gear review: 'lil portable mini oven for car, motel, office

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 2:57 pm

Hi Everyone,

Hopefully I'm not violating any forum policies by posting a couple of websites. I was looking for a wheeled travel case for my laptop online. I never found what I was looking for but stumbled upon this in my search. http://www.amazon.com/HotLogic-Mini-Per ... B00EC7XJ28 . This is the travel blog review of the Hotlogic that I stumbled upon when I was looking for a wheeled lap top case http://1bag1world.com/2014/08/gear-revi ... ogic-mini/

I've eaten many cold meals during my Florida biz travel. It's not so bad when the temps are 95 but it can get cold and damp in the winter with temps of 45 in north and central Florida. I'm ok with eating my precooked protein and precooked sweet potatoes out of a ziplock bag cold with a plastic fork but when it is cold outside I'd prefer a hot meal.

I found it for $39.95 delivered http://www.amazon.com/HotLogic-Mini-Per ... B00EC7XJ28 so I thought I'd give the Hotlogic Mini a try. It has such high reviews on Amazon that I was skeptical. I also bought the 6 cup pyrex with lid http://www.amazon.com/Pyrex-Storage-6-C ... B0000CFTPA and an inverter (to use for car travel) http://www.amazon.com/BESTEK%C2%AE-outl ... 678&sr=1-1. I also used an extension cord that I already owned to run from inverter to back of prius so I had the hot logic set up at rear of car when driving.

I've tested it 16 times....in the house....in the car....in a motel.

What it won't do:
1. It is not for children. It gets too hot. I'd say it is ok for age 13 or older with two hot pads.
2. It did not work well with raw potatoes. They were still raw after 4 hours.
3. It will not work for casseroles filled to the top of the 6 cup pyrex. It does not have the power to cook a big casserole.
4. It does not do well if 6 cup vessel is overfilled like in the casserole situation.
5. It won't cook raw rice.

What it does well:

1. Most of my tests were on frozen reheated foods....this was probably 13/16 of my tests. The other three tests were on refrigerated reheated foods. It makes REALLY GOOD QUALITY REHEATED LEFTOVER FOOD. I think it works as a steamer.

2. The reheated proteins were much better than reheated in the microwave. THE REHEATED LEFTOVER PROTEIN IS VERY MOIST.

3. You can't burn things. I had the unit with food going 9 hours before I ate. (not the norm but the way things played out.)
I insert my pyrex with frozen leftovers. We drove to Crescent Beach (two hours) and had unit plugged into car. Got to friends condo. Plugged unit in her kitchen. It was plugged in her kitchen about 5-6 hours. I was planning to eat mid afternoon but hung out on the beach instead. Plugged unit into car when we left friends condo for 1 hour. Boyfriend got fast food in Palatka, I had my leftovers that had been heating for 9 hours.... a little dried out but not burnt.....pork, potatoes with gravy and greens....very yummy. Yea!

4. Foods tested were pork, chicken, cooked frozen rice, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, greens. Total Yummy! Most of my tests were on frozen foods, a few on refrigerated foods.

5. Smell---if you don't use garlic....smell is nominal....if this is an office issue.

6. Cooking times for frozen.....generally done in about 2-1/2 hours a lot of times I didn't eat for 4 hours. If I knew I wanted to eat in 2-1/2 hours I would unzip and cut up the meat at the 2 hour point then recipe and resume for another 30 minutes.

7. Food quality came out better than microwave.

8. Portion sizes: holds enough for 1 person generous portions or two people average portions.

9. Less dishes than microwaving.

10.A guys perspective....the boyfriend thought it was kind of cool. He calls it my "warmer." He works an 9 hour day and really doesn't get lunch time. He thought this would be cool to plug in at 8:00 and have a hot meal at noon. THis would also work well on a construction job site with access to electricity and be healthier than fast food.

11. The website says it will cook raw meat and raw chicken in "food safe" temps. I did not test raw as I don't want to be dealing with raw meats on the road.

12. The 6 cup pyrex with lid fits handily in a Yeti 35. Yea!

13. My tests were all done with the 6 cup glass pyrex and lid. According to the mfg you can cook in a flat plastic container with lid or foil with lid as long as the vessels have a flat bottom.

