[Closed] Small microwave = better?

Air fryers are quite good - we've got the hang of proper chips now ! I'd say an average microwave will be fine - do you need all the space. Ours is usually for re-heating meals, starting off jacket spuds if in a rush, and the occasional microwave meal for the teens when we are out.

Ours is big enough for a dinner plate. No need for more.

We've not owned a microwave for about 8 years now. Never missed it.

I'm scowling at Drac.

We’ve not owned a microwave for about 8 years now. Never missed it.

Peak stw hit.

We’ve not owned a microwave for about 8 years now

How the hell do you cook vegetables?

We’ve not owned a microwave for about 8 years now.

That's probably why his iPad always works. Makes you think.

Or make porridge?

How the hell do you cook vegetables?

People cook things in microwaves?

We’ve not owned a microwave for about 8 years now

How the hell do you cook vegetables?

Properly?

How the hell do you cook vegetables?

In a pan.

Or make porridge?

Errrrr! In a pan.

People cook things in microwaves?

If I had a nuke, I'd be using it for making grape rockets, plasma balls, etc. and other experiments

In which case the cheapest possible one, cos it's gonna end up knackered anyway.

How the hell do you cook vegetables?

Or make porridge?

Properly?

that^^

In a pan.

that^^

My gran bought my first microwave (dixons, a hinari microwave) back in 1996 when i bought my first house. 75 of your finest English sterling.

The microwave is still going strong (sadly we lost gran a while back) - just buy something basic and cheap....

I don't cook food in microwaves but it's vastly more convenient for defrosting and warming things up. I don't think there's any point in willy waving about not having one (Drac) it's just a tool, does a job, it doesn't mean I'm any worse of a cook.

I know you were only trolling, but it's annoying all the same.

I don’t think there’s any point in willy waving about not having one (Drac) it’s just a tool, does a job, it doesn’t mean I’m any worse of a cook.

FFS! No I'm not willy wavy or trolling. Just pointing out that they're not a necessary tool. There's not one thing I've missed about not having one.

I don’t believe there is anything a microwave makes better than any else. We have one. I don’t use it.

I cooked a haggis and some frozen petit pois in a microwave earlier, separately of course. No way I was waiting 75 minutes for it to heat up in a pan!

Potatoes, carrots and broccoli were cooked in a pan/steamer though.

I know, cool story.....

Just pointing out that they’re not a necessary tool.

Mmm hmm...

I don’t believe there is anything a microwave makes better than any else.

It's better for warming and defrosting food. I've lived with and without them many times, I now have one, it's useful for leftovers. Much easier than the alternative methods.

There is one thing it cooks better than anything though - if you make a sponge pudding and microwave it, it comes out just like it's been steamed but it only takes a few minutes instead of 2 hours with regular tending. Also I've heard you can do good meringues quickly and easily in it, but I've not tried that.

I know, cool story…..

Sounds like it needs cooked for longer then...irrespective of it being done in a microwave or cooker.

And super quick and washing up friendly scrambled eggs.

Oh yeah - we chop up new potatoes into 2cm chunks, add a bit of butter and microwave for 10 mins or so. Extremely nice - they taste baked but stay diced. Quicker than boiling and taste better, easier to serve and eat than normal baked spuds. If you try and bake them whilst cubed in the oven, they dry out more.

Never had a microwave.

Never stressed over defrosting, reheating leftovers or cooking vegetables.

My iPad works as well as Dracs.

We had a big super duper sharp microwave that broke in about a year. Replaced with a smaller basic Samsung combi oven thing. It's brilliant, we even use the oven as its small and efficient for 1 pizza or whatever.

I've got a standard size microwave that takes a standard large dinner plate (is that what you mean by smaller?) and it does everything I need (porridge for several people, reheating, steaming veg etc). Never had a requirement for anything larger.

Never stressed over defrosting, reheating leftovers

I've never stressed about it either. It's quicker in a microwave though.

How the hell do you cook vegetables?

Or make porridge?

Properly?

that^^

In a pan.

that^^

Points I was going to make.
However, a microwave is great for nuking frozen curries and Chinese from Iceland or wherever, along with a packet of instant rice, great for a quick meal.
Not something my g/f wholeheartedly approves of, she’s a very good cook, and really believes in properly cooked green vegetables with a meal.
And she’s got good reason - last year, I had my regular eye test that I get with my contact lens subscription at Specsavers, and they picked up a problem. I’d noticed a fuzzy patch in the centre of my vision, which the test confirmed so I was sent for a proper check at Bath RUH. I was diagnosed with the first indication of macular degeneration, and the optometrist said the best way to deal with it is to eat green vegetables, there’s a chemical that helps with the issue. My g/f was only too happy to go along with this, and with very good reason, as the blurred area has gone, there’s a very small circular area that shows occasionally against plain backgrounds like a cloudless sky, but I’m barely conscious of it most of the time.
Pretty sure a microwave can’t cook vegetables as well as doing them in a pan on a hob, but that doesn’t happen in our house anyway.

