Gaye Levy
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One of the challenges during a power outage is cooking meals. While there are many options, most require cooking outdoors using stove-type methods such as a rocket stove, BBQ grill, fire pit or camp stove. These methods work great, especially if they are coupled with a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven.
The problem, however, is that we can not predict or time when the power will go out. Nor can we predetermine how long the grid will be down; it may be hours or it may be days or even weeks. Not only that, what if the power goes out for a week during the coldest part of the year, with 10 inches of snow on the ground and a howling wind? Cooking outdoors under those conditions is nearly impossible. In addition, unless you are using biomass (twigs and leaves), there are fuel considerations when it comes to availability and cost.
Regardless of the drama, wouldn’t it be nice to have cooking source that you can safely use indoors, rain or shine, with just inexpensive tea lights as a fuel source?
Today I am thrilled to introduce you to the amazing HERC Tea Light Oven. Not only that, one of these fabulous ovens has been reserved for a lucky (very lucky) Backdoor Survival reader. More about that in a moment.
First, Some Background
I first spoke to Kris Johnson, the developer of the HERC oven, a couple of years ago when he requested some feedback on the Titan Water rack system. We chatted back and forth by phone a number of times and kept in touch by email. Last Fall, Kris called and told me about a new, indoor oven that he was working on – an oven that was powered solely by commonly available tea lights.
He called it the HERC which stands for Home Emergency Radiant Cooking. What makes the HERC special? Through design and the use of certain materials in manufacturing, HERC marries heat generated by convection with heat created by conduction and Infrared radiation. It is the combination of IR and convection that allows the HERC to get hot and stay hot while using only tea lights.
Practical Use of the HERC Oven
Whenever I do a review, I have some decisions to make. Do I talk about the technical aspects or do I simply focus on usability in a survival situation? Today I have decided to focus mostly on the practical usage of the HERC oven because, to be honest, my interest throughout the testing was to see how well the HERC performed cooking real food. The other stuff was secondary.
For the past week, the HERC was my only cooking source. My fancy kitchen range was off limits. Here is what I cooked along with a few notes.
3.5 pound Tri-Tip Roast: Yes, I must admit it took guts to cook a $25 roast in the HERC oven. Although it took longer than I expected (3 hours), this was the most tender tri-tip I have ever prepared. The real surprise, though, was that there was no grease or juice splatter at all. The HERC oven stayed pristinely clean and there was no smoking either. Heck, when I cook a tri-tip in my electric oven, I usually have a big mess after the fact. And sometimes, the smoke alarms go off. Really.
Chicken and Rice Casserole: This was the old mushroom soup and rice standard that we all remember as kids.
Oven Rice: If the SHTF, we will be eating a lot of rice because it is filling, has calories for energy and stores well. I made it in the HERC using a ratio of 2 cups rice to 3 cups water. I added bullion cubes and herbs from my food storage, covered the pan and let the rice cook for 90 minutes. With warmed over tri-tip (30 minutes in foil), this was our evening meal.
Brownies: This pan of brownies took 90 minutes to bake instead of the conventional 30, but they too were perfection. You can not tell from the picture but the cooking was even unlike a standard, electric oven where the edges tend to overcook and the center stays mushy. I used a boxed mix that was 5 years old and well beyond its printed expiration date. Moral of the story? Packaged food will last a lot longer than most expiration dates will indicate, especially if stored in a cool, dry location.
Everything I cooked in the HERC emitted the delicious and comforting aroma of well prepared food. As a matter of fact, the brownies baking were a huge distraction from my work – so much so I had to take a coffee break so I could savor the smell and admire the baking process. (The HERC has a nice viewing window so that you can peek inside to see what is going on.)
Basic Instructions for Using the HERC
The set up of the HERC was pretty easy. Shelly did it in about 30 minutes but said the next time he could do it in 10. All you need to do to use the oven is load up each of the two tea light trays with 10 tea lights and slide them under the oven. As you can see, we set the oven on top of cutting boards sitting on our counter but I don’t think that was really necessary.
