Cooking and using your carefully planned food storage can be tricky to say the least, especially if you’re planning on having to forgo electricity when preparing meals. If you’re like me though, you like to practice cooking “off-grid” for rotation purposes and to get used to the new techniques and challenges you might face. My husband and I have a few off-grid cooking methods, including a propane camping stove with extra propane and several methods to make a fire. Both of which are great for boiling water, using dutch ovens, or cooking skillet meals, but neither of which are wonderful for baking. That means no casseroles, no bread, no cookies… No cookies? 🙁 Making oven-type meals off-grid has always been a challenging topic. There’s the Sun Oven, which is awesome and I would love to have, but costs an arm and a leg, and requires you to depend on Mother Nature’s cooperation for a decent meal. I prefer to have a little bit more control than that SO, last week I made a new little project for my Prep stash. I canNOT tell you how excited I am about this… I made a tea light oven! 🙂
What Is A Tea Light Oven?
So maybe you’re not excited as I am (yet) because you don’t know what it is… A tea light oven is a small oven that is powered by… you guessed it… Tea Lights! You know, those tiny little 1/2 inch tall candles that you can buy by the dozen (or more) for pennies on the dollar? Yep! Those little guys can help you prepare a meal with ZERO electricity! How cool is that?
There is already an oven on the market that you can purchase powered by tea lights, called the HERC oven. It stands for Home Emergency Radiant Cooking, and it is really a neat little product! Check it out HERE or you can read these reviews by Backdoor Survival or Prepared Housewives. It uses anywhere from 10 to 20 tea lights, depending on the size of oven you use, and is very portable, folding up to only 2 inches tall.
The problem (for me) with this neat little oven, is that it costs a stiff $329.00 for the smaller oven, or $389.00 for the XXL oven that can fit an 11×15″ pan. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have an extra $400 or so to drop on a toy. Ok, maybe not just a toy, I could possibly justify this purchase, or at least save up for it, BUT why should I do that when I can make my own for less than $35? That’s right, Thirty-Five Dollars!
I’m a part of this GREAT group on Facebook called Family Preparedness where I have “met” so many great women with one common denominator: Preparedness. These women are passionate about getting their families ready for any emergency, and are an amazing support group! One of my new friends posted her version of this oven, and became the inspiration for this tutorial. This has definitely been one of my favorite Prep projects, and I’m incredibly excited to share it with you!
This project took me less than 2 hours total, and I did it all by myself! No help from the hubs necessary. Ladies, I’m talking to you! You can do this!
What You’ll Need:
- A Toaster Oven (working or not). I shopped around at garage sales and thrift stores for awhile before finding this brand new one at our local K-Mart for $20. Seeing as the used ones were priced around $10-$15, I just swung an extra five bucks and bought the new one. (Then laughed at the check-out guy when he offered me the extended warranty.) Note: This is a smaller oven. If you want to fit a full-sized pan, you’ll want a bigger one, and will subsequently need more tea lights 🙂
- A Bread Basket Brick– There are square/rectangle ones and round ones. Either will work as long as it fits inside your toaster oven. Mine is a 6″ round one that I found on eBay for $12, shipping and all.
- 1/2″ electrical conduit (You’ll need 2)- Looks like THIS. This was one of the hardest things for me to find. I recommend printing out a picture and taking it with you to the hardware store. Maybe I’m calling it the wrong name or something, but NO ONE knew what I was talking about. Both cost me .58 cents when I finally found them.
- 3/4″ Self-drilling screws (2)- I got 6 just to be on the safe side and they cost me .23 cents total.
- Oven Thermometer (optional)- I’ll talk more about this later, but I started out with a fancy battery operated one, hated it, returned it and bought a plain metal one….then realized it wasn’t really necessary. This is up to you, but I definitely recommend the metal ones, which will cost about $6.
- Tea Lights- I found 100 Tea Lights at K-Mart for $5, then I found a package of 50 at Wal-Mart for $2.25, and surprisingly the cheaper ones worked better. Go figure. These things are so cheap that I see no reason not to stock up on a few hundred…or thousand… to stick in storage. Just in case 🙂
- Pliers/wire cutters
- Screwdriver (I used our drill with a 6″ long phillips head screwdriver bit.
All-in-all I spent $38.81 (and that’s with the optional oven thermometer) and about 2 hours total of my time on this project. It probably would have only taken 45 minutes if I hadn’t messed with the stupid thermometer.
Put It Together
I started by taking my toaster oven out of the box and cutting off the cord. I didn’t want it accidentally getting plugged in and electrocuting someone. Side note: The timer on the toaster oven still works! Score! 🙂
After that was done, I opened the bottom cover and began removing the heating elements. The guard comes off first..
Then the lower heating element. Be careful! They’re made of fiberglass. So wear gloves and/or go slowly. My first one broke and made a mess. Next, remove the upper heating element. I also cut out all of the cords and wires I could reach so there weren’t any loose ends.
Next, drill some holes in the back to let a little bit of heat escape, and to allow some air flow to keep your candles lit.
After that, you’ll use your electrical conduits to install the bread basket brick in the top of your oven. Just like the quarry stone tiles in the HERC oven, the bread basket brick absorbs some of the heat from your tea lights, and helps keep the top of your oven warm. It won’t be very good for broiling, but it WILL keep your food from getting too hot on the bottom before the top is done.
Mark where you want the brick to go (I used electrical tape because I had it handy), and use the self-drilling screws to afix your electrical conduits to the top of your oven. (Only screw in one side so that the opening is accessible.)
Slide the brick into the conduits like a sandwich, and you’re almost done!
Add a thermometer if you want to… I attached the battery operated one I found by threading it through one of my vent holes and taping it up with electric tape (and then later removed it all)….or just skip to baking!
