Well, I have been known to set my mug down to attend to some new-puppy crisis or another and come back to stone-cold coffee or tea. That is the only thing I use the microwave for. In fact, when my old one finally broke down, I couldn’t bring myself to spend $50 on an appliance I rarely use, so I reassigned one of the abandoned, unused microwaves at work and absconded with it (after due diligence of asking everyone in the office who brought it in and who could I pay to take it home? Nobody seemed to know and no one claimed it, so I adopted it and took it home).
I have an electric kettle that heats up my water to the perfect tea temp in about the same amount of time as the microwave, so I use that to make coffee (French press) and tea. I also have an old-fashioned heat-on-the-burner kettle for when the power goes out. Several, in fact.
To my husband’s horror, I’m idly thinking about getting rid of our microwave and replacing it with a toaster oven. We just replaced our stove with an all-gas, sexy Italian number, and I read recommendations that if you didn’t want to pay the premium for a dual-fuel stove or couldn’t get used to the gas stove, then just add an inexpensive toaster oven to your kitchen.
I told El Hubbo about this idea (which I think isn’t a bad one). He was all, “But how are we going to reheat our leftovers?” Like we can’t do it in the stove (or toaster oven). Sure, it might take a bit longer, but I think the quality of the reheating would be better. And he works from home anyway! He can take as long as he likes to heat up lunch!
And seriously, reheating leftovers and melting butter are seriously the only things I use the microwave for. I roast my potatoes in the oven, and I don’t really drink hot drinks. (I prefer to let them cool a bit anyway; lukewarm coffee doesn’t bother me.) And for tea or such, we’ve got the electric kettle, like civilized people.
Back in the early 80s - had to be 1980-1982 - he was able to pick up a new GE Microwave from the GE plant (he built houses, bought appliances directly from them or something, anyway) - I remember him touting the benefits…
“Look how quickly I can reheat my coffee - we’ll save a ton of money on leftovers!”
He was so impressed -
Wasn’t a week later he was strumming his fingers on the table waiting for the ding of his ‘warmed over coffee’.
Not to mention the caserole dish with the fancy ‘gold’ looking decorations - damn thing nearly blew up the thing - who knew it was gold FOIL.
Oven or stovetop. Currently, I use my microwave almost daily to head something or other. I’ve yet to find a toaster oven that was good for doing much besides burning the outside of food. Maybe I just get the wrong brand or something.
If anyone can recommend a toaster over that actually acts similar to an oven instead of a thermostatless broiler, I’d be interested in hearing your recommendations.
I can’t quite remember when we got our first microwave. My mom got it as a bonus for signing up for another year of the lease on our apartment, is how I remember it. I think it was maybe 1978? Anyway, I use it more than any other cooking implement (maybe 60% of my cooking). I make almost everything in it. With practice I have found ways to make most things taste good. It uses less electricity than the oven or burners, and my house doesn’t have natural gas utility. Also the microwave has less fire hazard and is easier to clean.
Yes, when making a cup of instant coffee for my mom when I was 14 or so. Burnt myself pretty seriously. Hasn’t happened since, though I’m always careful when adding stuff to microwaved water–it’s the nucleation sites that generally trigger superheated water to boil over (though simple movement can do it too).
That was my reaction too - I mean obviously I know there’s a time before all technology (which isn’t that long ago in historical terms), but I always figured microwaves were like refrigeration and telephones - i.e. old enough that there wouldn’t be living people who remembered times prior to their existence. Go figure!
I reheat almost everything in the microwave, but for pizza I put it face down (yes, cheese-side DOWN) on a sheet of aluminum foil and put it in the toaster oven on Toast-Dark. Comes out perfectly with a crisp crust.
Before we had a microwave it was a mix of reheating on the stove or in the oven, but neither was very common as my mother (single mother) didn’t cook, and most of my dinners were either frozen TV dinners or canned soup which were one-serving kinds of things. I rarely had leftovers. I ate my heated or re-heated meals on the “breakfast bar” counter that was also used to feed the cats. I wasn’t allowed to eat at the table. My mom at in her bed in her room.
Seriously? I’m not exactly old enough to be your mother (36) and most people when I was a kid didn’t have one. Did you have a very privileged childhood maybe?
I suppose. Looks like it took a while to catch on - according to Wiki the first home models were available in 1955, but they didn’t become commonplace until the 70s. I was born in 1985, so it was a pretty standard fixture by then.
I supposed so, if it’s a newborn and you’re a new parent. But heating formula is pretty easy once you have the knack and know the right heating time for your specific microwave: heat the not-quite-full bottle to the known number of seconds. Ding. Now shake it up a few times, then test the temp by squirting some on your wrist. Shake it a lot if you’re truly paranoid about those hot spots, but you’ll heat a lot of bottles for a baby so you get the temp down pat pretty quickly. Now, if you’re using some other microwave than your usual one, by all means be really careful, assume nothing.