re-heated
* breaded and baked seasonal fish - YUM!

 

[huskyhauler]

Here's a link to my build thread showing my oven/stove setup. It deploys and stows away in a matter of seconds. Keep in mind our setup is outside as our rig is used for both tailgating and camping so we prefer outdoor cooking.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-Husky-Hauler-(another-ambulance-build)/page3

 

[Mwilliamshs]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000YLJQ5U/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=366YQRLAMB1LK&coliid=IHML7YPHZY1II

Not a bad option if your just looking at infrequent use. Gets good reviews from the RV crowd.

Yeah I dry-bake muffin mixes when camping on a dirtbike in a similar fashion. Always an option to just bake on the stovetop but not exactly fuel efficient. I'm not looking for ways to bake, just reasons I should fit an oven in the van. Thanks though.

 

[Mwilliamshs]

I was considering getting one of these this summer. I could see myself baking some biscuits at camp

http://www.mec.ca/product/5043-039/camp-chef-camp-oven/

HA! I had this tab open when I read your reply LOL http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-Cam...0013LLSZG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pdt_img_top?ie=UTF8

I think that'd be nice to mount real well inside and remove when appropriate. Keep heat out of the van, etc. Just not sure the space/weight/price is worth how often I'd use it. Can't come up with a use for an oven besides muffins, biscuits, a pizza (not much of a pizza is gonna get made in an oven so small)...

Just use one of these and one of these

Here's a link to my build thread showing my oven/stove setup. It deploys and stows away in a matter of seconds. Keep in mind our setup is outside as our rig is used for both tailgating and camping so we prefer outdoor cooking.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...-Husky-Hauler-(another-ambulance-build)/page3

certainly a theme going here! huskyhauler, how do you like it? I'd be interested in a review! Most I can find are tiny home ppl or emergency preparedness people, not much from actual campers and none from van/ambulance campers. A serious concern of mine is if it rattles in transit.

 

[danfromsyr]

we have an old RV take out oven (taken out of an old RV)
that we take on occasion, mostly in fall camping. it's nice for a larger group dining..
we'll make a pan of lasagna and usually a try of apple crisp for dessert/breakfast.
keeping it unmounted allows us to use it out under the awning..

 

[dddonkey]

I have the camp chef oven posted in the previous link and love it. I dont use it in a van but with my camper, this one does not have an oven and this was a good alternative for the price because we use it all the time. I have only had one issue with it and that was that the thermal coupler came loose, it was shutting down as a safety measure, but a quick call the customer support and a wrench and all was well. The nice thing is you can pick them up on eBay's daily deal for $160 shipped new and when baking or cooking you can do it outside. I too have a Dutch oven but use this all the time for convenience with three kids, when I'm done I just slide it into its bag (extra) and put it away.

So in my opinion get and oven or something like the camp chef you won't regret it.

 

[huskyhauler]

We love it. It's a very sturdy unit. We picked ours up at CostCo for around $140 or so. The oven burners are spot on with any quality coleman stove I've ever been around. The oven portion takes around 15 minutes to heat up if it's below 50 degrees outside, but once it's warm it cooks really well. It comes with a cheapo griddle that fits over the stove. We would prefer a cast iron skillet, but the one that comes with it is form fitting and won't slide off the stove top surfaces so we use it despite also owning a proper cast iron skillet. My plan is to get around to mounting screws to support our proper cast iron skillet so it won't pivot, but that's later.

We have used the stove top and oven setup regularly both in camping and tailgating. I am a firm believer that everything must be overbuilt to survive college tailgating, especially with our crowd. The unit hasn't skipped a beat and nothing has broken or skimped out. The oven portion is small and won't fit a large pizza. However, we overcame that issue by slicing the pizza up into quarters and re-positioning the slices into a square instead of a circle. It has handles on the sides so it can be easily moved while still warm. The stove top has a cover that opens up and becomes a grease splash guard.

Before I mounted the oven to the outside compartment I used to transport it inside the rig. It doesn't really rattle. The oven door shuts snuggly, as does the stove-top cover. The oven racks are loose, as is the stovetop burner grate. They can move around if you hit a bump hard enough but they never really bothered me. If I hit a bump hard enough to cause the racks and grate to move a lot of other things were crashing around in my rig as well.

 

[huskyhauler]

This is exactly what I was going to say! I'll add in: Pie! Whatever type you prefer, apple, cherry, rhubarb, etc. Fresh, hot out of the oven pie is best as far out into the woods as you can get.

Baking biscuits while cooking eggs and gravy for breakfast ain't bad either.

We could camp without our oven but it would be a lot less enjoyable.

I forgot Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast! There's nothing better in the morning than the smell of an Irish coffee and cinnamon rolls.

 

[tequilasunset]

we have an old RV take out oven (taken out of an old RV)
that we take on occasion, mostly in fall camping. it's nice for a larger group dining..
we'll make a pan of lasagna and usually a try of apple crisp for dessert/breakfast.
keeping it unmounted allows us to use it out under the awning..

Nice looking set up... you should check the vanagon site called TheSamba