Cooking in the Tea Light Oven
I started out with mini chocolate chip cookies. After a little bit of trial and error in the temp settings, this little oven popped out two dozen cookies in 12 minutes per batch! They were a little flat (probably due to user error…I think I let my butter get too soft before mixing), but they were crispy on the bottom and perfectly gooey in the middle. I was pretty darn impressed to say the least!
So impressed, in fact, that I decided to try my hand at making dinner in it! I made my Parmesan Broiled Tilapia, which is a fairly frequent dish at our house. I did two filets in the Tea Light Oven and two filets in my regular oven to compare. Normally, I broil the tilapia for 3 minutes, flip it over, add the topping, and broil for an additional 3 minutes. Since I can’t exactly broil in the Tea Light oven, I just placed the topping on at the beginning, and let it “Bake” on the top rack for about 15 minutes. Both sets of filets were perfectly flakey and moist in the middle, but the cheese wasn’t quite melted on the fish from the Tea Light Oven. I served both to my husband with Parmesan & Herb roasted fingerling potatoes and mixed veggies for a blind taste test. Although I probably could have let the Tea Light Oven fish go a teeny bit longer to melt the cheese, he loved them both! I call that success!
Last, I tried making my favorite from-scratch brownies! Again I made two batches: one small pan for the Tea Light oven, and my regular 9×13″ pan in the regular oven for comparison. I mixed the batter up all together and poured from the same bowl so I knew it was exactly the same. Then, I baked the large pan at 350º for 35 minutes, and the small pan in the Tea Light oven for 70 minutes after a 20 minute pre-heat. I checked on it once after the first 3o minutes, then every 5-10 minutes afterwards until my toothpick came out clean. (I filled the small pan too full so it bubbled over the sides 🙁 but it was still super good!) Obviously it took much longer to cook in the Tea Light oven, but after another blind taste test, hubby actually PREFERRED the brownies from the Tea Light Oven batch! He said they were more moist and fudgey (Is fudgey a word?) than the regular oven batch, and he nearly ate the whole pan in one sitting haha
I can’t wait to try some more things! Next up will probably be some mini blueberry muffins or a loaf of bread! Yum!
Lessons Learned
1. First, as I mentioned earlier. The thermometer was a bad idea. The battery operated booger was deceptively charming with it’s single AAA battery, ability to be set to alert you when a specific temp had been reached, and a “real oven” characteristic beep when it got to said temp; however, it never seemed to be picking up the correct temperature, it was ridiculously hard to set, came with directions in French? maybe?, and it only read in celsius. Celsius! Really? Ugh. I took it back to the store immediately, and got a plain metal oven thermometer only to discover after a couple of hours of pre-heating, that either the thermometer wasn’t reading properly OR the oven didn’t really need to be as hot as I thought. It never got above 275º, but in my impatience, I shoved the cookies in anyways and they baked up perfectly! After re-reading a couple of blogs about the HERC oven, I realized this was pretty common. Lesson Learned: Don’t worry about the thermometer. Pre-heat for about 20-30 minutes, then keep a fairly close eye on your food, and all will be good 🙂
2. Not all tea lights are the same. I bought two sets of tea lights; one from K-Mart and one from Wal-Mart, which looked identical, but the Wal-Mart lights consistently out-performed the K-Mart lights. They stayed lit better, burned hotter and longer, and surprisingly, were the cheaper of the two options! I’m sure other brands of tea lights will each have their own effects as well. Lesson Learned: Try out a few different kinds and see what works for you.
3. After having half of my tea lights continually go out on only one side of the oven, I realized it was because they weren’t getting enough oxygen. I cracked the door open just a tiny smidge with a toothpick, which worked like a charm! Next time I bake something, I’ll drill a couple of extra holes in the back so more air is allowed in. Lesson Learned: Make sure you have good air flow.
Pros
- Effective- This oven, as explained above, works just as well, if not better than my normal sized electric oven! Anything I can make in the regular oven can be duplicated in the Tea Light oven as long as I have a small enough pan (See Cons lol)
- Cost Efficient- At less than $35 this is a STEAL of a project! And tea lights being so cheap doesn’t hurt either!
- Heating is a cinch- You can adjust the heat my adding or removing tea lights as you go, and you don’t have to rely on solar power! AND it doesn’t heat up your kitchen like a conventional oven does, so it can easily be used in the summer without causing you to sweat like a mad-woman.
- Extra oven space- Even if your power isn’t out, you can use your Tea Light oven WITH your regular oven to help you prepare meals simultaneously. Like a double oven…only smaller 😉 Think: Smaller side dishes,appetizers, or desserts for large family dinner.
Cons
- Size- It is obviously smaller than a normal sized oven, and if you have a large family, you might need 4 or 6 of these babies to make a good-sized meal without everything getting cold doing one dish/portion at a time, but even then it would be a GREAT addition to your preps, and at the low price point, it’s still affordable! Note: My toaster oven fits pans 10″ wide or less, so a 9×9 baking dish or 9″ muffin tin is a perfect fit.
- Practice- This oven takes a little bit of getting used to. It’s not rocket science, but you’ll definitely need to play around with it before you HAVE to use it.
- Uses a limited heat source- Unlike solar power, tea lights eventually run out. Thankfully, they’re cheap enough that you can stockpile plenty of them to have on hand. You can also save the little tins and, if you have a means/supplies to make candles, re-pour more as you need them.
- Danger- This oven uses an open flame, so you obviously should not leave your home with it burning. Also, be careful to keep the oven out of the reach of little hands. This may not apply for all toaster ovens, but ours was hot to the touch on ALL sides. The only place that was safe to touch without a hotpad was the door handle. Keep this in mind when you set up your oven and when you’re getting ready to use it.
For me, the pros of having this little guy greatly outweigh the cons! I’m so excited to have this addition to my preps! (How many times can I say I’m excited in one post?)