14. My final travel test. I bought 3 more 6 cup pyrex with lid to make a total of four that I own. I froze four meals containing the following: chicken, rice, gravy on rice, and greens. I put the four frozen meals in the bottom of my Yeti, put two frozen 2 liters on top of the meals, and my paleo muffins, chocolate and bananas went in the top of the Yeti. I joined the BF for his 3 day company party Christmas party in South GA. It was about a 3 hour drive. I plugged in the first one in the car and had dinner Friday night. I got up Sat a.m. plugged in another one in the motel to cook for lunch. I took off for TAllahassee and came to a hot meal. I plugged in meal #3 after lunch to cook to bring with me to his company dinner banquet. When we left for the banquet I unplugged and tucked the whole unit into a shoulder bag. When we got to the banquet I unzipped and put hot my mc safe food on one of their plates. This was the first time I"ve brought food but it worked well as the banquet choices were:

cole slaw, potato salad, french fries, grits, fried scallops, fried oysters, fried shrimp, fried catfish, deviled crab, and peel and eat shrimp. I had the peel and eat shrimp, some strawberries and olives from the banquet along with the food I brought.

Meal #4 (the next morning traveling home) I plugged into the car for the road trip home and ate it when we got home.

15. The unit is designed and made well.

That is my review. I'd give it a 4-5 out of 5. Let me know if anyone as any questions. It doesn't replace a microwave but I found it to be pretty handy.

Brandy

PS. The boyfriend jokingly says I need to be hanging out on survivalist/off the grid forums for my cooking/cooling needs.

Post by **tex** » Fri Dec 12, 2014 3:53 pm

Brandy wrote:but it can get cold and damp in the winter with temps of 45 in north and central Florida.

Brandy, when I read that I couldn't keep from chuckling as I visualized the members who live at northern latitudes cringing at the thought of such low temperatures.

Sometimes we forget how good we've got it here in the South during the winter. That said, I certainly understand what you mean. "Cold" is a relative term. "Cold" is whatever is colder than we are used to. And interestingly, for some engineering trivia, "cold" cannot even be produced/generated. The only way that we can "create" "cold" is by removing heat.

Thanks for the thorough review. After reading your post, I'm going to order one of those gadgets. I wish I would have had one of them years ago when I was out making deliveries most of the day, and warming up my GF lunches on the manifold of the truck engine.

Tex

Post by **tex** » Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:59 pm

My order arrived today. It looks good!

Thanks again for the tip.

Tex

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:56 am

Hi Tex,

Cool! Let me know how you like it. I found it worked best when I had about 1/4 or 1/2" space between the food groups. i.e. protein, space, mashed potatoes, space, overcooked veggie space.....kind of like a real oven in which there is space around the foods.

I came back from GA and replenished my pyrex in freezer so I'm prepared for anything that comes up: meat loaf....rice....greens.

I think there are recipes on the website but I have not viewed them.

Brandy

dfpowell · Post by **dfpowell** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 2:27 pm

Brandy,

Do you know if a smaller pyrex i.e. 3 cup would work in the portable mini oven?

Thanks,

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:03 pm

I see no reason why it would not as long as it is totally flat on the bottom and it must have a lid. Tight foil would probably work as a lid. The lid is critical as it kind of steams the food. Flat on bottom and lid (or foil might work) is critical. The website has photos with standard tv dinners in use with the foil that comes with the standard tv dinner so I think you would be ok with tight foil no holes in lieu of lid. You can't overfill, i.e. it can't handle being totally filled to the top like a casserole.

Brandy

Post by **tex** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:52 pm

Brandy,

I ordered 4 of the 6-cup pyrex dishes also, with the intention of using them mostly to freeze individual portions of stew, soup, chili, or something similar. They'll have some excess capacity, but that shouldn't be a problem. If I have time, I plan to make a batch of crockpot stew this weekend, so I should get a chance to try the Hotlogic out sometime next week.

