I grew up spending at least a week camping every summer with my family. We’d pack up the station wagon, drive to a national park or campground and set up camp for the week. Just thinking back about these times as I write this makes me smile.

Camping is something I still have a love for. It doesn’t matter if it is out of my backback or the back of my car, I love it both ways. We try to get away at least one week every summer, but lately we have to settle for a long weekend.

One brand that I grew up loving and still use to this day is Coleman.

I can remember pumping up the old liquid fuel stove and have cooked tons of meals over my two burner propane. They are one of the few brands that I love and trust and that have never let me down over the years.

Recently, I heard about their new Outdoor Portable Oven/Stove. I remember reading about it and thinking that it was either genius or insane.

Coleman noticed me wondering this and asked if I’d like to try one out. How could I say no to that? They sent me one and this past weekend Emily and I gave it a whirl on the deck to try making brownies.

The top of the oven is your typical Coleman two burner stove. It works great, just like they always have.

My only complaint is that I’m not a big fan of the cover and the sides. They are made out of rather thin metal and I miss the various notches on the connections with the side to have the back up straight or leaned back more. There is only one hinge and it is actually leaned back more than I’d like to protect from the wind.

The oven heats up quickly which is a plus. But, the downside is because it isn’t exactly temperature controlled you are going to have to fiddle around a bit to get it to the exact temperature you like. If all you’ve ever cooked with is an oven at home and never over an open fire, you are going to have a lot of trial and error ahead of you.

You also have to keep in mind that there is not a ton of space in the oven. You could easily bake a cobbler, pie or small pizza in there though so there is plenty of room for the type of things you might use it for in the outdoors. I just want people to realize they won’t be roasting a chicken or anything of that size in it.

Our brownies burnt a bit around the edges as the oven got hotter than we expected and it was a few minutes before we noticed. But, all in all it worked great and the only problem with making them in the oven outdoors instead of inside is that our house didn’t get filled with the wonderful smell. Then again, I’m betting our neighbors loved the smell wafting through the neighborhood.

All in all this is a pretty cool product. With the stove not being as solid as their regular ones are, I’m not sure this product is worth the price tag, but I have a feeling they won’t have any problem selling plenty of them for the convenience factor alone.

The thought of making fresh biscuits and desserts in it while car camping is definitely something I’m noodling on. The fact that you can also buy a bag for it that holds your propane tanks and protects it is a nice feature as well. It is compact enough that families and RVers alike will be able to find space for it.

I’ll always prefer to cook over an open fire because I grew up doing so and know what I’m doing. But, if you want an oven that you can take with you instead of packing the kitchen sink, than this might be for you.

Make sure to get outside this summer and enjoy the great outdoors!

Disclosure: Coleman sent me the oven & bag so that I could review it. All thoughts are my own.