Many people choose to abstain from using a microwave for health reasons. I could not give you statistics on the radiation a microwave may or may not be putting off, we just flat out don’t have the space in our kitchen for an appliance that size. So we have learned how to live without a microwave.
The main issues seem to be re-heating beverages and food, and melting foods like butter.
Re-heating beverages
Many times I have poured myself a hot cup of coffee, and then promptly go outside to do chores. Of course, when I get back inside my coffee is lukewarm at best. I believe that coffee is only good steaming hot or poured over ice. Thankfully, we have had a handy Breville milk frother. We have had this little device for years, and it still works perfectly. I use it to make steamers and coco for my kids, and lattes for myself. But mostly, I use it to heat up my mug of coffee. Everyday. Multiple times a day. It does not weigh much, so I store it under my counter when it is not in use.
Re-heating food
We eat a lot of leftovers in our house. Lunch is almost always leftovers from the night before. Re-heating any sort of soup or stew is easily done on the stove top. In fact, I often store leftovers in the dutch oven that I originally cooked it in so that I can just put it right back on the stove top and re-heat it for lunch.
Other items, such as noodle dishes, slices of pizza, or even something like a roast and mashed potatoes are all heated in our toaster oven.
People seem to have love-hate relationships with toaster ovens. Personally, I love ours. It has four different settings- bake, toast, airfry, and broil. We can also adjust the temperature up to 500 degrees. Because it is good for so many things in the kitchen, I am okay with it taking up precious counter-top space.
Melting foods
Melting foods for recipes can easily be done on the stove top. We have a small stainless steel sauce pan that functions perfectly for melting a stick (or two) of butter without splatter. To melt things like chocolate, I create my own sort of double-boiler with one pot of boiling water and another pot set over it with the chocolate.
Basically, with just a few handy kitchen tools that serve multiple purposes, you can easily live without a microwave. No need to take up counter space with a bulky, unattractive box! I even have a friend who used her built-in microwave for storage because she was concerned about the radiation and so she never used it.
Curious- do you have a microwave? If not, what tips would you give others who want to stop using one?
Leave a Reply