Donna,

I paid $39.95 for the unit, but I notice that right now Amazon has it listed at $35.00. They often play games with prices this time of year, but you have to take advantage of them in a hurry, because 10 minutes later they might either be cheaper, or more likely, back to the original price.

They show ads for the 3-cup casserole dishes (and the 6-cup casserole dishes) associated with the listing for the Hotlogic unit, but the 3-cup dishes are significantly more expensive than the 6-cup dishes. That's one of the reasons why I bought the 6-cup size.

Tex

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:18 pm

Donna,

One advantage to the 3 cup, if it is a concern, would be that it will be lighter weight for carrying around and smaller dimensions for cooler (than the 6 cup.) Weight always seems to come into play when I'm traveling.

The website says you can use a tupperware kind of thing with lid but it creeps me out to cook in plastic so I have not tried that.

I originally bought 1 6 cup dish for my testing then went back and got 3 more before my weekend trip to GA.

If you decide to try with the 3 cup can you let me know how it turns out as I can see some advantages to that (namely weight and smaller dimensions.) The 6 cup fits nicely in the unit.

Brandy

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 5:10 pm

Hi Donna,

Upon further reflection I remember looking at the 3 cup but bought the 6 cup due to price as it was cheaper at the time on Amazon. The 3 cup would be better for anyone with hand strength issues and I think the 3 cup would be easier to deal with if bringing food discretely into a function. I brought the 6 cup and unit into the boyfriends Christmas party but had him swoosh my food out onto the caterers plate has he is stronger in the hands. If you are trying to be discrete the 6 cup is on the big side.

Brandy

dfpowell · Post by **dfpowell** » Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:46 pm

Thanks Tex & Brandy,

I have a lot of pyrex dishes in multiple sizes, so that's why I was wondering if I could use them instead of buying more. Sounds like I should be okay. We are planning a road trip this winter and the portable mini oven would be nice to have.

Tex, thanks for the tip, I have the oven in my cart on amazon but have not checked out yet.

Lesley · Post by **Lesley** » Fri Dec 19, 2014 8:55 pm

Could one take it on a plane?

Jeanie · Post by **Jeanie** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 1:22 am

Hey Donna,
I just found this little oven and thought it might come in very handy so I ordered one and then discovered that you were also about to order it too. I have been doing more checking and it seems that my diet is becoming even more restrictive so it could be very useful.

Jean

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Sat Dec 20, 2014 8:42 am

Hi Donna,

Just a reminder you will need an inverter for car travel. You can pick that up local. The one that I listed in first post from Amazon is good. The boyfriend manages a battery shop and the Amazon inverter was about $15.00 cheaper than what they sell and has more features. In the 1200 Amazon reviews some people did not like the fan noise. Fan noise is about what you get from your computer fan. I don't think it is that big of a deal.I would prefer a longer cord on the inverter. I plug an extension cord into the inverter and run the extension cord to the back of my prius where I have the warmer going.

Also note if you turn off the car (with newer car) your warmer will stop. If you turn off car with older car your warmer will keep working. Newer cars have something on them to stop battery drain when car is off.

Have fun on your trip! Suggest 2-3 practice runs before your trip in house or local car trip----so you get a feel for things.

Leslie,

I would say no to plane due to now electrical sockets on plane. Yes to Amtrak if the train has power plugs. Car train to FL has power plugs next to every seat and Amtrak in Denver had power plugs.

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 5:22 pm

Hi everyone, short post because I catch an early flight tomorrow.

I'm finding the hotlogic performs better....higher quality meals, moist meals....non stick of pyrex etc if the food as a little bit of moistness to it. I cooked two of the same frozen meals today....meatloaf, rice and greens. The first meal I had rice and a little greens stick to the pyrex. Meal #2 same items I added 2 tsps water on top of the cooked rice and drizzled olive oil on top of the rice and greens. Meal #2 was far superior and moist and non stick.

So....add a little moistness.does not take much..can be....water, broth, olive oil, gravy etc to the top of your food. You will get superior results and the dish will be rendered non stick.

Brandy

brandy · Post by **brandy** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 6:00 pm

Forgot to mention you can add the extra moistureat same time you freeze your food to keep things simple.