MICROWAVES

>show me a study that's not funded by someone who profits from microwaves that show this

I don't need to.
1) You know what microwaves are, right? You learned about them in school. Therefore you should understand how they cannot escape the microwave oven itself.

2) Empirical data. There are hundreds of millions of microwaves in existence all over the world. They've been in use for decades. So surely if there was some kind of health risk from them it would have been immediately apparent.

not that the emr hits me; microwaves have lower energy than light...not worried about that
worried
i just don't see anything saying why emr couldn't change chemical structure, but i suppose all cooking does that
idk, i'm just skeptical

didn't mean to have "worried" in there

microwave radiation is not ionizing and is therefore not dangerous unless you're targeted with a directed energy weapon utilizing microwaves.

toxins leaking into food due to being heated are valid but can be avoided by NOT COOKING WITH PLASTIC

>sexy bitch
If you are going to call a bitch sexy she better be fucking sexy otherwise get that fucking shit out of here.

Back to the original topic. If you eat a lot of convenience foods, are low on time, low on patience, or you really enjoy the soggy way they nuke things then yes a microwave is still necessary, but otherwise no. If you are just going to use it to heat water then you only need an electric kettle. If you are going to only use it to reheat leftovers you can do that in the oven or on the stove on low temp. A toaster oven is probably more useful than a microwave.

>tfw you think microwave radiation is bad while you bask in the sun

Just get a combi nuke, it's also a convection oven and grill ... now you have two ovens.

I don't think they sell those here.

Wait, do people cook from raw in a microwave, or only re-heat?
Because yeah, I imagine cooking can fuck the food. Giving it a shit texture to begin with. And causing some "problems" noted in OP's link.

user doesn't know about 70's-80's microwave cookbooks.

>put cold food in microwave oven
>take out warm food

I can't see how a microwave oven sucks for general reheating.

It makes food soggy and sometimes rock hard in random places since it completely mummified the food there.

My oven does fan oven, microwave and grill (from below, top or both).
There is also a oven+microwave option, but I never used it. And a defrost one, microwave on low setting in fact but I can give type of food and weight. Never used it either.

It's rather common in homes that are not poor as shit and don't have enough room to have several ovens.

The only time I have heard of a microwave that could double as a toaster oven was when a girl was giving a tour of her Japanese apartment on youtube.

You probably need to look for something designed to be build into cabinets. The power limits on standard plug 110V appliances is too harsh, I assume that's why the combis are more rare.

If I was building a new kitchen I'd definitely buy something like this for an above counter cabinet (ie. ~38 cm deep).

lg.com/uk/microwave-ovens/lg-MJ3281CAS

I was thinking the reason might be the concern over putting metal in it and by accident turning on microwave rather than oven.

Oh you are in the uk That might be why I have never heard of it here. I also have never seen a washing machine that could also dry clothing but supposedly they have those in Europe?

Actually I'm Dutch, but I thought the UK site would be easier to read.

Yeah there's washer driers, but I'd never buy them unless I lived in a really tiny flat ... you double the failure modes and the drier is subpar.

Enjoy your cancer

Toaster ovens and small convection ovens are better Imo

It takes 3-5 mins longer if your re heating something but taste way better when it comes out.

>Enjoy your cancer

I'm sure the processed hotpockets I'm reheating in my toaster oven are gonna give me cancer anyway.

The kinds of junk food typically put in microwaves and toaster/convection ovens probably will give you cancer if the diabeetus doesn't get to you first.

I don't own one because apartment is too small. It's not essential and I've gotten along just fine without it. I'd rather take up space with my rice cooker and crock pot.

Moved into a new city last month and haven't bought a microwave yet and haven't missed it much. Eating less so I'm cutting a bit of weight and saving me some money since I'm not buying easy, more expensive stuff made for quick cooking. A bit inconvenient at times, but I'm not missing it too much. Range stove, crock pot, toaster oven, and regular oven is more than enough.

>Me, live alone.
>High tech microwave blew a fuse/died. Unable to repair.
>A bit busy to buy/repair. Will wait for a visit from parents to put Dad on the mission to shop and install it (they're a SOB to install over a stove, if you don't know).
>Dad is busiest he's ever been, shit hitting the fan every weekend, "sorry gotta postpone." End up waiting for 2 months before he finally visited, all the while minus a microwave for the first time in life.
Week 1: Oh well, I'll switch to iced tea/iced coffee frappuccinos for morning caffeine.
Week 2: Break out the old fashioned tea kettle to heat water for french press.
Week 3: Buy coffee maker with timer. Inferior crap. "OMG did I just leave the house without unplugging the coffee maker? *worries*' Buy espresso again for machine. Takes too damn long in morning.
Week 4: These microwaveable items in my freezer are getting old... This lime microwave popcorn looks so damn good but I can't cook it.... Wouldn't it be nice if I could just heat some hot peppermint tea at 3am now that I've woken up with a cough, but I don't wanna wait... Oh crap, wish I had remembered to thaw the chicken the past few hours, guess I gotta eat out again...

