5 ms·

What does microwave do?

doodlebugging 4y ago
At the time, my wife was fond of heating food in the microwave and I could never get over the fact that the plastic would sometimes get hot enough to soften signalling to me that there were probably chemicals being released as it got hot. I didn't want those chemicals in my food and I was hoping to have kids later so I wanted to try to avoid the possibility that my kids would grow up eating food microwaved in plastic tubs, possibly poisoning them from infancy. And, most importantly from my own personal history, I hated microwaves since the first time I saw one in a convenience store. Popping a plastic-wrapped sandwich into one to have a hot lunch or heating some beanie-weenies or Dinty Moore Stew was just gross but I saw people do that all day long like it was great. When Mom finally convinced Dad to buy one back in the 70's she would use it because it supposedly saved time on things like baking potatoes or cooking meat. If you grew up back then you would have learned quickly that there is a huge textural difference between a potato baked in a microwave and one baked in an oven or in coals on a fire. Microwaved potatoes caused me to hate microwaves since the potato was not fluffy at all. It was very dense and chunky and hard to melt butter throughout the potato. Meat was an even worse indictment of the technology since it would come out red and uncooked looking even if it was scorching hot. It prefer steak medium well to well done or with a good smoke ring so I have to see that color difference for it to be edible. The microwave was a personal decision mostly because I knew that if we got rid of it we would use less plastic since no one would use a plastic container in a conventional oven. Eliminate the microwave and the incentive to keep other plastic kitchen things disappears. That's a win for me.
- nicoburns 4y ago
  Huh, I never had a microwave growing up. But I use one fairly regularly now for heating up sauces, reheating leftovers, or frozen foods (either home frozen or store bought). I feel like it’s case of the right tool for the right job.
- nerdponx 4y ago
  What about reheating or defrosting food in non-plastic containers? That's pretty much the only thing I use a microwave for.
  - doodlebugging 4y ago
    Before we got rid of ours this was the only use we had for it, reheating foods that were refrigerated or frozen in glass or ceramic containers that were microwave safe.
SoftTalker 4y ago
It's not the microwaves, it's the tendency for people to use microwaves to heat food in plastic containers. Which is probably a bad thing to do, if you're concerned about the potential for chemicals leaching out of the plastic, and are going to consume the food you just heated.
jchanimal 4y ago
Presumably, encourages cooking in plastic containers and use of plastic wrap for leftovers.
stevenicr 4y ago
best article I've seen was from NYT a few years back... do a startpage.com search for: new york times plastic microwave plastic hormones my view credits are up so I can't find the exact one, I feel it may be well explained in this one: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/well/chemicals-food-children-health.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/well/chemicals-food-child... maybe I can check bookmarks on my other system and be more sure.

At the time, my wife was fond of heating food in the microwave and I could never get over the fact that the plastic would sometimes get hot enough to soften signalling to me that there were probably chemicals being released as it got hot. I didn't want those chemicals in my food and I was hoping to have kids later so I wanted to try to avoid the possibility that my kids would grow up eating food microwaved in plastic tubs, possibly poisoning them from infancy. And, most importantly from my own personal history, I hated microwaves since the first time I saw one in a convenience store. Popping a plastic-wrapped sandwich into one to have a hot lunch or heating some beanie-weenies or Dinty Moore Stew was just gross but I saw people do that all day long like it was great. When Mom finally convinced Dad to buy one back in the 70's she would use it because it supposedly saved time on things like baking potatoes or cooking meat. If you grew up back then you would have learned quickly that there is a huge textural difference between a potato baked in a microwave and one baked in an oven or in coals on a fire. Microwaved potatoes caused me to hate microwaves since the potato was not fluffy at all. It was very dense and chunky and hard to melt butter throughout the potato. Meat was an even worse indictment of the technology since it would come out red and uncooked looking even if it was scorching hot. It prefer steak medium well to well done or with a good smoke ring so I have to see that color difference for it to be edible. The microwave was a personal decision mostly because I knew that if we got rid of it we would use less plastic since no one would use a plastic container in a conventional oven. Eliminate the microwave and the incentive to keep other plastic kitchen things disappears. That's a win for me.

nicoburns 4y ago
Huh, I never had a microwave growing up. But I use one fairly regularly now for heating up sauces, reheating leftovers, or frozen foods (either home frozen or store bought). I feel like it’s case of the right tool for the right job.
nerdponx 4y ago
What about reheating or defrosting food in non-plastic containers? That's pretty much the only thing I use a microwave for.
- doodlebugging 4y ago
  Before we got rid of ours this was the only use we had for it, reheating foods that were refrigerated or frozen in glass or ceramic containers that were microwave safe.

SoftTalker 4y ago

It's not the microwaves, it's the tendency for people to use microwaves to heat food in plastic containers. Which is probably a bad thing to do, if you're concerned about the potential for chemicals leaching out of the plastic, and are going to consume the food you just heated.

jchanimal 4y ago

Presumably, encourages cooking in plastic containers and use of plastic wrap for leftovers.

stevenicr 4y ago

best article I've seen was from NYT a few years back... do a startpage.com search for: new york times plastic microwave plastic hormones my view credits are up so I can't find the exact one, I feel it may be well explained in this one: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/well/chemicals-food-children-health.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/23/well/chemicals-food-child... maybe I can check bookmarks on my other system and be more sure.