UPDATE:
I spoke with Kris, the creator of the HERC oven, this morning at length about the dangers of using Tea Lights for cooking. There are a few things I want to make sure you know before you go about creating this project. First, let’s talk about Flash Point. Flash point is the temperature at which a candle or wax gives off enough vapor to ignite the air. Paraffin wax, which is the wax most tea light candles are made of, has a low melting point (about 130°F), which is why you’ll notice all of the candles have turned completely to liquid after the 20-30 minute pre-heat. If this liquid reaches the flash point, it will combust and create a flame, which then has the possibility to ignite all of the other tea lights in your oven. This could get extremely dangerous for several reasons: 1. It could be hard to put out. (You cannot blow on the candles as it could cause the liquid to spread, and water wouldn’t be your best option either due to splashing. Having a fire extinguisher handy would be your best bet.) 2. If your oven is made of plastic or has plastic parts, it can cause them to melt, so make sure you use an oven made of metal. Toaster ovens, for the most part, fit this bill, but Microwave ovens are typically made of plastic. Don’t use a microwave oven! and 3. If the oven has been left unattended, it could catch nearby items on fire as well…. Please don’t leave your oven unattended!
Using the HERC oven presents the same set of challenges with tea light candles, but has built in measures to prevent such flash point fires from becoming a much bigger problem. The tray of candles is not attached to the oven and is able to be pulled out quickly. It also comes with a device to snuff out the candles quickly. It also does not contain plastic parts that could melt.
According to THIS ARTICLE by the Fire Research Lab in Ammendale, MD, the Flash Point of a Paraffin Wax candle is between 204-271°C (or about 400-520°F). If your candles are in an enclosed area (such as the tea light oven) they can reach this point much quicker than they could if they were in an open area. Now, as I mentioned above, my thermometer never registered above 275°F BUT, I’ll reiterate that not all tea light candles are the same. Kris specifically mentioned to be cautious of the Dollar Tree candles, as they tend to burn hotter, which is great for baking things like bread, but also means that they can reach their Flash Point quicker than other candles. This is why it is of the upmost importance that you A. Allow good airflow in your oven to keep the candles a little bit cooler and to allow good ventilation, and B. NEVER EVER EVER leave your tea light oven unattended.
Conclusion: Personally, I will continue cooking in my DIY tea light oven, while of course, taking the correct precautions. I am well aware of the risks, as well as you are now 🙂 Please keep these things in mind before creating your own DIY oven and especially when using one! If you have any questions, please leave a comment, Contact Me, or email Kris at [email protected] Ready Water.com. All of this being said, if you are NOT comfortable building your own DIY oven, that is completely understandable! Please stay tuned for information about the new Eco HERC oven, coming soon! It will be at a much more manageable price point than it’s big brother counterparts 😉
What About You?
What kinds of off-grid cooking options do you have? Is this a project you would consider trying?
Please see my Disclaimer about affiliate links and DIY projects. Also, please note that this project has not been evaluated by the CPSC, and again, should be completed at your own risk.
I wish I would have known this years ago when my boys were Boy Scouts. They would have been baking on campouts in something besides the dutch oven.
Hi Meg! I think this would be a great Boy Scout project with proper supervision! A big kid Easy Bake Oven, (for boys of course! haha) if you will 🙂
My hope is that this post will be posted. If you know anything about our company you will know that we are very DIY friendly and are in this business to help people get prepared. With that said part of DIY and preparedness is to do so safely. My concern is the level of testing that has been done on this DIY project and the insurances that are in place as a safety net in case something tragic was to happen. The HERC oven with over seven months of prototyping and testing and with product liability insurance in place is safe to use with Tealight candles. If nothing else please check your homeowners insurance and make sure that you will be covered if you’re using an oven without you all UL rating and if not that there’s some insurance in place by the poster of this DIY project that will pay for any fires that may occur. As I am concerned with your safety I’m sure that the poster of this DIY project is also concerned with your safety and will take appropriate action. Please direct any questions or comments to [email protected] Ready Water.com, I am the inventor of the HERC oven and the owner of Titan Ready Water.
Hi Kris, I received your email earlier this evening, and was going to call you in the morning, but I see you have beaten me to the punch! The HERC is a wonderful product, and I am so glad that you have been able to market it, but it is just not an option, financially, for many families. I do understand your concerns about safety; however, if you notice, I did mention the danger of burning tea lights in the “Cons” section of this article, and I also have a section in my disclaimer speaking to the nature of DIY projects. (Link at the bottom of the article, or you can find it on a tab in the “About Me” drop down menu at the top of the page). As my disclaimer states, DIY projects are to be done at the risk of the reader (as with all DIY projects) and some common sense must be used. Any open flame presents challenges and must be used with caution. I have a 15 month old, and I would never use a product like this in my home without proper precautions, both in attention to the flame, keeping out of his reach, and monitoring of the entire oven frequently. I think that can be said about this DIY project as well as the HERC. Thank you for your concerns!
I would LOVE a HERC oven but with my situation cannot afford one. Thanks for this alternative idea…so great!!!
No problem, Katherine! I’m glad you like the article! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Love the great detail you added in this article, made it seem easy to understand and duplicate. Cost wise would it be less expensive to use it as a herc oven or toaster oven? Thinking about doing this with our old toaster oven. Being a small family we use the toaster oven quite frequently for full meals. Would love to cut costs.
Hi Susan! I’m so glad you liked it! We don’t usually use a toaster oven in my family…we just use a microwave; however, if I were in your shoes, I would probably continue using my toaster oven, and buy a new/used one to convert to a tea light oven. The working toaster oven will be much more convenient for day to day life than a Tea Light oven, which can be saved for emergencies and/or power outages. I’m not sure of the cost of electricity vs. buying tea lights if you would save money, but I do know that it takes much more time to cook in the Tea Light oven so just for convenience sake, I would keep the one you use in working order 🙂
Hmmm, my microwave oven just died. I wonder if I could convert that to a tealight oven. I absolutely LOVE this idea! Thank you for sharing!
