Is an oven really necessary?

[Eleven]

This is where the diesel powered hot plates come in, with a heat trap top cover to make an oven.
So you burn a bit of diesel, research the energy used to make solar panels, it's enormous. So go with got you've got if it's good enough. Replacing it is energy absorbing despite ow green it is.

[Soft Air]

If you like to eat, you need an Oven as much as you need a main sail, I second seafox

[Talbot]

I am far to fond of decent food to go without an oven. I do have a pressure cooker and would have a micro as well, but the oven is the most important.

[witchcraft]

We did several years living aboard with no oven. We now have an oven. Was it a necessity... likely not. However, we love it. Our menus expanded.... Roasted chicken etc Bread is not quite the same in the pressure cooker.
Fair winds
SV Witchcraft

[Boomp]

Love this post. We don't have an oven but between the suggestions of having at least a pressure cooker, stove top ovens or an iron skillet, we should be able to at least have fresh bread. And making pizza on a boat is definetly on the list.

[rebel heart]

I can't stand microwave ovens. There aren't a lot of gourmet recipes that use microwaves; they're sort of the hallmark of Costco dinners.

We use our oven religiously; I don't think we could do without it. Potatoes, veggies, pizza, bread, etc. How are you supposed to cook a Christmas ham or a Thanksgiving turkey without an oven? Baked garlic anyone? Lasagna?

I could live without it, but I could also live without a toilet. It was just be really, really lame.

[Roy M]

Three A.M. watch, a cup of hot chocolate in about a minute. Dinner time, pork chops defrosted in no time. A steaming bowl of oatmeal in less time than it takes to grab the ingredients. A baked potato or four in less time than the oven. I cook a lot, and I also value the utility of the microwave for doing what it does well. Thank goodness for inverters.

[Pelagic]

This is a great educational topic for me as it is something we have had trouble deciding on.

Stargazer did not come with an Oven and while my girlfriend and I are not great cooks we are learning to enjoy it and wonder if we should put one in somewhere?

Choices:

1 Under 4 burner stove: My concern here is that it is just adjacent to corner vegetable refrigerator (under electric kettle) and that area already gets quite warm from the compressor and the other small day fridge. Also that L-shaped storage under the burner stores a lot of pots and pans in custom shelves. Hate to lose that nice installation.

2 Replace Icemaker with Oven: Under the basket is an Icemaker, which we rarely use as keeping trays in the freezer is enough for the 2 of us. Means the oven would face the passageway going to forward cabins and risk of burning passers-by.


3 Find BBQ/Oven to install on stern rail: Living in the tropics I am also concerned about generating a lot of heat in the Galley, so wondered if anyone has experience using a BBQ/Oven and could recommend a gas unit that could do both well?

Thanks!

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

A lot of gas BBQ's can be used as ovens too. In warm weather that has the bonus of keeping the heat ouside. We're planning to go that way.

Have you seen one yet that you like?