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Food prep? No. Reheating leftovers? Yes. Mainly because glass containers for storing leftover food are more expensive.
by irrational 3y ago
Food prep? No. Reheating leftovers? Yes. Mainly because glass containers for storing leftover food are more expensive.
- jna_sh 3y agoYou can’t just put the leftovers you want to microwave on a bowl or plate…?
- gmane 3y agoFor most Americans, they don't have glass plates/bowls at their work. That's where enough microwaving happens that if you can't "fix" the problem there then there's no point in changing habits at home.
- coldtea 3y agoTrue, I've seen many not even have glasses made of glass. You go to some (not expensive) restaurant, or even a house, and they bring you water in a plastic "glass".
- scubbo 3y ago> For most Americans, they don't have glass plates/bowls at their work Honest question - is there something wrong with microwaving ceramic bowls? Literally every bowl intended for eating (rather than for mixing cooking ingredients) that I have ever owned or encountered has been ceramic.
- zestyping 3y agoSome ceramic bowls turn into lava in the microwave. Often when I reheat soup in a bowl, the bowl becomes hotter than the soup. The bowl is too hot to touch, yet the soup is only somewhat warm. Some bowls are more prone to this than others, but it's not obvious and requires experimentation to determine. It's a pain.
- marcosdumay 3y agoThe answer is almost certainly "it depends". And it depends on stuff you won't be able to discover.
- thsksbd 3y agoWhat do you mean by "ceramic"? Anyway, its the enamel that worries me.
- Riseed 3y agoSome ceramic items shouldn't go into the microwave because they have metal embellishments or trim. Some ceramics have lead glaze, which means they're not food safe once cracked or chipped, but I can't say whether microwaving them would make them more dangerous or less food safe. > > For most Americans, they don't have glass plates/bowls at their work As a note, most people I've seen microwaving their leftovers at work were microwaving plastic because that's how they packaged the leftovers from home. If there aren't dishes at work, let alone a full kitchen, then leftovers are transported, heated, and eaten from the same container.
- scubbo 3y ago> If there aren't dishes at work, let alone a full kitchen, then leftovers are transported, heated, and eaten from the same container. Fair! I've been lucky enough to always work in places where the kitchen has a decent amount of crockery and cutlery into which leftovers could be transferred for heating, but I can see how this could be an issue. Thanks for pointing that out!
- irrational 3y agoThen you have the whole family waiting for their turn to use the microwave. Easier to just heat up all the leftovers in one go.
- jasonzemos 3y agoI've never owned a microwave, instead I air-fry everything. Pretty sure this is the same trick restaurants use, especially fast-food ones. Microwaves make soggy leftovers.
- bobthepanda 3y agoNot all leftovers need to be crispy. Microwaves work pretty well for saucy Chinese food, for example. (The alternate method is usually steaming, which is even soggier.)
- irrational 3y agoHow do you air fry soup, stew, chili, etc.?
- WD-42 3y agoYou use a pot on a stove. It’s faster than microwaving.
- irrational 3y agoNo way is it faster. I can heat a bowl of soup up in 1 minute in the microwave. The pot is barely heated up after 1 minute in the stove, much less the contents.
- Jill_the_Pill 3y agoAnd it makes another pot to clean. But the warmth in the food heated on a burner is nicer than the warmth generated by the microwave (more even, cools slowly). Maybe we slow down and expect our lunch to take 10 minutes to heat and 5 minutes to clean up?
- stavros 3y agoWhy?
- 3y ago
- dionidium 3y agoWe switched to glass recently and it's great. They're more durable. They don't stain. They're easier to clean. And, this is subjective, but they just feel more substantial; it's nice in a way that's hard to describe. These glass containers will likely last forever. They are more expensive than the cheapest plastics, but it's buy-once, so not a significant long-term factor.
- zestyping 3y agoGlass is heavy, doesn't stack efficiently, sticks/grinds together when stacked, and easily chips and breaks. A full glass container is too heavy to lift safely with one hand and too heavy to carry in a backpack. Glass is slippery, and because it's heavy it is also more likely to be dropped. Drop it on a counter and it cracks or chips, leaving bits of glass in your food and sharp edges that will cut you. The purpose of a container is to _transport_ things; anything breakable like glass is a poor material for something that gets moved around a lot. A plastic container will survive long after a glass container has been chipped. Glass is fragile, dangerous, heavy, slippery, expensive, loud, and space-wasting. Plastic containers are light, resilient, durable, portable, compact, and efficient.
- dirtyid 3y agoThey also get hot after microwaving, which for inpatient people like me is a deal breaker. E: obviously I can spend extra effort to handle a hot glass container, but I'd rather deal with container without that property. Even with plastic containers there are some that gets suspiciously soft / weak after a few minutes in microwave, and then there's ones that stay sturdy and cool enough to handle. Half the point of microwave is convenience.
- wojciii 3y agoIKEA has cheap glass containers with plastic covers that can go into the microwave. I think you can also get covers made of bamboo or something that looks like wood. I usually cover them with a plastic designed for this purpose which doesn't come in contact with food.
- jghn 3y agoMicrowaves are extremely useful for food prep, although for specific purposes. A lot of veggies actually do pretty well parcooking (or fully cooking) in the microwave for instance. I use it all the time for potatoes unless I’m baking them. It shaves a lot off the cooking time with no I’ll effect
- tromp 3y agoYou can move the leftover food from its plastic storage container into a clean glass container or bowl before heating it in the microwave. You just have slightly more things to wash afterwards...
- kagakuninja 3y agoI have a set of pyrex bowls I bought in 1987 and still use. The cost difference is negligible when amortized over your lifetime. I store all my left overs in pyrex when possible.