I don't use my microwave for 'cooking' as such but more for heating and reheating or maybe defrosting. I would hate to be without it though.

Could you manage without a microwave ? (maybe you do)

No. I use it a great deal, but not really for just heating up pre-cooked food. Mine is a micro with a grill and I use them both a lot, sometimes both in the same dish.

These are some things I use it for :

Defrosting chicken, fish and other food ready for cooking.
Softening butter, spreads, honey and ice cream.
Heating up gravy, sauces, custard.
Finishing off partly-cooked ciabatta, garlic bread and rolls.
Heating up fast-food or take-away food that's gone cold.
Grilling pies, pizzas and flans.
My OH uses it to 'warm up' icy drinks from the fridge when they're too cold.
Cooking jacket potatoes.
Making pizzas from a base and adding my own toppings.
Heating up beans, soup, tinned vegetables.
Defrosting bread and rolls.
Making scrambled eggs.
Heating up tea and coffee that's gone a bit cold, instead of throwing it away.
Cooking chicken and tuna fish.
Melting chocolate.

Many other things.

I don't even have a conventional oven. When we moved into our flat, it had a tiny kitchen and we were going to wait to get an oven. In the meantime our friend gave us an electric baby Belling type double electric ring, and what with that and the micro, we managed so well that we decided we don't need an oven. I do Christmas dinner, with the whole lot of trimmings, and all our meals, on the set-up I have.

Having just spent almost a month without a cooker (don't ask!!) I would have to say no I couldn't live without my microwave....

Normally I hate to use it - would even re-heat stuff and cook beans etc on the hob but of late I've learnt to embrace the magic of microwaving!!!

My one top microwave food has to be Uncle Bens microwave rice..... 2 mins and hey presto. I don't have rice often but I'd never go back.

I went from ordinary rice to boil in the bag rice but now I have found the 2 minute microwavable rice its made me really lazy...its brilliant though !!

I've only recently been able to afford a microwave () and now I wonder how I ever coped without one. No more ridiculous 12-hour waits for things to defrost and plenty of microwavable food at my convenience. Bliss

I couldn't live without mine now.

What I tend to do is at the weekend I will have a big cooking session, this weekend for example I made a lasagna, lamb casserole, goulash and chicken pie. Then I divide them all up into portions and freeze them. Then I always have something relatively quick to cook when I get home from work (and it's cheaper cooking in bulk than individual portions).

So just for defrosting and reheating I couldn't live without mine now. But I rarely use it for cooking food as it's not as nice as oven/hob cooking in my opinion. I'd rather wait for a baked potato from the oven than have one from the microwave.

Sorry cant resist..... why ?

Don't worry its nothing exciting

Moved into a new place with absolutely no appliances and it took me a while to get round to a) ordering a cooker and b) getting someone to fit it....

I also spent about the same amount of time without a washing machine and 2 weeks without a fridge

I am, thankfully, now a fully functioning household

Mine is an oven as well as a grill and microwave, so very useful when entertaining if I need a third oven. Also good for heating up left-overs and defrosting things if I am in a hurry.

hardly use mine at all... only use it defrost stuff, but even then i could just take things out of the freezer with enough time that i dont need it. i could happily live without one.

Don't have one and quite frankly would not have one as a gift.

If you do get one as a gift, can I have it then?

I'd wrap it myself.

I was left without a microwave for a couple of weeks when my 18 year old one went bang a while ago.

It was inconvenient but not really a big problem. Just had a lot more pans to wash.

The one I have now has a built in fan oven, I use that to cook small items - e.g. ribs, baked potato or a quiche.

I often forget to drink my coffee whilst it is hot, so it's better to reheat it than make another cup.

It's just another tool to be used when appropriate.

If you get another one I'll have it.

I do most of my veg in the microwave - peas, broccoli, etc. The flavour seems stronger to me. Potatoes too. Scrambled eggs.

Will part cook some dishes in there too. For defrosting and butter and quick snacks it's great.

How can you scramble eggs in a microwave?

I love my eggs runny with very few lumps, they take 20 minutes to cook. Are they not like a sponge out of microwave?

i dont have one.

It would be be rubbery and spongy if all you did was left them in for 5 minutes . It takes about 2-3 minutes but you have to keep taking them out every 30 seconds or so and stirring them . Might be a bit lumpy for your tastes though, as the eggs cook at the edges of the bowl very quickly. Try it - you might be surprised , only use a pyrex bowl which can stand a good scouring though.

Vegetables retain more vitamins if microwaved, so maybe they keep more flavour as well. I usually cook raw veg on the hob,either in water or steamed, but maybe I'll experiment with the microwave.

I cook big quantities of soup/stew in my pressure cooker, then freeze in individual portions. It's great to just empty a portion into a bowl and 'wave it for 5 minutes.

I prefer scrambled eggs done in the microwave to on the hob actually. I do them like John Carter has detailed above.

I too often rely on my micro - for instance, there was a power cut the other evening, and the first thing I thought of was 'what am I going to do for tea?!'.

But in many ways, microwaves just do things quicker, whereas waiting to cook thing on a hob can be a nuisance.

My gran always says about radiation from microwaves, and always tells me to never look into one of stand near one when it's on!

mm - I'm not sure they would be undercooked enough for me, but thanks.

There is a micro wave at work I might have a play - There is still something I don't quite trust about them though.

About the only thing I cook in our microwave is peas/sweetcorn. Most other veg I do in a pan and we only have ready meals occasionally. If it blew up tomorrow I could easily go without a new one, but other members of the house certainly couldn't!

I have lived without a Microwave and didn't really miss it, but it is very useful when needing to warm meals through, as hubby likes his meals piping hot, which isn't always posible when dishing out for the family.

Yes i would miss it - although i rarely use it.

All i do in it are peas, and i defrost my mince in there once a week .... cos im lazy and always forget to get it out the freezer in the morning !

So - although i dont use it much, i DO use it. I would find it such a waste of time to have to boil some water just to cook a portion of peas !