How Often Do You Use Your Propane Oven ?

[The Boat Galley]

I used mine all the time, and that was in the Sea of Cortez in the summer where temps regularly exceed 100 F. That's me. We had great ventilation on the boat and the oven didn't make it any hotter than it was already.

BUT -- if you don't use it ashore, you aren't likely to use it on the boat. Your habits just don't change. I used mine ashore about the same amount.

Note that if you don't have an oven, you can still have fresh-baked bread -- either on the stovetop or on the grill. Here are some recipes/methods from my blog:

Yeast bread on the stove top
Quick breads on the stove top
Bake bread on the grill

The same methods can be used to make a lot of baked goods, and no-bake cookies are a quick and easy way to satisfy your sweet tooth!

[Mark Johnson]

In 12 years of full time liveaboard, we never had one, and treasured the "space" that an oven would have occupied, much more than an oven!

For a couple, you just don't need one... We make bread, cake, brownies, corn bread, pizza, etc.. We use pans with lids, a pressure cooker NOT under pressure, or our sit on top "dutch oven". We also waste less gas in the cooking!

It is a short but steep learning curve, and you may botch a few baked items learning how to do it, but it is really not a problem! Even if we had a larger boat, I wouldn't install an oven.

Mark

[zeehag]

i have mastered brownies in askillet with good lid-- has to eb a good heavy quality kind... and biscuits.... havent tried puff pastry-i guess that will come in time..

[boatman61]

When I've got one I use it... love my traditional Sunday Lunch to much... also baking bread... though I cheat there... I buy the vacum packed part cooked loves that way fresh bread, buter and marmalade with coffee in 15mins every morning...

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by boatman61

When I've got one I use it... love my traditional Sunday Lunch to much... also baking bread... though I cheat there... I buy the vacum packed part cooked loves that way fresh bread, buter and marmalade with coffee in 15mins every morning...

yummmmmmmmmm... after i install my propane system, i again will have my oven--i will be able to make goodies again....without having to experiment on neighbors...i LOVE my force 10, 3-burner.......

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Mark Johnson

In 12 years of full time liveaboard, we never had one, and treasured the "space" that an oven would have occupied, much more than an oven!

Yep. But once the boat reaches some 22 or 23 feet there is usually enough space for the oven anyway.

Our boat is probably not much bigger then yours and we use the oven space to keep various frying pans and etc kitchen stuff that would otherwise occupy space - elsewhere.

We also use the oven as a Faraday cage for our handhelds. Just do not ask me how effective this is.

b.

[ardoin]

I use my oven all the time. Try making a chicken pot pie in a pressure cooker! Somethings just taste better cooked in an oven (like cornbread and roasted chicken). Now the microwave is useless. I just pulled the nuker out and now have a nice big storage bin.

[Entlie]

We use our oven almost daily. Early morning before the hook is up, I'll turn on the oven while making coffee, prepare a quick scrambled egg burrito with cheese, sometimes some leftover steak, ham, whatever. Wrap in foil, put in oven. Turn oven off. Then once we're underway we have a nice hot breakfast in the cockpit while on the move. We use it for bread, pizza, chicken pot pie, Dutch baby pancake, kuchen, making granola...toasty nachos, the list goes on. Hardly ever use the microwave. Even in hot weather we use the oven, especially when anchored when we have better air circulation.

Entlie
Sailing Catamaran Sunspot Baby

[JanetGroene]

After a few flops I learned to make pie in a Club Aluminum Dutch oven. The secret is to use butter in the crust instead of shortening. Butter browns in the small, high-humidity oven; shortening did not. I'm keen on my combo microwave-convection oven, although I never slog through those complicated recipes in which both modes are used. In one cavity you have an oven that gets hot and an oven that nukes. Only disadvantage is that, when used as an oven, it has to be cleaned like an oven.

Originally Posted by ardoin

I use my oven all the time. Try making a chicken pot pie in a pressure cooker! Somethings just taste better cooked in an oven (like cornbread and roasted chicken). Now the microwave is useless. I just pulled the nuker out and now have a nice big storage bin.

[Unicorn Dreams]

We bake bread at least 3 times per week, plus other baking of cakes and main dishes. Couldn't live without it.

[slowshoes]

There are alot of things you cook in the oven you can do in a grill, without turning the whole boat into an oven in the process. If it's hot outside, the thought of firing up the oven and making it even hotter holds little appeal aboard our boat.

Long and short is we don't use it much.

[Islandmike]

We dont use the oven much in the summer, however, during cooler months we love to cook pork roasts, turkey, meatloaf, baked ribs, fish, potroast, ah one of my favs... bottom line, we use it frequently and love it.

[capnorv]

The great bonus of using the oven year round is it warms the boat, the only thing I miss since leaving the desert...warmth. Now that we have a boat with windows, maybe solar radiation will help and we'll curse the oven, who knows? In a couple of years when we head South, I'm sure the oven will get a rest. Nothing beats fresh baked bed topped with melting butter!

[zeehag]

i find that at anchor, with breezes constantly passing thru the boat that the heat from the oven is not an issue. i leave the hatch overhead open and heat rises--and the breezes pass thru , cooling the air in the boat. not a problem.

[Cats Eye]

I use mine all the time. I cook all types of stuff in it. I can see a singlehander might not use one as often as a couple. I like to cook. I enjoy baking - having a working stove and oven are some of things that keep me happy living aboard! :0)