I need the microwave to cook my porridge every morning ! It's great for so many things - e.g. quick jcket potatoes, heating beans/soup etc, softening ice cream, cooking scrambled eggs! The list goes on!

Oh and I do all my veg in the microwave. It's the healthiest and tastiest way to cook them !

We have a Hitachi microwave oven from the 1980s, but it sees so little use these days.

Haven`t got one, don`t want one and wouldn`t have one in the house!

Don't have one, don't want one and don't have room in the kitchen anyway

I'm a bit suspicious of them to be honest

I didnt know there was 'microwave only' food! What type of things?



Oh me too! Well maybe not 'infuriated', but close to it!



Yes, so am I! Which is why although I do have one I very rarely use it. When I do it's usually to defrost something or make myself a quick hot chocolate. Oh - and to part-cook jacket potatoes before finishing them off in the proper oven!

We don't. We did but got rid of it years ago now when I was still ye big *makes hand motion showing height*.

those bacon burger and cheeseburger packs on the fridge shelves in the supermarket

micro-chips

(I've tried heating those up in the oven, don't come out well)

lol, why did you buy micro-chips if you dont have a microwave

there was a BOGOF offer on them at the time I thought i could get away with it

I do too. Easiest way to steam veg IMO

how do you "steam" veg in a microwave? Surely you are microwaving the veg...??

I disagree that it's the "healthiest" way to cook vegetables. But if you enjoy it then good for you. That is all that matters.

You aren't. It isn't steaming in the same sense. The moisture/water doesn't go into the food as it has moisture in it already which is what the microwave needs. It mimicks steaming I suppose.

I rarely use mine, only for defrosting stuff and reheating meals I've made myself and frozen.

I don't have and never will have a microwave.

We have an Aga - the very antithesis of a microwave

Aga, splendid.

I have an old friend in Canada... old because I've known him for a long time and old because he describes himself as old. lol ANYWAY... he said to be a little while ago that his daughter "buys those little plastic bags with green beans that you have to cook in the microwave for a few seconds... " ... then he paused and said, "and the sad thing is she thinks that's cooking."

Made me smile.

So do you throw out all left over food?

No. We used to manage leftovers before microwaves so I'm genuinely confused. Have I misinterpreted your point? Sorry if I have.

I don't have a microwave. I don't need one. I can tolerate frozen pizza as far as a ready meal is concerned and I cook everything from scratch. I hate defrosting stuff in microwaves because it cooks it a bit. I guess it's good for melting butter, but my mom showed me how to do that in a double boiler. I do like microwave popcorn.

I remember when they cost £2,000. My local Conservative club had one to heat pies and stuff in the late 60s.

I don't like this food snobbery. A microwave oven is a very good tool in the kitchen. It's purpose isn't only to heat up frozen junk from the supermarket.

Incredibly useful. Not sure how I'd get on without it.

My microwave is also a conventional cooker, so I can even bake in the thing without waiting 15 minutes for my gas cooker to get warmed up.

Heston Blumenthal uses such modern things as microwave ovens and pressure cookers!

Get real, people. We are in the twentyfirst century.

I don't think it's anything to do with food snobbery. I think it's just choice. We'venever had one because we've never had the need for one. Not sure what to make of people that can't manage to cook/eat without one.

On a side note. And I fully appreciate that this is a rare and unique story. But it's interesting all the same.

My friend about a year ago used to get really bad headaches throughout the day. She started dropping things, lose co-ordination. Very very strange. Her GP had no idea, sent her to the neurologist, all the tests, second opinions, nothing. Even checked for a tumor, she appeared fine. One neurologist in London referred her to yet another chap who specialised in odd things (!) and he had been conducting some sort of study on the effect that microwaves have on food and how this can react with a small percent of the population. His first and immediate diagnoses was get rid of her microwave. We all thought... Sure enough and weirdly all her problems stopped. Although this obviously gave her additional issues like eating out etc. She has been fine since EXCEPT on one occasion a couple of months ago when she got the same headaches back after staying in a hotel in London for work. She told them she could not have microwaved food and they were fine with it. Her meal was not microwaved. She went back and saw this Doc. (he was keeping a check on her anyway as part of his study) and he said go back to the hotel and question the manager or whoever is in charge of the kitchen because as far as he was concerned there was no doubt she ate food from a microwave. This she did and the hotel manager discovered that her starter was soup and "all" their soup is heated is microwaves. Lots of apologies... blah blah blah... but she is now fine. So...

I'm sorry but is that supposed to be impressive? That's where the saying of .. "if he'd jump of a bridge would you do it?" came from. And you said you didn't like snobbery! lol

If you are careful when cooking there doesn't need to be much leftover, and what's wrong with re-heating using conventional methods?


I think if people what to use them, fine, they have their uses. However I do think that they are an excuse for not cooking proper food and would hate to be someone who couldn't manage without. I'm not a great cook at all but would prefer to try to cook meals using fresh ingredients, personal choice like you say



I have heard a couple of stories like that. OK, they are rare but illustrate why I am suspicious of microwaves

I couldn't survive without a microwave now. I do 95% of all my food in it. The only time I use the cooker is for things like oven chips, roasties, or to crisp off a jacket potato which has already been microed! The last time I used one of the burners on the top was to hard boil an egg, but since then, have done two more in the microwave anyway. It's so much quicker, I can't be bothered waiting around for stuff to cook in the oven, when I'm hungry, I want it NOW!

Good post Norm.

To everybody in this thread, whether you use a microwave or not, Merry Christmas!