Pretty sure a microwave can’t cook vegetables as well as doing them in a pan on a hob

From a nutrition point of view microwaving veg is better than steaming which is significantly better than boiling according to the fda, but what do Americans know about veg I guess.

Anyhow on topic to the Op, if you're buying from somewhere with a display, take a plate from home and try it. There's no point getting one so small you can't get your crockery in it. I use a small mixing bowl a lot so it's check the height too, not I think I'm likely in the minority here in only using a microwave to cook stuff but reheat at home (the office one is almost exclusively for reheating and microwave "meals")

I would just figure out what you've put in it in the last couple of years and whether that would fit in a smaller one or not. My microwave's fairly big but it's a combi oven thing as well (handy as my main over isn't split so takes a while to heat up which is a waste for just doing a pizza or something). Most of my meals are microwaved ready meals (no I'm not the picture of health) so it gets used most days...

Pretty sure a microwave can’t cook vegetables as well as doing them in a pan on a hob

What does a pan and hob do better?
I'll steam veg if I'm boiling a pan of water for something else, other times I'll just use the microwave. Both methods seem to work fine.

If I had a nuke, I’d be using it for making grape rockets, plasma balls, etc. and other experiments

That sounds like the start of my list of interesting experiments I wish I had never shown our ten year old

Before opening it I figured this thread would be full of people telling us how awesome they are for not having or doing something. I wasn't disappointed.

Mine gets used daily. Do you lot never eat soup that isn't hand-made from scratch with organic vegetables hand-picked by Filipino virgins? Standing in a freezing kitchen stirring a pan so it doesn't catch, having to wash the thing up afterwards, life's too short for that shizzle. And aside from anything else it's handy to have Something Else to cook with when you've got a big meal on the go and multiple hobs / oven tied up.

if you make a sponge pudding and microwave it, it comes out just like it’s been steamed but it only takes a few minutes instead of 2 hours with regular tending.

See also, jacket spuds. Ten mins being irradiated then stick 'em in the oven, takes like an hour off the baking time.

I reheat food in a microwave that I have hand made myself, although not with virgins.

Standing in a freezing kitchen stirring a pan so it doesn’t catch, having to wash the thing up afterwards, life’s too short for that shizzle.

Pffft that's what I've got Filipino virgins for, I mean what else do you think they do when they're finished attending to my organic tubers?

In a pan.

Presumably as it is STW - a pan on your woodfired Aga.

I think ours is used most to warm plates, because the people I live with (my family) seem to think it is acceptable to place hot food on cold plates - so every time I have a last minute rush to warm plates before "service". If I was full-STW I would of course have a warming drawer for the purpose.

Don't really understand the anti-microwave sentiment. Where are the people boasting they don't have a hob and cook everything over an open fire which is just as good?

Anyways, we've got a small Whirlpool one that is curved to fit in a corner and looks a bit like a small cream-coloured retro telly:

https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/max35crg/whirlpool-max35crg-home-and-kitchen

It's pretty good. Take a normal dinner plate, but not much more. Big enough for what we need. Only hassle is doing bags of microwave popcorn, which need the corners folded over to fit properly.

It’s better for warming and defrosting food.

I got rid of my microwave because it took up too much room to justify keeping it for heating up a cup of coffee I'd let get cold. I don't have a freezer either, so no defrosting. Like the one mentioned above it had been bought in the early 90s and was still going strong. A bit galling to throw away, but nobody trusts old electricals.

We have a fairly big 1000W model (26L?+), also combi oven/grill, which was great when our kitchen was out of action during building works (why we bought it TBH).

However our in-laws smaller 800W panasonic is much more efficient.

the people I live with (my family) seem to think it is acceptable to place hot food on cold plates

😆

Things I’ve learnt.

Too many people like ready meals, defrosting needs a microwave and warming soup is a chore.

Things I've learnt: it matters intensely how you defrost, warm or cook food. Any attempt to make it more convenient, quicker or less messy will not be as good, because reasons.