Dude, they're highly convenient for defrosting meat, making ice cream soft enough to scoop, heating a cup of milk or pint of water or steaming some edamame or nuking some chocolate sauce or melting butter and garlic to paint on some bread before broiling or a million other things you eat all the time, like potatoes in 6 minutes not 60 minutes.

I like to nuke something and walk away and not come back to it or monitor it at all while I take a shower. It's safety sake you don't have to stir or stand over something. Nuke your pot pie, and not even worry if you leave it 10 minutes to cool. Steep your tea or coffee grounds in water, pour over ice when cooled. Warm the milk while you work with your espresso machine.

all you had to say is "where are the studies" the author linked no sources to his claims.

I cook all my eggs and bacon in microwaves.

I only use microwaves for a few things. I could easily go without one at home but they are essential at work.

I haven't had a microwave oven for three years. It's honestly really easy, you just have to think ahead.

Boiling water you can do on a stove or with a kettle. I didn't even know people used microwave ovens for this.

Defrosting is easy if you plan ahead a day and get stuff defrosting early. Failing that, you can run it under cold or lukewarm water.

Convenience foods are directly quality vs time. Do you want it fast and not that good in a microwave or do you want to wait a bit (or a lot) more and use a (toaster) over?

Softening ice cream can be solved by running the scoop under hot water.

Soft butter is solved by having some at room temperature in a butter tray.

A toaster oven does most of a things a microwave oven does that a stove or oven can't, like auto shut off, if you really can't stand getting up to turn something off.

>Is it still essential to own one?

no. wat? was it ever?

Just think about what kind of food it is...and choose the appropriate method to reheat it

>Living sustainably, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, creating a spiritual relationship with oneself and shaping a better world together are all things we encourage.

sage

Lol
Burden of proof.
People have been popping corn and melting chocolate for nearly 50 years using microwaves.

microwaves cook food by producing electromagnetic waves that force polarized water molecules within it to oscillate. We experience this atomic-scale movement as increasing temperature. Imagine water molecules as antennae, interacting with the waves in the oven much like a radio antenna does with radio waves. The more water in the food, the more effective it is as an antenna. Plant foods have a high water content relative to most foods—making them very effective antennae indeed.

But it's important, too, to consider the size of your antennae. In conventional ovens, small foods cook faster than larger ones. It tends to be the opposite with microwaves. A microwave (that is, the wave itself, not the oven) is 12.8 centimeters long. To receive the waves properly, food should be at least a quarter of that length—so about 3.2 centimeters (a little larger than one inch). Think about how an individual popcorn kernel can take minutes to pop. And yet, you can pop an entire bag of popcorn kernels in about 60 seconds. Grouped together, all the kernels form a target mass that can couple with the microwaves and absorb them, similar to how a radio antenna picks up radio waves. The lone kernels are so small (relative to the length of the microwaves) that they can't easily absorb the waves' energy, and thus take longer to cook.

more pasta?

That article is mostly pseudoscience trash and doesn't actually link to any reputable sources. Microwaves aren't dangerous, you're being bombarded with them every second, and they're not harmful. Look up cosmic background radiation if you're interested. If you're still apprehensive then just take some precautions like not using plastic containers in the microwave oven and whatnot.

As for owning a microwave, I rarely use mine apart from heating leftovers. And even then I'd often prefer to just put it over the hob. They're convenient, but not essential.

>what is non-ionising radiation
Don't worry, I'm sure you'll learn about it when you reach high school.

Ionizing radiation is not covered in high school.

I use mine maybe once a week if that.(at home)
at work maybe twice a week for soup or beans.

They don't do a very good job of heating food. They really mess up the texture a lot of the time. The heating is so inconsistent. I find them kind of useless outside of food explicitly designed to be heated in a microwave.

The only things I have success with are thawing buns (be very careful or it'll get fucked), melting the cheese on something, or slightly heating warm or lukewarm food that I waited a little too long to eat. I will use it to reheat leftovers but it never really turns out right, invariably fucks up the texture and sometimes the taste. If something takes more than a minute to heat up you can guess it's going to turn out wrong. Thawing bread and melting cheese is quick, but if you go even a little too long it completely falls apart.

I've been told by an alarming number of people that they use the microwave to boil water on a regular basis. Something about that does not sit right with me, and people like to bring up water decomposition but I'm pretty sure that only happens in space and nuclear reactors.

Not a big fan of the microwave, honestly. I've never owned a toaster oven but I think that would probably far surpass a microwave for what I need.

>thawing bread
Oh god I am going to be sick.

I learned about it in high school. Canadian

>Wait, do people cook from raw in a microwave, or only re-heat?

Depends on the food. Microwaves tend to make food soggy, they're awful for cooking or re-heating food that is supposed to be crisp or browned.

