Sure I’m nuked a sweet roll. Takes only a few seconds because of the sugar in the product. Be really careful or you’ll just have a gloppy mess.
I use my microwave to melt chocolate or butter. I’ve also used it to make Rice Krispie treats.
I don’t cook meals in it generally speaking…but I do have a delicious microwave meatloaf recipe that cooks in all of 20 minutes.
Thanks for all the tips on tortillas. I’ll give it a try! And thanks for the tip to cut about 20 minutes from making the perfect baked potato. We make what we think are perfect ones now but they take an hour.
I grew up in a house with no microwave (and no air conditioning, no cable TV, no dishwasher, either). My parents still live there, and their oven hasn’t worked for the last 5 years or so. They mostly eat what can be made on a stovetop or crockpot or salads or sandwiches. They don’t cook so much as to have leftovers. My mom is the only coffee drinker and she only makes what she will drink in a sitting.
I also have keto/low carb mug cake recipes meant for microwave. They use an egg, coconut flour, etc and are meant to be just for one. Hard to do in an oven, though I guess I could just increase the quantity.
FYI : https://www.fda.gov/radiation-emittingproducts/resourcesforyouradiationemittingproducts/ucm252762.htm
Some precautions for people using microwave frequently.
I don’t use my microwave a lot but when it was broken I missed it. I reheat some leftovers, melt butter, dog sitter likes microwave meals and prebake potatoes and sweet potatoes. I like to finish the potatoes in the oven. Faster cooking time but you still get the softness inside and crunchy outside. I also hard boil eggs in the microwave CC recommended egg cooker. I also made oatmeal when I was eating more of it. H loves popcorn but we don’t like the chemicals in microwave popcorn so H uses and old fashioned oil popcorn popper.
I reheat enchiladas in the microwave and can see maybe steaming corn tortillas but I can’t imagine a quesadilla made in the microwave with a flour tortilla. I like my outside crisp. And to warm a flour tortilla I use the gas burner on my cooktop. I can’t imagine living in a house without a gas cooktop. My H believes anything can go inside a flour tortilla.
I use mine almost every day to defrost, or partially defrost, what we’re having for dinner that night. (My freezer is chock full 'cause I buy in bulk at Costco.)
I also use it to soften butter I need for baking, or to melt butter.
And to reheat my second cup of coffee, and to heat up leftovers. Or even Chinese food if, by the time we’ve gotten it home, it’s no longer steaming hot.
Also, for a quick snack, I’ll put some crackers on a plate, some grated cheese on top, and zap it for 30 seconds.
What a crowd! It’s not bizarro to not need a microwave. Most of us besides the youngest grew up without them. I have one and use it, but I don’t consider it necessary for existence.
My D and SIL don’t have one, or a dishwasher (very small apartment, and they are anti-consumption.) Somehow, they soldier through.
Nothing against them, like I said, I have one. But the notion that it’s weird not to have one is, well, weird.
We use our $10 Black Friday 10 years old microwave all the time. I don’t like hard, cold butter on my toast. I like to soften my butter while bread is toasting.
I grew up with the Mom That Saves Every Tablespoon for Leftovers…put those Corningwares in the oven and reheat until dry and disgusting…blech. I appreciate that a microwave doesn’t dry out food like an oven and I also appreciate the fewer pan/dishes theory.
Oops, garland, hand washing takes more water than the dishwasher. Unless they go through some routine about soaking and only a minimal rinse, I guess. Or rinshing them all in one sink of clear water.
Sweet rolls are the exception that proves the rule. But yes, you have to be careful not to overdo it.
When we moved to Canada we rented a home that didn’t have a microwave in the kitchen. I mentioned something to the owner of the home about buying a small one for the counter. Her response was something like “microwaves don’t fit into my lifestyle” She was so serious, and I’m proud I didn’t laugh. It’s become a family joke now–random things “don’t fit into my lifestyle”.
“When we moved to Canada we rented a home that didn’t have a microwave in the kitchen. I mentioned something to the owner of the home about buying a small one for the counter. Her response was something like “microwaves don’t fit into my lifestyle” She was so serious, and I’m proud I didn’t laugh. It’s become a family joke now–random things “don’t fit into my lifestyle”.”
Part of how my sister worked to put herself through college was as a nanny for a wealthy family that had triplets. My sister was living in a dumpy, tiny shared apartment in the bad part of town, barely scraping by and counting every penny. One day the mother of the triplets was talking about how much easier doing laundry was since she had a second set of washer and dryer installed in her huge house. The mother was truly puzzled why “everybody didn’t have two sets of washer/dryers.” She shrugged and concluded “they must want to suffer.”
That became our new family joke for a while.
- Oh, you don't have a huge, new SUV? You must want to suffer.
- Oh, your kids have to share a room in your tiny house? You must want to suffer.
- You don't have a microwave? You must want to suffer.
"random things “don’t fit into my lifestyle”…
Added to my list under “not my monkeys, not my circus”…
Oops, @Lookingforward --also the electricity and the actual manufacturing–plastic, electronics, water usage in the factory etc etc. The old “uses more water” canard is, well, old. I never said anything about water consumption. Actually in our area with continually renewed reservoirs, that’s not an issue.
As I eat mostly rice and tortillas for carbs, and live on soups and stews in the winter, the microwave makes it easy to re heat meals. Get home from work, heat something up and that is dinner. However, I beg to differ on single tortillas, as a quick toss on the open flame of a gas stove or in a dry pan heats them fine with less tendency towards turning to cardboard. For my recent big party, I found a microwave tortilla heater and keeper. Insert a full package, zap for a minute and they stay warm for a good long while.
“Not my lifestyle” Years ago someone like minded mentioned that her lifestyle took more time. My personal excuse as well. Grow my own food, cook from scratch, etc. You must want to suffer? Maybe you don’t understand entitled?
Microwaving baked goods like pie, sweet rolls and bread is of the devil. Why would you want a disgusting gummy mess, when you could put the food in the toaster oven and get a roll or a piece of pie that has still has texture? The baker carefully bakes their pie so it doesn’t have the dreaded “soggy bottom” and then you introduce a soggy bottom? Why?
Of course, if the piece of pie or the sweet roll was already soggy and limp, then maybe the microwave wouldn’t make it worse. I prefer to avoid such food in the first place.
So agree with CF. We don’t eat tortillas, popcorn, or rolls, and our bread goes in the toaster or oven. It is so much tastier this way!
I am not one of those folks who think that the MW is an evil appliance. It is an appliance with a limited use, and I do use it a couple of times a week just because it came with the house. If we did not have it, no big loss.
I never reheat coffee because it ruins it, but I certainly use the microwave for reheating many other things. It’s especially good for small portions, and does a wonderful job cooking just a few pieces of bacon (I like it chewy, not crisp.) For larger portions and for reheating soupy foods, I find that the stove does a better and faster job.
Even food snob magazines, such as Milk Street or America’s Test Kitchen, have recipes calling for some microwave use. One delicious potato dish calls for nuking fingerling potatoes until they’re almost done, then wrapping them in foil with garlic, thyme, salt and oil and grilling them.I don’t love potatoes, but I sure as heck love this dish!