You set your food in the oven by opening the top lid and placing your pan inside. There are quarry tiles on both the oven floor and lid so be mindful of the heat if you happen to touch them. I used Ove Gloves just to be safe. By the way, one surprising aspect of the oven was that is accommodated a 9 x 13 pan with no problem. Good to know and, as a matter of fact, the specs indicate that the HERC will accommodate an 11 x 15 pan.
Cooking Tips – Do’s and Don’ts
1. Preheat for 20 to 30 minutes. That is sufficient. For the tri tip, I made the mistake of using a standard oven thermometer to gauge the pre-heat temperature. It took an hour to register 350~ but then started to fluctuate. Finally, I ignored it and simply allowed an internal meat thermometer to tell me when the meat was done. I highly recommend getting one of these probe type external thermometers. I use mine with my barbeque and smoker – indispensible!
2. Allow plenty of time. A pan of brownies that would take 30 minutes in a conventional oven, took 90. Be patient. This is a slow, but even, cook process.
3. Stock up on tea lights! Each “load” takes 20 lights and although I reused some that were only half burned, in a grid down you will go through a lot candles. At a cost of 5 to 10 cents each, there is no reason not to have a few hundred or even a thousand or more on hand.
4. Be mindful that the interior gets hot as does the lid. Use oven mitts, ove gloves, or some other type of protection to keep your fingers from getting scorched.
5. It goes without saying that you should never leave burning candles unattended. Ever.
A Word About Tea Lights
Tea lights are made in two very different ways. They are either poured into the aluminum cups from a liquefied state OR they are pressed out of a sheet of wax, looking like little hockey pucks and then placed into aluminum cups. Each type burns differently, with the hockey pucks burning hotter than the poured type. It is easy to identify which method was used and in doing so you will have a good idea whether your food will cook faster or slower with “faster” being relative.
The poured candles (cooler candles) look creamy and are attached to the cup because of solidifying in the cup. The hockey pucks (hotter candles) look granular and are not attached to the aluminum cup. The other difference is that some tea lights are slightly taller than others which means they burn longer.
Interesting enough, I checked and my bag of IKEA tea lights (which should also be called dirt-cheap tea lights) were of the hockey puck type. Note that I did not use them for this review so I can not vouch for their performance.
Whatever type of tea lights you have, my suggestion is to cook with them now while you have the luxury of time on your side. Try to purchase both types so that you can choose the type you prefer. Store a bunch of the preferred type (see #3 above) however learn to cook with both types because in a pinch you might only have access to one kind or the other.
The Giveaway!
Update: Sorry – this giveaway has ended.
Ah! Now here is the part you have been waiting for. Titan Readywater has reserved one HERC XXL Tea Light Candle Oven for a lucky Backdoor Survival reader. To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is respond to the following question in the comments area below. This is a fun one.
From time to time, everyone makes a mistake.
What has been your biggest prepping mistake or goof?
I realize this question is not food or cooking related but truth be told, I have made my share of mistakes and hope to learn from yours. As a matter of fact, we all can learn from them.
The deadline for your entry is 6:00 PM Pacific on Thursday, April 3rd. A winner will be selected at random and will be notified by email as well as in an announcement in the Sunday Survival Buzz. The winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be selected.
Note: If you are reading this article in your email client, you must go to the Backdoor Survival website to enter this giveaway in the comments area at the bottom of the article. As with all BDS giveaways, this giveaway is only open to visitors to the website. Email and Facebook entries do not count.
The Final Word
My HERC oven is still sitting in my kitchen; I am not done with it. I plan to continue using it so that I become more familiar with cooking using tea light candles. I also want to experiment with different brands and types of tea lights. Even more important, I want to bake some bread and perhaps even a pizza using some of my food storage items as toppings. I will report the results in a future Sunday Survival Buzz.
Before closing, I would like to thank Kris at Titan Readywater for making this giveaway possible. He has indicated that if you love the idea of the HERC and make a purchase before the giveaway is over, he will send a refund (or a second oven) if you are the winner. Now how cool is that?
