The smell of a fresh loaf of bread or a savory pie, who doesn’t love that?! With a travel oven you can take the comforts of home with you on the road, or on the water!
A full size oven is not an option in many overland vehicles. In principal, we could install one in our 8m2 tiny home on wheels, but it would take up too much precious space.
Camping ovens
The heavy Dutch oven, which we already own, is too limited in its application. We only use it on campfires for creating rather delicious stews. We know others also make other meals in it, but we have not been successful in it.
Another option is the Coleman oven. This oven is completely foldable. However this comes at a price. Heavy winds make it a challenge using it. And we have heard and seen people wrapping the Coleman oven with foil to keep the heat in and the temperature constant. This seems too burdensome and not something that makes using it enjoyable.
Our ideal travel oven needs to be light but durable, and quick and easy to use. That is how we ended up purchasing the Omnia Oven.
The Omnia Oven
- is compact (Ø – 25 cm, volume – 2 liters, height – 7 cm, total height including knob – 14 cm),
- affordable (1/10th of the price of a build-in oven),
- mobile (can be used outdoors so you don’t heat up the living unit during warm days)
- lightweight (approx. weight – 0.5 kg),
- bakes with convection current (hot air at the bottom and top of the oven)
- does not have a thermometer (which might be something one has to get used to – but isn’t really that much of an issue),
- can be used on most stoves (incl. camp fires; do not use it on ceramic hot plates; with induction stoves you need an induction interface disk)
Note: The bag that comes with it is a little bit on the small size. Also a little discoloration took place around the nob of the lid after use. And the inside of the baking pan has a few “stains” of our chili-garlic oil we use for making our Crunchy Chickpeas snack.
The oven comes with two optional inserts, which in our eyes makes the oven that much better.
The backing rack
Note: We needed to slice our square multigrain bake-off buns in two (they were too large otherwise); but the small rectangle once do fit.
The silicon mold
- No more greasing the baking pan or scrubbing afterwards, food just pops out!
- BPA-free! And complies with FDA & LFGB standards (USA & Europe)
- Dishwasher, freezer and microwave safe
- Ideal for: Quiches, pies, cakes, casseroles, …. Or anytime when sticking is a worry for you.
Note: Baking with a silicon mold might take a little longer and if you are baking anything with a lot of moisture, like an egg pie (quiche without the dough) the water doesn’t seem to evaporate as easily.
Try out some recipes from the free cookery book for the Omnia oven (online pdf)!
CONCLUSION: For us, the Omnia oven is the best baking solution for overland travelers. It will definitely continue to join us on our future adventures!
Disclosure: After we did an inquiry into where we could find the Omnia baking rack and silicone mold OmniaSweden has been so kind to send them to us. As always, any reviews or posts will be presented honestly.
Try using an old pressure cooker instead! Really important : remove the rubber seal & remove the weights. Put a metal ‘tray’ (some old jar lids/piece of lightweight aluminium with perforations etc) at the bottom… & there you have it! Place over heat source… will bake bread (I use a small metal bread tin) & cakes, pies (pastry) etc. The price of an old pressure cooker… win win! Much more info on Fb ‘gastrovanners’ .. the amazing Darlene!
Hi,
Is it possible to post pictures or a more direct link, because when I look up gastrovanners on FB I only find business pages.
Cheers,
Nicole
Hi, Great article – love getting ideas for recipes for the Omnia. We also have a few recipes up on our blog here: https://brownbirdandcompany.co.uk/blogs/omnia-oven-cooking which you might like.
Look forward to seeing and sharing any new ones in the future.