Microwaves..what are they good for?

[0iD]

Does anyone actually cook anything in them? Or, like me are they simply used for reheating and defrosting?

Can you actually cook anything properly in them without it being some sort of soggy volcanically hot mush...

[Dooms]

Hmmmm like you said I mainly use them to reheat but there are a couple things I normally cook in microwave...

Porridge, Rice (the unclebens quick rice packs), Jacket Potatoes normally start them in Microwave before transferring to oven to speed up the process.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Microwaving.

[dhw00t]

Bacon cooks fine in a microwave.

Scrambled eggs are good as well.

[Ttaskmaster]

I use mine as something on which to store other things.
The Mrs uses it (she bought the damn thing) sometimes but despite being a very lazy **** myself, I don't actually cook, reheat or defrost a single thing in it... ever.

Baked potato - The clue is in the name.
Quick meal - Stir fry, which means a pan on the hob.
Ready meal - 10 minutes in the oven, vastly better than nuking it.

[aidanjt]

They're good for communications and heating up water molecules embedded in foodstuffs. Microwave ovens are really good at heating some foods, terrible at others.

[virtuo]

I get perfect scrambled eggs every time in the microwave, less mess than in a pan as well. As mentioned, great for starting baked potatoes before crisping up in the oven. Only other thing I use it for, other than reheating leftovers, is for my morning instant-porridge.

Also good for grapes and CDs, with the correct safety precautions and life/house insurance policies.

[herulach]

as others, scrambled eggs, porridge, beans (maybe reheating?) rice (from raw). Pretty much everything else is as easy in the oven.

[machapman]

Microwave meals?

[g8ina]

Also good for grapes and CDs =]

With my Mods hat on, I must state that you do these items entirely at your own risk, and HEXUS cannot condone such actions

Being disabled, my microwave is a must. I bulk cook when I can then freeze individual portions, chili, curry, stew etc. I also buy ready meals, which are actually improving rapidly, esp things like lamb shanks in red wine and mint sauce, 2 shanks for a fiver, done in 18 minutes, just long enough to boil and mash spuds to go with, saves HOURS of cooking time.

I prefer pan made scrambled eggs though, plus pan made porridge.

[virtuo]

With my Mods hat on, I must state that you do these items entirely at your own risk, and HEXUS cannot condone such actions

Being disabled, my microwave is a must. I bulk cook when I can then freeze individual portions, chili, curry, stew etc. I also buy ready meals, which are actually improving rapidly, esp things like lamb shanks in red wine and mint sauce, 2 shanks for a fiver, done in 18 minutes, just long enough to boil and mash spuds to go with, saves HOURS of cooking time.

I prefer pan made scrambled eggs though, plus pan made porridge.

Yes I'd seriously recommend just watching other idiots doing it on youtube, post updated.

On the subject of things you shouldn't put in the microwave, an interesting thing I noticed a few months back I accidentally left the spoon in my insta-porridge prior to nuking, was in for a good 2 minutes on full power and not even a spark.

[jim]

Hot chocolate.

I count that as cooking.

[malfunction]

I mostly use mine for reheating bulk cooked meals - I also tend to cook big pots of chilli, spag bol, curry and the like, and then freeze them as individual portions. All of which tend to reheat just fine - in general stuff with a decent amount of sauce / a fairly even consistency works well, though I'd say it helps to actually tune your cooking time - you can turn pretty much anything into volcanic mush if you nuke it for too long - and to give it some resting time too rather than hoofing it out on your plate and burning your tongue off straight away.

[Saracen]

Mainly, what malfunction said. I use it for heating/reheating, such as baked beans. But primarily, defrosting, and/or reheating pre-cooked bulk meals.

However, my microwave is a combination machine, and we use it as an oven a LOT. I'd say about 95% of our oven usage is the m/wave (as a fan-assisted convection oven ), 'cos it's faster and a lot more economical than running either of the main ovens.

[Macadee]

absolutely nothing, sing it again - huh

[Phage]

Forms the basis for my home-build maser.
I've never liked pigeons....