Hi LaVerne! Glad you liked it! Sounds like you have a project day coming up 😉
My microwave “passed” last month but I haven’t sent it to the big recycle center in the hereafter. I may try to convert it for hubby to use camping. He wants biscuits with his gravy and hash browns ; ). My only concern would be the inside of a microwave isn’t usually made to handle flame heat. It might start the inside plastic walls to melt. Mine had an upper heating element so it might be a little different than a non-browning microwave. I will give it a try … Fire it up outside just in case the plastic starts smoking ; )
Hi Tina! I would definitely be very careful about using a microwave instead of a toaster oven, for those reasons you mentioned plus, I would also be concerned with the lack of ventilation in a microwave. Toaster ovens tend to be significantly thinner than microwaves, which would be easier to drill vent holes through, and they usually have a few little vents of their own already, which a microwave usually doesn’t. You will definitely need some space for the smoke to leave as well as oxygen to get in and rotate. Also, please please please be careful with the plastic! But if you do decide to try to convert it, I would love to hear how it goes! Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Tina, I wanted to comment again after speaking with Kris and adding an update to my article. I would not recommend using a microwave oven at all, or any kind of oven that has plastic parts as it could cause significant problems with fire hazards. Please go back and read my update 🙂
Hi LaVerne, I must have misread your comment last night…I though you were speaking about a toaster oven instead of a microwave. I wanted to comment again after speaking with Kris and adding an update to my article. I would not recommend using a microwave oven at all, or any kind of oven that has plastic parts as it could cause significant problems with fire hazards. Please go back and read my update 😉
Thank you. I went back and re-read the post and realized that my microwave wouldn’t work. I’m asking around to see if any friends have a non-working toaster oven. It’s too bad the microwave oven won’t work. I would love recycling it this way. If I can’t find a friend with one, I guess I’ll head off to the thrift shop. Thanks for the “heads up”.
Hi LaVerne, Yes the microwaves can be very dangerous, but a toaster oven has been working perfectly for me! Good luck with your project! 🙂
I would be concerned with the amount of toxins that could be potentially introduced into food being cooked with tea light candles. Do you really know what is in them?
Hi Betty! That would certainly be something to look into. You would want to know what your candles are made of. I believe it would be very similar to cooking on an open campfire… the type of wood or combustable materials you use will change the flavor or your food, as will the type of candles used in your Tea Light oven. Thank you for your comment!
I use ONLY beeswax tea lights. They are a bit more spendy, but WELL worth the cost to have NO toxic ingredients, only natural beeswax!
I’ll have to look out for some of those, Carol! Thanks for the tip! 🙂
I have the HERC stove and love it……but do want to caution about watching the stove carefully. He first time we used ours…my DH lite It…put the baking dish in and walked away. Fortunately, for us It was outside on an old stove. The only damage was to his pride and having to clean the oven. The chicken was wonderful. I like the idea of having an alternative cooking source.
Thank you for your comments, Lorie! I’m so glad no one was hurt, and yes, that reiterates my point that having the open flame, especially with the tea lights, can be dangerous and should be treated with caution! I’m so glad you like your HERC oven 🙂
Hi Busy B & to all your readers! This is Kris from Titan Ready inventors of the HERC oven. Nicely said Busy B! I must say you do your homework and are very through. With that said if I may help with a couple of questions I saw come up. Please all remember you do not want to cause an emergency during an emergency so whatever your alternative method of cooking is be safe.
A quick, painless physics lesson on the law of thermal energy transfer. I said quick so here it is… Conduction, Convection & Radiation are the three most common methods. Busy B your thermometer doesn’t get past 275-300°F however still cooks your food because it is only reading Convection heat. How the HERC Tea light Candle Oven and your toaster candle oven gets it done is not only by Convection but also by Radiation, IR or Infrared Radiation. This is how HERC got it’s name; Home Emergency Radiant Cooking. It’s like this… If it is 90°F outside and you are standing in the sun and then you step into the shade, it’s still 90°F outside however it feels cooler in the shade. You are now feeling the sun’s Radiation.
So besides the 3 common methods of heat transfer there are others and Microwaves are one of them. DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT USE TEA LIGHTS IN A MICROWAVE! Microwaves work by sending waves of energy into the food and these waves cause the water in toe food to move back and forth creating heat by friction. Ever notice how you can use your Microwave, open the door when it is done and touch the inside without burning yourself? Try that in your oven… Okay don’t try that, it will hurt. Nothing about the construction of a Microwave is made to withstand the heat created by the candles. Please let that one go. I will check back to see if I can be of any more help.
One more thing, everyone who reads this tell all your friends and family to subscribe to The Busy B Homemaker. This is one smart woman!
Complete with typos. Sorry it won’t let me edit.
Haha Thank you, Kris! I do appreciate all of your comments, as well as the mini physics lesson, and your concern for readers 🙂 Microwaves and tea lights definitely should not mix! Thanks again, and I hope we are able to work together in the future 🙂
To answer the toxin question. Candles have very unique characteristics. At the hottest part of the flame it gets up to 1800°C, that’s over 3000°F and as hot as I weld steel together! Yet you can put your finger right next to it and not get burned… Candles burning correctly (without wind disturbances) are complete combustion so the only thing coming from them are water vapor and CO2. CO2 is carbon dioxide and what we breath out also what plants take in so all good there. Candles are like natural gas and propane and many a house is cooking with gas! An open fire or camp fire is not a complete burn and that is why you have black smoke, (unburnt fuel, carbon) rising from it. Now this unburnt fuel has CO among other things. CO is carbon monoxide which bonds to the hemoglobin in your blood and blocks it from carrying oxygen to your cells, not good!
