Oven Not Working, No Electricity, Oh No!
Have you ever wondered "How can I bake without an oven?" Maybe your oven broke, you were experiencing an electrical outage, or you were out of propane, but you had a dire need to bake. No matter the cause, it's a good idea to learn about and practice ways of baking without an oven (unconventional baking) as you never know when you will be stuck without your oven.
If you haven't had to ask yourself, "How can I bake with no oven?" Murphy's law will most likely force you to ask yourself on a night you have your meal ready for the baking and everyone's hungrily waiting.
With that said I would like to explore with you the options I have found available on the market as well as DIY ideas you can use to bake without a conventional oven.
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| Freshly baked without an oven |
11 Ways to Bake Without an Oven
- Dutch Oven - When you have a Dutch Oven and your meal fits inside it, you can go about baking without an oven pretty easily. You can bury a dutch oven in hot coals, as was done well before the Pioneer age. However, an easier option is to place it on top of the stove if your stove top is usable.
- Slow Cooker - If you have electricity available you can use a slow cooker to bake whatever meals you can fit in them.
- Pressure Cooker - With the stove top type of pressure cooker you can bake a cake in no time as long as you have a way to heat it up.
- Large Pot / Deep Pan with Fitted Lid - Some pots or pans that you can cover tightly will also do the job of baking without an oven as long as you have a heat source.
However, not everyone has all the cooking and baking tools available, I being one to own neither a pressure cooker or Dutch oven. I know, and I call myself a homesteader / off gridder. However, a good Homesteader learns how to make do with what is available right? So keep reading to learn of the other 9 ways to bake without a conventional oven.
Portable Ovens Available on the Market
Now of course if you don't have electricity or gas for your stove top the options above are just about useless, minus the Dutch Oven, so it's good to know there are other options to bake without an oven.- Global Sun Oven - Some of the options such as a Global Sun Oven will require some investment and of course certain fuels to be readily available.
- Herc Tea Light Oven - There is also the Herc Tea Light oven and with the XXL version you can bake up to three loaves of bread using tea light candles.
- Coleman Camping Oven / Other Camping Ovens - On eBay if you go looking, you can find an oven that utilizes a propane camping stove to bake goods in the oven below. However an even more budget-friendly option is the Coleman camping oven.
Make Your Own Oven!
- Roast Pan Oven - I have found that two roasting pans or steam table pans that are at least 4 inches deep can make a great oven that you can place on a camping stove, stove top, wood burning stove, or brick stove. Thus when you have no sun, electricity, or gas, you can bake with no oven, as long as you have a way to make a fire underneath the pans.
Getting the Supplies for the Roast Pan Oven
If you don't have 2 deep roast pans or steam table pans, stores such as the Dollar General or Family Dollar carry roast pans for pretty cheap. You can also check your local thrift stores, schools, and restaurants as they may discard steam table pans just because they've been deemed to old to use. Don't forget to pick up a couple of metal racks with different heights to fit inside your oven to provide you with different shelf heights.
Do it Yourself Roast Pan Oven
What I did was place one pan right side up, placed a metal rack inside, then placed the other pan upside down on top of the first pan. Next you just heat up the pans and you can bake to your hearts desire.As long as your heat source is controllable, as with a gas stove top or wood burning stove, you can slide a deep fry thermometer in to check the temperature. Then just adjust the heat source as needed.
Just be careful when you lift the top to place what you are baking inside, as it will blow heat out at you.
Of course certain baked goods require the typical baking hacks you would use in a conventional oven to achieve desired results as well as getting to know how the oven bakes with different types and levels of heat sources underneath will be a key to getting your desired results. I did quite a bit of experimenting with this oven and was able to bake green chili chicken enchiladas, homemade pizza, sandwich bread, and several other baked goods and dinners.
Of course certain baked goods require the typical baking hacks you would use in a conventional oven to achieve desired results as well as getting to know how the oven bakes with different types and levels of heat sources underneath will be a key to getting your desired results. I did quite a bit of experimenting with this oven and was able to bake green chili chicken enchiladas, homemade pizza, sandwich bread, and several other baked goods and dinners.
9. DIY Cardboard Box Oven
Another DIY idea to bake without an oven you can try is the cardboard box oven idea. You cover a box with aluminium foil, with a flat heat resistant surface large enough for the box to sit on, place 4 cans of the same size, a metal rack to rest on the cans, and hot coals underneath the rack enclosed by the box. Voila you have a temporary oven ready for baking. For more indepth details about the cardboard box oven idea check it out here.10. DIY Greenhouse Panel Sun Oven
Building your own sun oven is also another do it yourself solution allowing you to bake with no conventional oven. I have 2 DIY sun oven ideas that are pretty easy to do, however one will cost more to make, how much more will depend on whether you can acquire the needed materials for cheap. This DIY sun oven idea utilizes a south facing window and greenhouse panels hot glued together to form a box on the outside of the window supported with a wooden support base. Allowing you access to the sun oven through the window, you can now be inside baking in a sun oven.11. DIY Cardboard Box Sun Oven
The other do it yourself sun oven idea utilizes a cardboard box (with the flaps to open end of box included) with the inside covered in aluminum foil making sure flaps can be adjusted to direct sunlight, and the outside painted / covered with black construction paper. Make a door to allow and trap sunlight in using plastic wrap and scraps of cardboard as the frame for the door and there you have made a sun oven with items you can find around your house or for really cheap. Sorry I don't have any pictures or video for this one but I will try to get some posted soon.Start Baking With No Oven Today!
You never know when you will need these ideas on how to bake without an oven as with any emergency situation, baking emergencies will usually catch you off guard. So start utilizing at least some of these ideas to baking without an oven today to give yourself time to get used to the way your new unconventional oven bakes.Please let me know how these ideas work for you or if you have any unconventional oven ideas of your own to share in the comments below and don't forget to rate this article with a thumbs up to help others trying to find helpful information on the subject. Thank you for reading. Much love❣️