thrift store experiment 2 of 4: toaster oven

I do not think that toaster ovens are very practical in vans. But I had a 20% off coupon which brought the Black and Decker down to $8.79. It was smaller than most and only 1,000w so I bought it.¹ It seems to be the model in the inset image except the newer ones are rated 1,150w. {edit: it’s this discontinued model}

backstory

I ain’t straight outta Compton, I’m straight out the trailer²

My family’s culture was solidly working class so my comfort foods are not served by Michelin-starred restaurants:

• Banquet pot pies (chicken as a kid but now I look for turkey)
• meat loaf
• boxed macaroni and cheese
• and germane to this post, tater tots

I can make mac and cheese on the stovetop, pot pies and meat loaf in a crockpot but baking stuff like tater tots and biscuits has been a struggle. I did try Dog Bowl Ovens (see cooking section) but could not regulate temps well enough.

And if I can get a toaster oven setup working OK I can add other trailer park fare like fish sticks and pizzas. I do see some markdown bake-at-home stuff regularly and have been annoyed I had no way to use them.

first test: tater tots

The color doesn’t show up well but these were very nicely browned and yummy. I had bought the tots in the morning so they were mostly thawed in fridge by noon.

I used the triac to dial the power down to 500w and preheated the oven for a few minutes while I lined the baking sheet / crumb pan and retrieved the tots. I cooked them for 30mins using the timer, consuming about 250Wh of energy. That is a lot compared to Instant Pot dishes but only 25Wh more than it takes to cook rice in my rice cooker.

thermal losses

This oven has top and bottom elements and is made of simple stamped metal. The top let a lot of heat through and the oven didn’t reach 425F (according to the dial) during the 30 minute bake. I backed off the temp dial to see if it was working and last time I checked it was up to about 375F. I think that adding some kind of insulation layer on the top surface will help both problem. Will ponder.

update - Oct 27

Did the rest of the tots, put in cold and cooked 30mins on 400F setting. The top got up to 250F. I looked up the burning temp of cotton (>400F) and placed a cotton hand towel on the top. That reduced leaked temp by 100F to 150F.

Increased wattage to 600F and the oven achieved temp and start cycling on/off about 15mins into the bake. Confirmed 250Wh with the kill-a-watt

second test: pre-made pizza

On a Walmart run I picked up a pre-made pizza from their refrigerated deli area. It was a margarita style on flatbread crust³ with artichoke, spinach, and tomatoes. $4?

Annoyingly, the pie was about 1” too wide for the oven. I cut it in half and overlapped the middle a bit as a workaround.

It came out browned and melty and better than any pre-made van pizza has any right to be. I’ll pay more attention to size next time.

1. there were 4 items bought under that coupon: the induction hob, this toaster oven, and two other mystery objects to be revealed later. ↩

2. noted philosopher Kid Rock ↩

3. I would have preferred a regular thin crust but that wasn’t an option. All the thin crust mini pies had red sauce on them. ↩