So to recap candles GREAT to cook inside the safety of your home. Flammable biomass GREAT to burn outside your home with the Sun oven and zombies. Lastly for all of you not as savvy with the cutters and drill motors we going to have us a sale! HERC XXL $60.00 off if you put in the coupon code “BusyB” at checkout and for every HERC XXL sold using the “BusyB” coupon Titan Ready Water will donate $10 to Busy B to help fund her next DIY project we can’t wait to see! Goggle HERC oven…you have one week from today.
Busy B the Queen B of DIY!
🙂
Wow! Thank you, Kris! 🙂
That is a really cool idea!
Thanks Mike! 🙂
Just an FYI: the “conduit” you refer to is actually a clamp for hanging conduit tubing, and they’re called “rigid clamps”. I only know because I was an electrician in the AF Reserves and I hung a lot of conduit. I’m going to be making one of these ovens just as soon as I assemble the components – great job! Also, to the makers of the HERC stove…those of use who cannot afford your oven are not your clients to begin with, so you will not be losing any money from those of us who make our own, so you can be calm about our homemade stoves. I will be using mine outside on a slab of metal and will be diligently babysat so there is no risk of fire.
Hi Louise! Thank you for the info about the “conduit.” I only called it that because that’s what it said on the box when we finally found it. I went to multiple stores, talked to many people, and even drew a picture before I found what I was looking for haha You’ll have to come back and let me know how your oven turns out! It was a fun, quick, and easy project! 🙂
Hi Louise,
You are right and my only concern is for everyone’s safety. It is why I got into this business and it’s how I live my life. Stay tuned to Busy B as she has the honors of giving the first review of the Eco HERC and Eco stands for Economy. We want everyone to be able to cook inside 24/7 in an emergency so NO prepper left behind…
Thanks for the awesome step by step directions!!! Louise thanks for the correct name on the bracket (prior AF also)…….. What a wonderful presentation BusyB produced for us here……I have made this same tea light toaster oven and am absolutely thrilled with the results……We all are aware that any open flame can catch fire but I for one am going to continue to use this very economical idea inside just like I have…..blueberry muffins for breakfast in the morning!!!!
here is a link to finding the bread warming stones if you can’t find them on ebay or at a local thrift store http://www.webstaurantstore.com/american-metalcraft-tcws5-round-warming-stone-for-canvas-bread-baskets/124TCWS5.html
Thanks Julie! Mmmm blueberry muffins are next on my list, too! 🙂
Busy Bee you are so clever!! I would have never thought of that!! I guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks!! LOL! I have an original HERC oven. It’s no more expensive than an solar oven and while the fuel may not be free I can cook in my home day or night! I have several married children and each of them got a HERC for Christmas this year. I try to get my kids a substantial Preparedness Item every Christmas. So far they are equipped with rocket stoves, Excalibur dehydrators, food sealers, pressure canners, groat rollers, grain mills, Kitchen aids and more. I know it’s hard to get the really good things on a tight budget especially when you are young and have a young family.
But back to the HERC, I just love this oven!!! Not only will it last you a life time but it’s something to pass on to your grandchildren! It’s solid!! It will last forever! Quality means I never have to buy another one! (Wish I could say that for my gas range!) And i love that the bottom of it stays completely cool to the touch. Moving candles in and out I never use gloves or if i need to move the oven on my table i just move it by it’s feet. everything below candle stays cool.
Anyway, begin able to cook inside my home is really important to me.
Here’s why.
Where to you want to cook your food if a REAL disaster strikes? Be it war or natural calamity, do you want to be cooking outside where everyone can smell your food? of inside in much more safety, in your home?
I read a while back about the experience of an American survivalist who visited his sister in Egypt. (Sorry this was a while back, I don’t have the reference but I don’t lie.) A few days after his arrival there was a coup in Cairo, where she was studying. He was so glad he was there or he is certain she would not have survived. They barely did.
There was chaos in the streets, terrorists and military gun fire everywhere!
Buildings burning and people running for their lives. So hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys.
The place they were staying kicked them out because they were Americans and were afraid of more trouble. They spent their days hiding and nights trying to move to safety and get food or shelter in the city. A well dressed man spotted them and bid them to come to his home, which they did. He had an impressive compound in the middle of the city that no one seemed to notice because it was surrounded by a high wall. They could hear the shooting and chaos going on outside the wall but it was peaceful within.
The man was good to them, he had lots of food and water and even a small garden of sorts and a big home with thick walls and many rooms. They were as comfortable as one can be for several days.
Then one night, I believe it was night, their host decided to roast some meat on an outside grill not realizing what a big mistake that was. The minute the smell of roasting meat wafted over the wall, they heard yelling and shooting and shouting. (How is it they never run out of bullets?) Swarms of men came pouring over the wall.
The host yelled at the Americans to follow him into the house. but they hid in the yard. They watched, as their host was dragged out of the house and beaten to death. The house was ransacked and all the food taken and house burned!
Why they would burn this beautiful home is beyond me.
The American’s slipped out of the compound through a small gate and went back to hiding and fleeing. Luckily for them another native saw them, an old man, and had compassion and took them into his beat up shack of a home that was hidden in shrubbery. He also had food and water but nothing that had to be cooked. It’s a hot country, I’m sure he dehydrated his own in the sun. they ate a lot of goat jerky and dried figs.
They waited out the coup with this man till they were able to leave for America.
I have never forgotten this story from some survival site.
The one big mistake was cooking out doors. It was after that when i found the rocket stove and wondered if it was useable in a fireplace. There were a lot of different opinions on that, but i knew i didn’t want to cook out doors in any type of emergency. So that is when i learned to pressure can meat.
Then the HERC oven comes along just recently and solves my outdoor cooking issues!
