Infrared Halogen Oven

Ok I admit it, I am guilting of sitting at night or Sunday afternoon watching infomercials.  Heck you already know I have a Magic Bullet.  I have watched many and some have definitely caught my eye, but I am very cautious with them, besides whether or not the product can do what it says, there is also the poor customer service, the outrageous shipping fees, and sometimes very poor quality.   Of course now we have other options, since quite a few of these "As Seen on TV" products are at our local stores, so we can avoid the additions, shipping charges, and other hidden fees.  Sometimes though there are other alternatives out there too.

The one that intrigued me for quite a while was the NuWave Oven and Flavorwave Oven.  Their claims of frozen to the dinner table intrigued the heck out of me.  Could it really do it, does it save you time and money?  Would I spend over a hundred dollars to find out?  The answer to all was found in the last question...OH HECK NO!!!!  Over a $100 for a gadget that may or may not live up to it's claims?  Not for me!  But while shopping at my local Menards, I found a small Infrared Halogen Oven from Bellini, that looked very much like the Flavorwave oven, albeit a bit smaller, and it was on sale for $30, now that is a price to test out a new gadget!

First let me say I liked the concept of the Flavorwave oven over the NuWave, because you cooked in a bowl, so clean up seemed like it would be quite a bit easier, and it was a solid glass bowl, not some plastic dome.  So to see a smaller version for that price I had to try it.

Let me tell you first and foremost, I was pleasantly pleased with the results!  Although taking something from frozen to cooked was no faster than cooking it thawed and sometimes it did take a bit longer, the fact you can save time not thawing something out was rather nice.  Decide on chicken when you get home from work, take it out of the freezer, toss some seasoning on it and throw it in there, and in 30-40 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chicken it could be longer)  and you are ready to eat.  I even have tried the little trick of putting my fish/chicken on the lower level and some tator tots on the top to have a full meal.  It worked as well as the oven did.

I only have a few gripes really and at least with this device the directions didn't tell you some of the real tricks to using it. 
Trick 1:  Frozen meats should be relatively uniform in their thickness, a chicken breast is going to have a fairly dry end by the time that thick section is done, but strips, loins, and nuggest come out very well. 
Trick 2:  Preheat the device.  while it doesn't say to, and there is no easy way to do so since it's operation is pretty much solely based on the timer, preheating it some does have an impact on the performance.

Now for the bad news, and remember that mine was smaller than the NuWave and the Flavorwave.  Cleaning it while not bad, is a bit of a hassle, racks to me are always a pain, and the glass bowl that makes up the cooking chamber is still big and heavy, so to wash and dry it, it takes up a good bit of space all on its own.  The other thing too is that mine is smaller, for a family it doesn't really cut it, but I can honestly say I wouldn't want the larger versions like the NuWave or Flavorwave because they would take up some serious countertop space.

My take on it:  Single or couple could make for some nice meals, family size it and you might as well use the oven. 

Bellini Infrared Halogen Oven
Pros:
        Smaller than Flavorwave and Nuwave
        Way cheaper than it's "As Seen on TV" counter parts
        Cooks frozen to Ready without drying out
Cons:
        A lot to clean up
        Heavy bowl
        Hard to store because of it's shape.

Let me know what you think if you've tried any of the items mentioned in this post!