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WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I PUT A PAN OF SQUASH IN MY CAR IN JULY??

 What Happened when I put a pan of Sliced Squash in my Car in July?


I am all about saving some money and as my husband will tell you I will try about anything to try and save a $. I have seen Pins and post about people using solar ovens and solar power to cook or warm food so I figured I would give it a try and this is what happened....

It was 2:44 in the afternoon and 90 degrees outside. I wanted to cook some of the squash that I just got out of the garden but being the tight wade that I am all I could think about was if I turn the oven on it will heat the house up even more and make my poor air conditioner run that much harder. At that point I could just envision my light bill going up but my mouth was watering and my stomach growling so I had to do something...


I had just went out to my car to get something and it was steaming hot in there so a light bulb went off & I thought "I wonder if I can cook these squash in the car"... I figured why not..

So I put a layer of tin foil on a stone baking sheet and sliced enough squash to cover the pan. I then sprinkled some seasonings on and headed to the car with my digital thermometer in hand.

I placed the pan in the front window and  After only 15 minutes in the car the temp was up to 118 degrees!!! Remember that if you are ever considering leaving an animal or child, or anything for that matter, in the car!
I could see little dots of moisture starting to form on the squash.

One hour later....


It was 135 degrees in the car and the squash were starting to get a little soft...

2 hours later....

It was 145 degrees in the car and the squash were getting lighter in color like the sun was bleaching them and they were a little softer than the hour before but still not as soft as I wanted. 

4 hours later... 

It was 156 degrees on the car!!! Remember it was only 90 degrees outside!! 
But at 6:44 in the afternoon the sun was getting off of the car and I figured my squash had done all of the cooking it was going to do in the car. 
I took them inside and they were soft enough to eat but still not as soft as I wanted them to be. I ate a couple as they were but then ended up putting the others in a frying pan and cooking them just a little more. 
In the end they were edible but I think If I try it again I will put them in there earlier in the day and maybe cover them in plastic wrap or put a clear glass cutting board over them to help hold more heat in the pan. 

All in All it was a good experiment that I will try again. My kids thought it was pretty cool and kinda weird at the same time that I was cooking in the car. LOL! It was definitely a good lesson on the dangers of a hot car.
I will definitely keep experimenting and looking for ways to pinch pennies and use free solar energy. Please feel free to offer suggestion on how to make this work better or on how you have used solar energy or money/energy saving tips. 

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