I love this oven and grateful for it. Sure it can act as an extra oven and you can make creme brûlée and cheesecake, roast chicken, bake bread, any food you can cook in your regular oven, and you can even use it as an emergency dehydrator as well, but it’s real value to me is indoor cooking in times of chaos. Forget bad weather, though I live in Oregon so I better not better not forget that!
I hope I never have to use it for that purpose but I have one and that is what being prepared is all about.
So get a HERC or DIY or get the new less expensive Eco HERC just get some way to cook inside your home or shelter safely cause you don’t want to invited every hoodlum roaming the street in times of crisis to your house for dinner by the smell of blueberry muffins or roast beast coming from your back yard. Things will be tough enough without inviting more trouble!
Sorry this was long… for those who bothered to read it! 😀
Hi Sally! Thank you for commenting! Wow! Can I be adopted into your family? 😉 Your kids are blessed to have you in their lives (for many reasons, I’m sure), but I’ll bet they are extremely grateful for your generous gifts! What an incredible story, as well! I’ve not heard that one, but I have heard similar stories, so yes, a method of cooking indoors will be absolutely essential if we have a similar situation on our hands. Thanks for stopping by! I’m glad you enjoyed the tutorial 🙂
I love this idea GREAT JOB! I would like to suggest filling a small aluminum
Pan up half way with regular sand then set your candles in the sand. This should not only help on a safety stand point but will also help regulate the temp of the oven.
I have tried this with a 50 gallon barrel and a fire under neath it works kind of the same way 🙂
Good luck to you .
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca! Thank you so much! I’m so glad you liked the article, and I think the sand is a great idea! I’ll definitely have to try that next time I bake something. I’d love to hear more about your 50 gallon barrel! Very interesting! Thanks for stopping by!
Lesslie
WOW Busy B! I am sooooo glad I found you. Like many others I am not able to purchase the HERC at this time, so you are the answer to my prayers! I am off to purchase the oven and to get started.
Also thanks for such wonderful concise directions! What a blessing! Look forward to more of your DIYs
Cynthia
Thanks Cynthia! I’m so glad you liked the tutorial! 🙂 Let me know how your oven turns out!
Please caution about the dangers of horrible toxins in cheap candles. Cooking food in this manner would subject the food to very high levels of them. Yuck!
Thank you. As an “all electric” apartment dweller, I was really glad to see this “do it yourself” project.I am wondering what the bottoms of your baking dishes looked like after using the oven? Were they sooty? I live in Louisiana and we usually have an ice storm or two during the winter with loss of electricity for a day or so. Even though it’s not a long term problem, it is nice to be prepared. Thank you again for the project.
Hey Paula! So glad you like the tutorial! 🙂 My baking dishes don’t look sooty at all, surprisingly! I bought some of mine used at GoodWill so they were already a little “used” looking, but they don’t look any different than when I first bought them 🙂 You’ll have to let us know how it goes and if you’re able to use it during an emergency 🙂
I made my first batch of brownies in my DIY tealight oven today. They turned out wonderful. I used an old Oster toaster oven that came with a wonderful feature. There is a pull out “drawer” at the bottom of the oven probably put there to make cleaning easier when things spilled on the bottom of the oven. Anyway, if my oven were to get too hot I can pull the drawer out that holds the tealights. I followed your instructions and guessed on how many holes to drill on the back. My oven is bigger than the one you made but still I only used 12 tealights to heat it. My husband drilled a hole on the top my mistake, but I used it to put my digital thermometer in to see how hot it got inside the oven. Within 30 minutes the thermometer read 302 degrees. I actually over cooked the brownies because I underestimated the power of my little oven. I did cook outside on my patio not knowing how hot the oven would get. I would feel safe cooking indoors though, but would never leave the oven unattended. Thank You for this great idea….now I will be prepared if we ever find ourselves without power. This is like an “Easy Bake Oven” for adults.
I’m so glad you liked it and your brownies turned out well Anita! Yes, it is easy to underestimate the little tea lights 🙂 I love the idea of your little drawer at the bottom! That will definitely help you get the tea lights in and out easier, especially in the event of a flash fire, which I have not had happen yet. And your accidental hole seems to have worked out really well! Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I made one of these once but never got beyond testing. On mine I placed the oven on an inverted metal casserole carrier with the candles in a foil pan outside of the oven.(like a redneck heater) and the terracotta tiles sitting on the bottom of the oven. No need for vent holes because the candles are outside and the oven has its own natural venting. Testing I got to 300 degrees but I had it sitting on my stove top and the smoke from the candles set off the smoke detector. (haha)
I have it for emergencies but will have to use it in the garage.
Haha yea I can imagine there would be more smoke if the candles were outside the oven! Tea light candles shouldn’t put off that much smoke though, I would think….But at least it got hot enough to cook a meal, and if you ever truly need it, you have a cooking source that will work without electricity! If I were you, I ‘d test it out a couple more times before I NEED it 🙂
I was saddened to see you list your alternative methods of cooking but say there was no way to bake. Unfortunately, you do not really understand the term dutch oven. The word oven means just that, you can make anything in it that you would bake in a conventional oven, We have baked cakes, pies, cookies, cinnamon rolls etc… in a dutch oven. The trick is to make it an oven by using coals both top and bottom, otherwise it is just a pot. Try it out and see all the wonderful creations you have been missing. Tip, find a round rack that fits in your dutch oven for cookies.
Teresa, I’ve never tried baking in my dutch oven, and while it’s something I would like to practice, I do like this method because of the fact that it is very similar to baking in an actual indoor oven AND that you can use it indoors without fear of starving neighbors smelling your food or seeing your campfire outside. We don’t have a fireplace right now so that isn’t an option. Having a way to cook indoors is very important to our family’s safety. Thanks for stopping by!
I LOVE IT!
