ahaney:

Or you could just eat a cold sandwich instead (lol).

In the dark! LOL

Thanks... added to the file.  

This is one of those things I file under useful information. I think it's a great idea. Could even be helpful in creating a romatic dinner for two. Mostly though, out here in the country we never know when we might lose power. No power, no cooking, at least in the past. I bet you could bake a small pizza in a pan above it, as long as it's covered.

 And the case builds... I don't live in the country, but we do lose electricity here occasionally.

Don't you just love simplicity?  Tea lights are the only candles I keep on hand for emergencies. They seem safer to use than a taper or something similar. When the power goes out I put one in a short bodied wide mouth canning jar and set them around the house for light.  I love ideas like this candle stove.  Anymore ideas out there for roughing it in emergencies?  Edna

Dear Pat,  I LOVE this!!  I have a bag of tealights that's been knocking about the house for some time now.  Got it on clearance years ago and figured they'd be good to have (I only have one or two things that actually require tea lights, and I very rarely use them).  Hence the supply.  This would be GREAT in an emergency.  I do have my gas outdoor grill, which I deliberately looked for a model with a side burner...so I have emergency means to cook if ever utilities are cut by a storm or "event".  I'd have never thought of this kind of use for tealights in a million years -- and YES I do love creative ideas like this :o)  Thank you SO much for taking the time to post it here...I've put the details to memory for a rainy day :o)

 iveaghpde ~ check your Im's/email here at the top of your page....michellecarr  : )

Pat, I think this is a really neat idea, right up my alley. And, by the way, you can get a package of 25 tea lights for a dollar at most dollar stores. I bookmarked the website for further reference.

At home we used to have a teapotbasket. This was a basket with place enough to place the teapot. On the bottom there was a kind of pillow that was a little thinner in the middle and bigger on the outsides. Place the teapot in it. It was covered by a kind of open pillow in a teapotshape. My mom filled it with pillowfilling or, and I can still smell it, with hay. Than the bottomseems were closed. This pillow was put on the teapot and kept warm for a very long time. I  think it ispretty easy to make. It can also be used for keeping food warm or even  slightly cooked rice for a couple of hours under the teahat, as we called it, gives lovely dry rice.

 Part of my break time was spent in experimenting with this tea light stove. I wrote a report on it on my blog here: http://patverettosfrugalliving.blogspot.com  if you're interested.

Pat:

Part of my break time was spent in experimenting with this tea light stove. I wrote a report on it on my blog here: http://patverettosfrugalliving.blogspot.com  if you're interested.

I checked this out and wish I'd seen it before our power went out in August!  I always have candles around, especially tea lights.  This would have let me warm up stuff, even fry an egg or two.  Very useful, very simple idea.  I won't be forgetting it next time.