Camping out on the east side of Folsom reservoir. Deployed solar oven at 11 a.m, more than an hour late, due to getting caught up in a tracking session.

Pushed things again by going double-decker: chicken in pieces and a few veggies on top of a chili / Spanish rice / corn mixture. But this time I made sure the lid shut firmly.

Pots very hot to the touch in about 15 minutes. I moved the oven a couple times to better track the sun.

The plan was to let everything cook until at least 5 pm; sunset was near 8 pm. For a complex of reasons I packed up my gear starting about 3 pm instead of staying the night. I intended to remain in camp until the evening campfire began which would have been about 6 to 7 pm.

Best laid plans and all that. Seeing that I was packing, the troops got restless. Food was pulled from the solar oven just before 4 pm.

Top pot: chicken juicy and wonderful, accompanying vegetables too al dente. Chicken disappeared into hungry campers.

Bottom pot: everything great except slightly under cooked vermicelli strips that were part of the Spanish rice mixture. Much of the contents of this pots happily eaten by campers.

Perceived lessons:

Solar can work well but you need to get to know the oven well.

If not started early, this solar oven should "cook" as long as there is substantial sun in the sky.

May have been inadequate moisture to rehydrate the vermicelli.

Smaller pieces of vegetable seems to cook better.

Hungry campers will eat even stuff they have not seen before.

Given the perfomance of this carboard fold-up solar oven, a more efficient box oven that gets at least 75 degrees warmer [into the mid-200 degree range] is sounding pretty good.