I was thinking of using my rv oven the same way as I refuse to use propane (it can explode especially with older rv’s.) and have been cooking on top of the oven with tea candles and a fondue set (boiling water, cooking eggs, etc). To be able to cook with tea candles INSIDE the oven as an oven is brilliant.
I am glad you mentioned the flash point. I have experienced a tray of candles caused a huge flame and lots of smoke. I have been testing how to use the least amount of candles to produce the same results. I find 4-5 candles for cooking is sufficient. Also it takes up less oxygen and produces less carbon/soot.
Being one of you readers mention how a dozen tea candles got too hot, perhaps 10 tea candles or 8 tea candles can produce the same quantity of heat needed with less chances of reaching a flash point.
Thank you for your comments Maria, and I’m glad you shared your experiences with the tea light candles. I hope you’re able to make your RV oven work for you 🙂
While this is a cool idea a cardboard oven is a lot cheaper and easier to make. While it is less permanent it can be powered by coals and is less likely to flash burn. I was heating up coffee in my kitchen one morning after a storm when we had lost power. I put a few tea light candles on the base of my fondue frame and they got so hot they flashed up to the ceiling when I tried to blow them out. Then we tried water which didn’t work. Finally my husband took it outside and used dirt. I shudder to think what could have happened.
Hi liz, yes the tea lights, as mentioned in the article, need to be constantly watched, as should any open flame you have going in your home; however, I feel more comfortable with this tea light oven indoors than I would with cardboard. I’ve made a cardboard “pizza box” oven before, and it definitely didn’t work as well as this one does. Plus, the pizza box oven had to be used outdoors, and one of the biggest reasons for having this type of cooking device is so that it can be used indoors without fear of marauders smelling your food and coming to attack you and your family. Thank you for stopping by!
What do you mean no way to have bread? You said you cook with a dutch oven. A cast iron dutch oven has been used for centuries to BAKE in! I have a friend who makes his crescents in one when he is making his camp breakfast & others who make biscuits and loaves of bread. PRACTICE more with your dutch oven. Its a great device The only down side is NOT being able to have a fire in the house (unless you have an open fireplace) to cook it in. So in extreme cold locations its a challenge to cook outside.
Hi Anisah, One of the biggest points of the article and the tea light oven is that you don’t need to go outside to bake. With no fireplace or woodburning stove in my house it would be impossible to use a dutch oven indoors, which defeats the purpose of being discreet with your cooking so greedy/hungry neighbors don’t smell the food and come looking for it.
Great post! Thanks for the wonderful info and safety precautions for creating a tea light oven. I just picked up a toaster oven at goodwill and I’m looking forward toforward to starting this little project. I do wonder if an unglazed tile would work instead of the bread basket brick. I took a bread making class a while ago and the chef actually suggested everyone add a layer of those tiles to their regular oven to help control temp (this is how Julia child replicated french bread at home also). They’d be even less expensive. Thoughts?
Just a follow up, the tiles I’m taking about would be the unglazed Terra cotta type (less than 50 cents a piece at home improvement stores). I would think it’s the same material as the bread basket brick but likely not as thick.
Sounds like that would work pretty well to me, Caitlin! You’ll have to let me know how it goes!
This is a great article! I really appreciate the updates you put on it, as well.
I did want to point out that what you are calling conduit is not conduit, but a conduit bracket. Conduit is a cylindrical casing (a pipe of sorts) through which one puts wires so they are not exposed. It can be made of metal or other materials and be rigid or flexible (so as to allow wires to be fed around an obstacle or corner.) A conduit bracket is something that hold the conduit in place at designated intervals / locations. The latter is what you have to hold the bread brick in place. 🙂
That’s just what it said on the box 🙂 But thank you for clarifying.
Great idea, awesome pictures! Will be making this soon. I have an old toaster oven we never use. Here’s an idea, work with me on this… In case of a fire: If the air flow is cut off, there should be no flame-
so why not cut a piece of roof flashing that will cover the back holes quickly if needed?
It could be screwed on both sides of the back like french doors and opened when cooking.
The edges may need to be covered with duct tape so they don’t cut your hands.
Or keep an extra cookie sheet nearby to cover the vent holes if needed?
It could be used outdoors away from dry debris if weather permits, at least it would save your house if there was a problem.
I made a few soda can stoves that work great for small meals, outdoors only. They use denatured alcohol. Like you said, they do not bake well!
Hi D! Some great ideas you have 🙂 I’d love to hear how your oven turns out when you’re finished!
How would a terra cotta flower pot drip catcher work instead of buying a bread warmer?
That’s very likely! I haven’t tried it so I can’t be sure, but it would definitely be worth a shot since those little drip catchers are much cheaper.
Being a senior with arthritic hands, I’d happily spend the extra $10 it costs for a Coleman camp oven, then set it up with tea light candles. It has 3 oven rack positions, and no extra work to do all those thing you did to the toaster oven. I can put it on my charcoal grill or use the tea light option. ANY unglazed tile works without spending the astonishing amount of money – $32.88 – for a bread basket tile. I’ll save WAY more money with this:
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-5010D700T-Camp-Oven/dp/B0009PURJA/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hi_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=1454MX86MTM2YA8K1HMX
The Coleman camp oven sounds like a great idea, too Barbara! My brad basket tile definitely didn’t cost that much, but I haven’t tried a plain unglazed tile to see how it works either. Happy Prepping!
Great tutorial! In case someone else hasn’t already said, or you haven’t found out in some other way, “conduit” is the actual tubing that is used to enclose something, like electrical wire — it also is used to transfer gas or water from one place to another. What you have here is a conduit HANGER which is obviously what you would use to attach conduit to a structure. Just thought I’d help out a little. 🙂 Looks like a great blog. I’ll be spending more time here.
I loved this, am going to make one asap, already have none working toaster oven in my garage. We have lived without electricity for over 1 year now. We simply could not afford it anymore, but because of childhood experience (thank God for that) we have managed pretty well, however we do miss baked items. I am also going to invest in a dutch oven and use on open fire to bake this spring. Thank you!
