Cooking without an oven: Trying to cook when your oven isn't working properly

You can have the desire to cook up amazing recipes and the discipline to eat better grown, locally sourced food. However, without a proper oven, your well-made plans may fall short.

My oven has been silent for most of the summer and now fall as the landlord has been slow to fix it each time it stops working. In a panic, I went out and bought a toaster oven, which is slightly better than the new Easy Bake oven, but not by much. Its timer is always ticking, like a bomb, which makes me want to leave the room when it's on.

I do have a working stovetop, an electric indoor grill, and a toaster, but as long-time readers know, the kitchen has no microwave oven.

People who get their kitchens worked on suffer for extensive periods of time without a stovetop and oven, but at least they get hope of a better tomorrow.

Now your ability to feel sorry for me likely stops at "the kitchen has no microwave oven."

True, I could buy a microwave, but I don't want one and it wouldn't replace a working oven anyway. I may curse the toaster oven, but it eventually somewhat does what an oven should. A microwave still doesn't.

My solution, had I researched this better, would be to get a convection oven, but I confess that I know little about them.

So instead of me being the expert, I throw this out to you, the loyal followers and occasional readers of BalanceofFood.com. What are some good options for someone in my situation? Can you utilize the stovetop better? Should I learn to grill everything? Get a better toaster oven?

Comments

[groundhog.judy]

I was without an oven when we lived on a sailboat. We were moored at a dock with electrical hookup and I purchased a micowave convection oven. It cost more than the regular microwave but I could bake 2 pies at one time and the roasts were great. I later took this oven with me when we moved into a house. The product was made by Sharp and worth its weight in gold.