Backdoor Survival is blessed to have so many friends that are willing to share their products with you and for that, I am grateful. The reason, I believe, is because Backdoor Survival readers are the best common sense Prepper’s on the planet. Good luck, everyone!
Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye
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Spotlight: The HERC XXL Tea Light Oven! If you love the idea of the HERC and want to make a purchase before the giveaway is over, Titan Readywater will send you a refund (or a second oven) if you are the winner!
Bargain Bin: Below you will find a link to the HERC and to items related to cooking with the HERC Tea Light Oven.
Unscented Tea Lights 100/Pkg-White: Prices vary widely with tea lights, just be mindful of the shipping cost (if any) and the burn time (if states). The following tea lights have a stated burn time of 4-5 hours: Richland® Tealight Candles White Unscented Set of 125.
Taylor Digital Cooking Thermometer/Timer: This is the thermometer/probe that I use. Works great with the HERC in that it remotely displays the food’s temperature as well as the elapsed time.
Ove’ Glove Hot Surface Handler, Pack of 2: I would not be without these. They are light weight and absolutely protect your hands and wrists from oven burns. I put mine in the washer and dryer with no problem. I know see there are some “knock-off” brands that might be worth trying, including these: Oven Glove-Made of Nomex Heat resistant Fiber.
Lodge Double Dutch Oven and Casserole with Skillet Cover, 5-Quart: This cast iron Dutch oven will make a perfect addition to your off-grid cooking supplies.
Wilton 9 by 9 Inch Covered Baking Pan: This is the type of pan I used in my HERC. I also have a similar 9 x 13 pan.
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which I cooked up as corn bread in my cast iron skillet. Oh my gosh – it was better than anything boxed that I have ever purchased and as good as home made. The best part is that all I had to add was water! Same with the Buttermilk Biscuit Mix.
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250 Responses to “Off-Grid Cooking with the Amazing HERC Tea Light Oven”
Not ThInking Through Purchases And Buying More On Impluse. Also Not Using Homemades soaps Sooner.
The biggest prepping mistake or goof I made and am willing to admit to online is, two years or so ago I slowly bought bottles of half-way expensive olive oil here and there while it was on sale thinking that with the expiration date on them being so seemingly far away I thought I’d have plenty of time to use them. Since then I’ve been more “into” the Primal/Paleo lifestyle and I avoid eating many things that require cooking in oil such as potatoes (french fries) that I used to eat a lot of, and, I use bacon fat more-so than oil for things like sauteed kale, so I now have a case of olive oil I suspect has gone rancid, or soon will.
I’m trying to make the best of it though. So far, I’ve failed to get olive oil to burn in an oil lamp. I did get it to burn while in a glass jar with just a wick held by a thin wire. I plan to twist up a thicker wire to create a more permanent glass jar olive oil burning candle. And, I’m going to keep trying to find some way to get olive oil to burn in an oil lamp,… somehow. And not spend 70 Dollars doing so:)
I wonder, is the tray that holds the tea lights for the HERC able to hold a liquid, or does it have holes in the corners? I have the idea that I could fill the tray with olive oil, toss in some corks with holes in the center with tiny wicks threaded through them, then heat the HERC with them. Or, create some tiny reusable olive oil tea lights of my own.
I have yet to calculate the kilowatt per hour cost of burning olive oil compared to tea lights (or regular candles) I imagine the ratio is 1:10 or something. Or, maybe it’s not that bad? I read somewhere that two ounces of olive oil will burn for eight hours. I thought that was impressive.
One thing I have learned so far, unlike with a regular candle, when I spilled the test jar of olive oil it put the flame out. I’m a risk taker, I tend to do things like run with scissors and leave candles burning unattended, so that’s a good quality in a light (or heat) source.
I wonder how hot that oven gets the kitchen? Does it run pretty cool? It seems like it would be good to use in the Summer time when the air-conditioning is on and I want to cook something in the oven but I Don’t want to heat up the kitchen.
I’m a big fan of slow cooking, using crock pots, that sort of thing, reading how your roast turned out was enticing.
Seems like the HERC would make good jerky, too.
