
Why Americans Just Can’t Quit Their Microwaves - JumpCrisscross
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/07/microwaves-eternal-promise/593767/
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tylerl
The premise of the article is a little weird. Like, nobody's suggesting you
should abandon your blender or toaster or dishwasher. Why this?

A microwave is exceptionally safe, and highly efficient at heat transfer.
There really is no device that can compare for its specific set of use cases.
Sure, it's not so great for making toast or grilling a steak or whatever, but
it's a device that serves a purpose and does it well.

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DanBC
Because microwaves are mostly used to reheat ready meals, not to cook from
scratch. That's potentially a public[1] health problem if there's little
regulation of the sugar / fat[1] / salt[1] content of those meals.

[1] Public health talks about the whole population, not just the individual.
This means you look at risks across a large group of people. Some people eat
fat and are fine, some people eat salt and are fine, but across the population
these things are eaten too much and they cause harm.

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brianwawok
How about reheating leftovers of the previous nights home cooked meals? I
mostly use mine for that.

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ntlk
I make soups or curries in large quantities and freeze them in single
servings. When I get home from work I can serve a healthy meal I cooked in six
minutes. Why would I get rid of the microwave? What’s wrong with it?

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lm28469
> What’s wrong with it?

Nothing, the article mostly talks about frozen / pre made low quality meals.

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credit_guy
I do use the microwave for actual cooking. In particular, if you follow the
keto diet, the microwave can be your best friend.

Some examples:

1\. bacon: either straight on a plate, or on some paper towels to absorb the
excess fat

2\. eggs: I content that there is no faster way to cook eggs than with a
silicone egg poacher [1] in a microwave

3\. seafood stew: just put a pound of frozen seafood in a microwaveable steam
bag [2], some cream and salt, and in 5 minutes you have a delicious stew

4\. roasted vegetables: you do this in the oven, but before you put the
vegetables in the baking tray, you steam them in a microwave using the steam
bag [2] for 2-3 minutes. This reduces the cooking time from one hour minutes
to 20 minutes.

[1]
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PC4FAM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PC4FAM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

[2] [https://www.amazon.com/Glad-SimplyCooking-Microwave-
Steaming...](https://www.amazon.com/Glad-SimplyCooking-Microwave-Steaming-
Bags/dp/B001KYS5LG/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=glad+steam+bags&qid=1563444730&s=gateway&sr=8-6)

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cheschire
It never even occurred to me to give up my microwave until a coworker
recommended cooking popcorn in a pan. We have a popcorn maker which is already
better than a microwave at making healthy unflavored popcorn, but the idea
stuck. What else was there that I needed a microwave for? Everything else can
be cooked in a pan or oven.

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tayleeganj
uh I think the main use for microwaves is reheating food. I've never used it
cook anything.

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HelloNurse
Heating water-rich food uniformly and gently from the inside rather than by
propagating heat through the food surface, which is a rather unique property
that allows specific techniques and results.

