Hot Logic Mini

The Hot Logic Mini is a small, portable, electric food heating device. I have had mine for about three months or so. I did not buy it with the pyrex baking dish, I sourced that locally from the grocery store.

The case appears to be nylon with an insulating layer. There is a fabric handle on top and inside is what looks like woven aluminized polyproplyene or mylar. The hot pad itself is slightly smaller than the case and has a power cord with a decent length. I did not measure it, but it's about four feet long. There is a slit in the middle of the rear of the case to feed the cord through. Generally though, the plate just stays in the case.

Here is the data plate on the bottom. 45W isn't much and that makes it critical to have as much contact area as possible. I have seen cooking temperatures in chicken breasts reach 160F. I also experimented with food service grade plastic trays, food cooked faster in them and tended to dry out easily. It is imperative that containers have tight fitting lids.

There is a tunnel on the back of the case where the cord can be rolled up and stored.

This is what the six cup pyrex dish looks like in the Hot Logic Mini. It is a good fit and zips up fine. I have also used a three cup dish with a little foil in the bottom to reheat frozen burritos and a four cup round to make oatmeal. Typically I give it two hours to work for most of the cooking I've done with it so far. Brown rice is the only failure I've had, so I precook that prior to using it in the Hot Logic Mini. 

For the most part I use the Hot Logic Mini to help keep myself to a diet and reduce my instant gratification cycle. Instead of heating something up in the microwave, I put something together in one of the pyrex dishes I have and try to forget about it for a couple hours. I have also used it to hold hot food while I cook other parts of a meal, like the bacon so I can make dirty eggs or a stack of pancakes so everyone gets to eat together.

Depending on what you want to cook, this can almost replace a crockpot. While brown rice and beans can be done in a crockpot, the Hot Logic Mini doesn't have the horsepower to be successful with them. That said, if you keep in mind the limitations of the lower temperature there is still a lot that can be done. If you work a job where you don't have a set lunch break or that break is easily interrupted, this is an excellent tool to free you from that time constraint. As I mentioned before, about two hours seems to be about when frozen vegetables become al dente (except carrots unless sliced thin) so whether you're cooking or reheating seems like a good timeframe. If your meal is interupted, just close it up, leave it plugged in, and when you come back to it it'll still be hot. Remember to use good food safety practices. I have also had good luck with a variety of frozen microwavable meals, just leave them sealed up or transfer them to something with a tight lid.

Size-wise, as can be seen in the pictures, the Hot Logic Mini is about the size of a child's lunchbox, or a large bento. Even with the six cup pyrex there is just barely room for an icepack, two if you take out the heating plate. So you could use it for a cooler if necessary.