RE: brownies, “where the edges tend to overcook and the center stays mushy” you caught my attention on that one! For the few times I do fall off the Primal/Paleo wagon I want perfect brownies.
Old olive oil makes wonderful home made soap. If you’ve never tried making soap, that seems like a “next logical step”. I have a great book called ” The Complete Soapmaker” by Norma Coney. It has dozens of recipes, step by step instructions and pictures of every step. I use no other soap now. (I also run with scissors :))
No, you can’t put liquid in the tea light holders. I recommend using your olive oil for another use. Tea light candles are quite inexpensive and well worth the investment.
My biggest mistake was buying too many what I thought to be great preparedness items before researching them and finding out exactly their purpose.
I have found that storing your food storage properly is so very important, and rotating is essential, otherwise you waste a lot of your food and the money it takes to buy it.
My biggest mistake was waiting so long to start prepping. Second was buying a cheap cellphone/mp3 solar charger that quit working after a couple of months. It’s usually better to buy items that cost a bit more (not necessarily the most expensive) but are of a better quality. I have made many more mistakes, but try to forget them! 🙂
Letting my husband research and build a solar cooker. Took him a day of internet reading and three trips to the hardware store. After 70 dollars (yes,I said 70!!) it didn’t work. I took an old box, spray painted it, lined it with foil and put an old window on top. Cost, nothing as it was all laying around the house. Works like a dream. Moral of the story…don’t over complicate your prepping!
first one was not getting started sooner i also was using milk bottles for water found out they do not last long one day i got up to water in bathroom bottles were leaking. love your helpful ideas that anyone can try
soda bottles– they are made to hold the carbonated pressure of soda pop. i have 3 cases in my closet that have been there for 2 years
My biggest mistake to date is not starting to prep because I didn’t have the resources to do everything I wanted to do all at once. The articles covering a year long plan for prepping have been very helpful. A little prep is better than no prep…just lay out the priorities and make steady progress.
When first starting out preppin’ I bought a TON of canned goods I didn’t like. I tried to eat them to use them up, but still ended up with a lot of waste. Moral=buy what you like!! :o)
From time to time, everyone makes a mistake.
What has been your biggest prepping mistake or goof?
My biggest mistake so far has been to do nothing at all, making just enough money to barely get by. Now that I’m retired, I’m still having pretty much the same problem.
Back in the 1980’s, when things were Much cheaper and we were all a bit free compared to now, I knew an old retired couple that were ridiculed by many of the towns people for spending their spare time driving around in a 4 cylinder truck collecting aluminum cans and glass bottles for their 5 and 10 Cent return deposits. In due time they collected enough solely from those deposits to pay cash for a brand new 4 cylinder truck.
I only mention that as an inspiration.
Where there’s a Will, there’s often a way.
Huh. So many mistakes to choose from. Probably, the power of proofreading and following your intuition . I once put an entire cup of baking soda in a cookie recipe because thats the way the recipe was mistakenly written. It said to do it, so I did. To say tgey were nasty, is a severe understatement. Surprisingly, they looked good though. There is probably an entire parable I could draw from here. But for now, like I said proofread and follow your gut:) Common sense is a valuable commodity in short supply some days.
The biggest mistake (which I am in the process of remedying) is storing all my food supplies in one place….disaster, vandalism , or robbery could make me lose all my supplies. So, am spreading them out in different places on my property.
I have had to throw out Peanut Butter because I bought too much. I did not know about the powdered long term storage type of peanut butter. You will make mistakes learning. You have to look at it as “insurance” that was not used. It is hard to balance everything you will need.
Don’t throw out old peanut butter! It has several uses such as using for cooking fuel or even as lighting.
I think my biggest peeping mistake is to not complete one task before starting another. I get so excited about the next prep discovery that I move on before thoroughly completing my current prep.
all that peeping must slow down your prepping activity….LOL
Like a lot of people, we stocked up for Y2K, one of which was peanut butter, I always thought that stuff lasted about as long as twinkies ;)…..wrong….we just opened a jar and it was baaaaad! guess we have to rethink peanut butter!