I also found an alternative to the HERC which while made of stainless, is very expensive. I bought a Coleman oven for $30.00 in the camping section. You can raise it with a few bricks and put the tea lights in a pan underneath. I would block the back and sides with foil and leave the front open. That way you can pull the pan of tea lights out from the front and put a pot over the pan of candles to snuff it out if needed. Of course take all saftey precautions.
HI Busy B, I love your blog & I am soo very impressed with this oven you made! The HERC is WAY TOO EXPENSIVE for my budget and I can’t wait to make my own DIY oven! (Alot of people don’t have $400.00 extra) I read all the post and will use caution when cooking. 🙂 I am gathering my things this week. Can’t wait to try it! Thanks for all your wisdom. You are appreciated. 🙂
Bev
Thank you so much! I can’t believe I’ve been a prepper this long and have never heard of this little gem! I learned about HERC ovens last week, found your site a few days ago, hoping to make one myself for less, and bought all my supplies this morning. I’m SO excited! My one stipulation for myself was wanting to be able to bake 3 loaves of bread at the same time, the amount my family needs. So, I bought an extra wide toaster oven, and spent more $$ than normal. But still, all told, the project came to only $85, as compared to $400 for a professionally made HERC oven, and I have one that totally meets my needs. Yay, yay, yay!!! I also discovered that 700 tealights fit in one blue Wal-mart bucket perfectly. That amount might last me 2 months, baking once per day. So, I’ll need 6 buckets full, for my year’s supply. Really, thank you so much for this information.
Wow! I’d love to see the finished project of your XXL Tea Light Oven 🙂 Please send pics when you’re done! I’m so glad I could inspire your project 🙂
VERY DANGEROUS! I bought a new toaster oven & followed Busy B Homemaker DIY instructions & even drilled a few more holes in the back of it like she suggested. I had it on my counter in the kitchen & checked on it every 5 minutes or less to preheat the oven. It took over an hour to bring temperature up to just under 300 degrees. I noticed the candles did not burn at a even rate…many just went out and other varied at different burning rates which I think indicated not enough air. When I checked on it the last time two of the candles ignited & shot up…when I open the door to try & distinguish them all the rest ignited all at once. Very scary..my husband was near by & took the oven outside on the deck & his first response he tried to put it out with water…he wasn’t thinking. The flames shot up & luckily spilled over onto the deck just barely missing him which he would have been burned with hot wax. I quickly came out with baking soda & put the fire out immediately. We realize that was our own fault for using water but it should not have ignited like that anyway to begin with which is the real danger & no way to remove or distinguish the candles if need be. People need to be aware of the possibility of this happening to them. I am so thankful my husband did not get burned. I & I am out all the money I spent to make the DIY toaster oven… so disappointed. I am definitively going to look into purchasing a HERC oven.
Hi Joyce,
I’m sorry you had a bad experience with this oven. What you experienced was the flash flames that I mentioned in the article, and warned against. Even with the HERC oven, these flash flames are possible because it depends on the type of candle you use and how hot the wax burns. The HERC does have the option of using an extinguishing plate to cover the candles and smother the flame (water should never be used), but any piece of flat metal (a cookie sheet, etc) or baking soda works as well. I’m glad neither of you were injured! Have a great week!
I was thinking of posting a suggestion about possibly making a “tea light heater” out of one of these without holes for venting but leaving the door open.
After seeing the above post I’m having second thoughts…but what are your thoughts on that, if any?
Wet towel. Not dripping wet but wet enough to keep it from burning. The damp towel smothers the fire due to oxygen deprivation. Keep the towel on the oven till it cools. This method also works for kitchen grease fires, just be sure to turn of the burner first then cover the fire with the damp towel. I have a video but don’t know how to embed it. I could forward the email that contains the video if someone knows how to do this.
i was wondering if the tea light give off somekind of parafin or chemicals that would get into the food
Just wondering about any toxicity from the petro wax fumes and if the food absorbs it. If so, would soy wax be better.
Thank you v much for sharing your DIY oven. I like this idea v much, will try it. I also like the look of the HERC. Bravo to both ovens. 🙂
I’m just wondering about the possibility of the tea lights burning the wax completely up. I know there are different burning times for each brand of candle, but does the average candle stay burning long enough to bake a “meal” in it (casserole, cookies, bread, or whatnot)? If you have to put fresh candles in, will this cause any problems with meats cooking? I’m sure it would for cookies and brownies, but for things that aren’t quite so dependent on a steady temperature, I’m wondering how this would affect the baking.
Hi Cindy! Great question! Most of your typical tea lights will burn for at least 3 hours, usually more. (It should give an estimate on the box/container when you buy them.) But usually all of your foods you would cook in this oven would be done by then, so there shouldn’t be any switching out of tea lights unless you started with used ones. I have cooked chicken, potatoes, green beans, cookies, brownies, fish, lasagna… and several other dishes without any problems thus far 🙂
Has anyone had experience with the HERC oven using bees wax tea light candles? I have lots of bees wax and make my own. Thanks for your help.
I don’t see why you would need the “brick ” on top inside the oven as when one cooks in an oven and the top part isn’t working or say a gas oven which no flame is even at the top part things still cook and brown with out heat from the top . Due to looking at your small oven and all is shiny the heat will radiate all around and no need for the top brick . I even have a small oven I cook a lot in as it is cheaper on electricity than the big one and the top doesn’t work and I bake everything in there from A to Z .
It actually helps redistribute the heat better. Without the brick it will cook much faster on the bottom than the top. If you don’t want to use the brick and think it works just fine without, that’s totally fine! But in my experience, the brick is definitely necessary.
do you think a coleman camp oven would work well to covert into a tea light oven?