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Coleman Camp Oven review
The Coleman Camp Oven can be a game-changer for your overland kitchen and it can quickly turn into an all-time favorite. This aluminum oven is lightweight, foldable, and fits perfectly on your camp stove. If you love baking and/or use your oven regularly at home, this product will surely interest you.
We use the foldable oven for our pizza tradition, lasagna, oven dishes, cakes, cookies, bread and more. Whilst at first, it was solely for the pleasantries like our pizza, it recently also proved essential for making bread in the remote regions of Gabon and Namibia. Especially Manon loves baking, more so even when she’s stressed or a lot of work needs to be done. Baking for her, is a stress reliever. Luckily for her, we have the oven, luckily for Tobias, he has Manon. So what is it and how does it work?
What is the Coleman Camp Oven
As mentioned above, the Camp Oven is a foldable lightweight oven that you place on top of your camping stove. Due to its foldable design, it is easy to store and therefore doesn’t take up too much space. Because the oven is meant to be put on top of your existing stove, it doesn’t have a heating element. Thanks to this lack of anything technical, it saves space once again and makes it a fool-proof, almost unbreakable item. A few key features worth mentioning are a plastic doorknob so you don’t burn your fingers and a temperature gauge that will save your ass (every time, we promise).
In our opinion, this piece of gear speaks for itself and doesn’t need much explanation. Weighing in at 3 kg and with a size of 33 x 33 x 5 cm folded in, or 33 x 33 x 33 cm folded out, it is practical as well. We use it weekly and have done so for the past eight years. So with that, it is time to dive into the pros and cons of this uniquely designed product.
Specifications
- Universal camp oven
- Foldable and easy to store
- Weight: 3 kg
- Storage size: 33 x 33 x 5 cm
- Size in use: 33 x 33 x 33 cm
- Including isolated turning knob
- Thermostat in door
- Three height options for the tray
Pros
- Lightweight aluminum construction.
- Foldable and therefore very easy to store (30 x 30 x 5 cm).
- Including a temperature meter in the door.
- The door knob doesn’t get hot, so you can still easily open the door when in use.
- It includes one tray, which is good enough. You’ll rarely use two due to the temperature difference at the top and bottom of the oven. The tray has three heights, but you’ll almost only use the one in the middle.
- Fits on most stoves, so it is not limited to our Coleman Stove 424. We even used it on a gas stove in a rental apartment a few times during our travels.
Cons
- Thanks to the aluminum construction it can deform under extreme heat (and the bottom part did so in ours).
- It can be hard to maintain a steady temperature, especially in windy conditions.
- It won’t always be as worry-free as home, again regarding the temperature inside, and the difficulties that might arise if your product needs to be baked evenly.
- As the oven is placed on your stove, it will only heat from the bottom. As there will be no heating from the top, grilling cheese on your pizza isn’t possible.
- Be careful as the whole thing gets very hot, and make sure not to burn yourself!
Would we buy it again?
If somebody asks us what essentials we would bring on a trip it would definitely include the Camp Oven. While at first it was mostly used for pleasantries, we also started using it to bake fresh wholegrain bread daily (many regions don’t have bread or only lightweight white bread). With that in mind, it has proven its worth time after time. So yes, we would buy it again!
Having an oven, in this case, the Camp Oven enables you to spice up your meals tenfold and make life much more comfortable. Especially when overlanding long-term this can be nice, as you don’t want to eat the same small selection of meals over and over again. Besides offering more meal options, it can also be great to bring along if you love experimenting with food.
We aren’t sure if there is any alternative on the market, we certainly have never come across one. One famous icon is the Omnia, which would be a reasonable alternative, although very different from the portable camping oven. Whereas the Coleman Camp Oven is a real oven of sorts, the Omnia is more like a baking tray with oven-like features.
Although prices of the oven have risen tremendously over the past few years, we would still get one if the time comes to replace ours. It is a holy grail in our kitchen setup, and we love it! So, if you love cooking, get one!
Our approach for gear reviews
As long-term overlanders we fully understand the need for high-quality and reliable gear. We know that if gear isn’t up to standard it can hinder your adventures, resulting in discomfort or a dangerous situation.
We write our reviews after extensive testing and with you – an adventurous overlander – in mind. We hope you appreciate our information, and feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
Pro Tips
- Placing it on two, not one burner can improve heat distribution. Placing it on one can be great in windy conditions to maintain a higher temperature, especially on Coleman Stoves as the second burner takes away some heat from the first burner. But when the wind is no problem, use two burners for even heat distribution.
- We often put everything in our oven tray, including our pizza and bread. This keeps the oven much cleaner!
- We keep our oven between 200-230°C for pizza, but turn the pizza every few minutes for a uniform result and evenly crispy crust. We do the same for an oven dish, but we then turn it every 15 minutes or so.
- For heavier oven dishes remember to start early, it can take 1,5-2x times as long as you would normally expect.
- Get a storage bag (it doesn’t matter what kind of bag) to prevent it from rattling against your cabinets, and from ruining it on long corrugated roads. Or use elastic bands to keep it in place.
- Fellow overlanders Landcruising Aventure have written a blog about their experiences as well, making use of a tile at the bottom for better heat distribution.
- What ingredients to always bring along to make the most of your Camp Oven:
- Oven tray (20 x 25 cm)
- Lasagna sheets
- Flour
- Yeast
- Baking powder
- Sugar
- Salt
- Butter
- Eggs – can be substituted in many ways if you are vegan, bring chia seeds! 😉
Feel free to ask questions if you want to know more about Coleman’s portable camping oven. Enjoy cooking!
Check out these product shots
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