I think ours is used most to warm plates,

That isn't a great use for a microwave!
https://microwaveexpert.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/heating-plates-in-the-microwave/

There are things you can buy to make it a bit more efficient and less damaging for your microwave but can't say I've tried them, a few seconds under the grill should be much more efficient and effective though only 1 at a time. (Or just stack clean plates on your wood burner)

We eat a lot of green and other veg - we rarely cook them on the gas hob - in the steamer with a splash of hot water from the kettle = veg perfectly done .
Does anybody eat green beans? - All types french/runner etc complete pain in the pan 6 mins in the
microwave/steamer - perfect .
The only veg I regularly put on the stove are potato or stir fry , even some of those get a zap in the steamer/micro to even up cooking times/soften.

That isn’t a great use for a microwave!

Well yes, if you have no idea how a microwave works. If you do then you put water on the plates or stack them on top of a bowl of water.

That isn’t a great use for a microwave!
Heating plates in the microwave

There are things you can buy to make it a bit more efficient and less damaging for your microwave but can’t say I’ve tried them, a few seconds under the grill should be much more efficient and effective though only 1 at a time. (Or just stack clean plates on your wood burner)

There are certainly plates which don't warm particularly efficiently and therefore you are effectively running the m/w empty. That is a bad idea. If you put those plates in wet, you heat that water and it will transfer to the plates (and then evaporate!). But, it depends on the plates though. IME Ikea Plates warm very efficiently in the m/w - i.e. they are absorbing heat evenly (probably makes them less useful for cooking in/on). I can have 4 plates warm in less time than it takes my grill to warm up! And I'm sure if you try hard enough you'll crack plates under the grill.

No woodburner here - but my m/w is a nice combi thing which if you think 20 minutes ahead will warm them to 70 deg in its oven mode.

WARM PLATES! ha ha ha ha

Like people do that...

Oh wait, oh you do.

If you do then you put water on the plates

You cant do that, you'll end up with wet plates which is worse than cold ones, or watermarks on the plates which is a sure fire indicator you're staff aren't doing their job properly. That or you'll have to polish them again after you've heated them, and everyone hates polishing the crockery and cutlery once, let alone doing some of it twice.

Oh wait, oh you do.

For some foods yeah. Pasta in a creamy sauce, for example, is much tastier if the sauce stays warm.

I find a grill that lights instantly heats plates in a few minutes. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Am I the only one that runs plates under the hot tap to warm them? Depends how hot you want them I suppose.

Anyway microwaves are useful, I missed not having one.

Yes, we have established that it is possible to do things without a microwave Drac. If your grill is big enough to fit six plates under it then crack on. But it is easier and quicker in a microwave.

What have you actually got against microwaves, apart from strangely misplaced snobbery?

We have an electric blanket like device that warms 8 dinner plates at a time.

You cant do that, you’ll end up with wet plates which is worse than cold ones,

With the right quantity of water, 2min in the microwave, and then 30s on the worktop and they heat means they self dry. Otherwise you added too much water. Or buy Ikea plates and you don't seem to need water!

or watermarks on the plates which is a sure fire indicator you’re staff aren’t doing their job properly. That or you’ll have to polish them again after you’ve heated them, and everyone hates polishing the crockery and cutlery once, let alone doing some of it twice.

I've never noticed a watermark on a plate

I find a grill that lights instantly heats plates in a few minutes. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I can heat 6 plates in 2 minutes. Thats definitely quicker than arranging for a GasSafe fitter to come and fit a gas grill.

What have you actually got against microwaves, apart from strangely misplaced snobbery?

Absolutely nothing or any snobbery. Surely to disappoint.

sorry even. 😂

strangely misplaced snobbery

you have to find something to be snobbish about when you live in the north east.

oh wait.

OH WAIT. 🤦‍♂️

Wow.

*adds people who warm plates to the environmental hit list.

Didn’t even know that was a thing.

*climbs back into SUV.

I cook poached eggs in the microwave....but, then again, I am a monster.

You have to love threads that get derailed by the 'big hitters'.. So Drac, you totally ignored my OP where I said "we use it too regularly to get rid of it"*, what exactly where you adding to the thread, other than a TJ copyrighted humble brag maybe?

*to defrost stuff and reheat meals, no microwave meals. I've never even considered heating plates in it, I use the hot water tap for that, if we forget to pop them in the oven.

Sound like going smaller internally has no downside, and GrahamS's corner microwave is the one I've been eyeing up, to make space for the air fryer!
Cheers all, even Drac