---
title: "Solar Oven Fail"
url: https://suburbansurvivalblog.com/solar-oven-fail/
updated: 2026-06-17T13:51:05+00:00
---

# Solar Oven Fail

[![sportcooker](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6164/6162525007_d574a790e8_z.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/61336135@N06/6162525007/)

This weekend I had an “epic fail” (as the kids say) with my [new solar](http://www.solarovens.org/) cooker. I tried to make a simple dish, Arroz con Pollo (chicken with rice), but did not get past 100F. Why?
 [![arroz-con-pollo-2](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6167/6162543807_d1a53691bc.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/61336135@N06/6162543807/)

The sun! As it turns out, Saturday morning and afternoon was the time mother nature chose to break its drought and be cloudy and rainy in Houston. I put the cooker out with reflectors at 10 am, and it was a little cloudy. As the morning went along, it would be sunny, then cloudy, finally turning to rain. I could see from the thermometer that the temperature did not go above 100F. In the end, I pulled the plug on the experiment around 2 pm when it started raining. So, lessons learned:

1) Trying something new is never a mistake, especially if it was about $7 in ingredients and 1 hour of time.

2) Never count on the weather to be your friend nor your forecaster to be right.

3) Always have a backup plan. On Saturday, that was buying ground chicken and making chili.

Of course, this will not be my last attempt at a solar meal. It is just one of many!

---

Suburban Survival Blog | https://suburbansurvivalblog.com/
[Guide for AI agents](https://suburbansurvivalblog.com/agents.md) | [llms.txt](https://suburbansurvivalblog.com/llms.txt) | [Sitemap](https://suburbansurvivalblog.com/sitemap_index.xml)