Ovens and Microwaves

[JudyJB]

I spent yesterday (Monday) in Middlebury and Elkhart, Indiana, touring the Jayco and the Forest River Class C plant with my son. It was really neat to see the different and similar construction techniques. We were also able to see some of the under 30' models I had not been able to find at dealers.

I do maybe not a lot of cooking, but would like to be able to cook some cookies and a chicken occasionally, so I had decided I had to have an oven, as well as the usual microwave over. However, I opened the door of one abot halfway through looking at models and discovered that right in the middle of the maybe 8" height, there was a bolted-in metal shelf, with a wire rac just above that. This meant the tallest item you could fit in would be a pan of cookies, or maybe a one-layer cake! A chicken would have to be chicken pieces on a tray, not exactly my idea of a baked chicken.

Is this typical? I know a lot of you ladies prefer (as most of the time I do) not to cook much, but for those of you who have ovens, are they really this small???

And what was also surprising was that most of the microwaves were NOT convection ovens as well, so how do you cook much of anything in them??? How do you even cook a small roast? Does anyone have a bigger oven?

Thanks

[Getupngo]

RV ovens are pretty darned small. Some people get those tabletop ovens (beyond the "toaster oven"). Traveling alone I find myself doing just fine with the stovetop & microwave (& the occasional crockpot meal). I've been looking for a convection m/w to replace the unit I have. Finding the right width will be the challenge, I think.

[cpatinjones]

I have an oven and microwave in my RV. According to the info of my oven, I am supposed to be able to cook a turkey in it. With that said, I have never done that. This weekend I will look inside my to find out if it will hold a turkey.

I have used the oven once to bake biscuits and the stove top a few times. If I cook, I like to grill outside. I do use the microwave to reheat. I wish I had one of those halfbake convection microwave. One day I may replace what I have and install a hbcm.

[longdog2]

I have about 10" of space in my oven and the wire rack has three different positions. The metal shelf you referred to is over the gas burner. You light the pilot under there. I have used mine for baking a number of times and it works well. It seems like motorhomes are more likely to have convection ovens than 5th wheels or trailers. Sometimes they have both a convection oven and a regular oven but sometimes they don't.

[JudyJB]

Thanks. I am definitely going to have to take a tape measure with me and measure ovens! I never even bothered to open ithem in the first three units we toured!! Shows you what I don't know yet.

Carolyn, please let me know if you think you cold bake a turkey. I would be happy just being able to bake a chicken!!

I will have to look up halfbake convection ovens.

[dayspring39]

I had a good sized toaster oven but gave it to my daughter when she got her house.. it is giving them more use than I got out of it.... I replaced it with a tiny toaster oven just perfect for me... I also have a small oven under the cook top...
Liz has had very good luck with her half time oven... maybe ask her what she thinks now that she has has it for a while... there are so many ideas out there...
Kathleen

[AlmostThere]

Could someone explain the difference between a Halftime oven and a Convection oven?
I had a convection oven in our 5er and didn't care for the way it cooked.

[Bethers]

Can't really explain, other than my understanding is that the half-time oven is a type of convection oven. Maybe Liz can chime in since she has a half-time one. I have discovered when I want to really cook something big, I look for an rv park that has one I can use (and many do). That said, I've only used one of the rv parks ovens once. Tells you my thoughts on cooking big and doing it aren't that often.

I'm not sure the largest size turkey I could fit in my oven, but think I could fit a bigger one in my convection oven - even though it's fairly small also.

[AlmostThere]

Ok, I found some info on the Half Time oven. Apparently Apollo makes it and the reviews aren't good. Read about it on Amazon and here:
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fusea ... D/sr/1.cfm

On edit: i see Walmart sells Half Time and the reviews there are good but suspect these reviewers aren't RVers. . So I am thinking they aren't really made to handle the movement of an RV. IMHO

[Irmi]

I can't add much to what everyone else has said, but I do use my crockpot for roasts as well as using an electric skillet. I also have a small toaster oven.

[Liz]

I love my Half-Time Oven. Apparently there were a lot of problems with the early ones....but they are still putting them in RVs so hopefully have fixed those problems.

Mine has microwave, convection, and half-time functions. I believe the half-time is a combination of micro-convection. Whatever you would bake in a regular oven you put in at the same temperature and half the time. Works well for most everything I've tried.

Mine has a removable metal tray that is used for half-time & convect., removed for microwave. It would bake a chicken, and I have baked a turkey breast in it....but not a whole turkey.

[Paulette]

My rv has no oven but does have a convection microwave. I have baked lots of things in it and suppose I could probably roast a turkey or large chicken in there, as well as a roast. It works very well, even browns everything nicely, and all that in less than the time it would take in a standard oven. Just my 2 cents worth.

[longdog2]

We have all seen pictures of the goodies coming out of Liz's half-time oven so it obviously works very well. I know Birdie would give up her convection oven in a minute for a half-time because of what she has seen come out of Liz's.