On the other hand, they're fucking awesome for steaming or poaching.

> use the oven and stove

And pay substantially higher energy bills, while needlessly heating up your house and taking much longer to cook your food.

Everyone ought to have a microwave and toaster oven.

>microwave that could double as a toaster oven

Those are super common in restaurants, especially fast-casual sort of places. Ever been to a subway and seen them "toast" your sandwhich? That is done in a combo microwave & convection oven.

My nigga

Excites any water it comes into contact with. It basically boils the water on the surface of an object. This can make something cold on the inside, but boiled/dehydrated on the outside. Liquids and very small/soft materials are usually okay, so pasta and mashed potatoes, etc. usually survive but can get soggy. Hard objects like meat get overcooked and dry out, even when only cooked for a little while.

You need to stop it every 30 seconds or to stir, or at least let it sit until it heats through. Otherwise you get really inconsistent heating which absolutely obliterates the outside. You can't stir meat, by the way.

Just pop some frozen bread in the microwave and you'll see a clear difference. If you wrap it in a paper towel and stop heating halfway through, it will generally thaw alright but become slightly moist. If you blast it in one go until it's warm on the inside, the outside will dry out and become tough. If you try heating chili or something you'll probably notice it never gets done, but the stuff on the surface will boil over, turn clumpy, and dry out almost immediately.

Microwaves just can't heat some things correctly.

>And pay substantially higher energy bills, while needlessly heating up your house and taking much longer to cook your food.

Yes. But that tradeoff is worth it because they do a better job reaheating the food. I'm after quality, not trying to penny-pinch every last cent.

>>Everyone ought to have a microwave and toaster oven.
I agree. I just think the microwave sucks for reheating anything other than moist foods.

You really have to be careful to avoid completely fucking it. Even slightly overheating it is a death sentence, and you have to go slow or only the outside will warm up. You also have to wrap it in something or it will dry out.

It can be done though, which is why I sometimes do it, but only for individual buns. I don't think any more than that would be feasible.

I don't go to subway.

Great tool in any kitchen. I could melt my chocolate the traditional way or I could just nuke it for 30 seconds for identical effect.

Load of bull crap. Reheating food in a microwave is fine.

Depends on what you mean.
Safe? Sure, I agree.

In a food quality context? No. It's not "fine", it's fast but shitty. I don't want my reheated pizza limp and soggy. I want it crisp out of the real oven.

We all know it agitates the water molecules and some of the water can boil off leaving parts or the whole desiccated and hard. That's why microwaving is shit tier. You can cook the same food the same way each time and come up with completely different results. Sometimes edible. Sometimes cold. Sometimes hard as a rock.

Well, where you position it in the microwave also has an effect. The exact amount and initial texture as well affect how well heat transfers into the center. Microwaving is an awful process invented by devils.

>reheated pizza

> > Everyone ought to have a microwave and toaster oven.
> I agree. I just think the microwave sucks for reheating anything other than moist foods.

Of course and you wouldn’t try baking a cake in a frying pan on top of the stove either, you'd use the right tool for the job.

But unless you’re cooking a large meal for several people, there’s no reason not to use smaller and more efficient appliances.

endeavor to become good

I was thinking of those white castle cheeseburgers in particular. They are pretty uniform but never cook the same way twice.

Becoming good at microwave cookery isn't a thing except at Applebee's.

Who the fuck even cooks in a microwave? The most I'd do is cook rice, and even then, that's better done the traditional way. Microwave is only good for reheating.

The deranged

Agreed that most microwave cookery is horrid. But it is actually very good for steaming-type preparations. There's a good section on this in Modernist Cuisine.

Pic related, advanced microwave recipe

...

I cook for my dog. He is quite old.
On day 2, when I want to just :15 second warm up some previously cooked steak cubes to fold into some dry kibble, I am not going to turn on my burner, nor wash a pot afterwards.

>They really mess up the texture a lot of the time. The heating is so inconsistent.
>messes up taste
I can't imagine how you scientifically think that happens. Or you maybe you believe in magic?

I'll tell you this...quality varies by size and model. There are pieces of crap small microwaves that will hotspot burn a bag of popcorn because they have less parts inside to bounce and disperse radiation around. Those small machines should only be used for heating a beverage or soup. Seriously nothing that requires even heating can be done in some inferior model, especially without a turntable.

Newer smart models have the ability to listen to popping or something, stopping right when its done. They have the ability to have a rack and actually keep potato skins dry all around while you bake them with something else on the bottom at the same exact time (I do whole corn and potatoes same time while I'm outside on the BBQ grill doing the meat, not attending my kitchen the whole time, which is nice and safe). They calculate the defrost time by weight and type, and do a damn good job not precooking edges whatsoever.

I own one I was given for free, but if it hadn't been a gift I wouldn't go and buy one. It's convenient, but there is nothing that can't be done on the stove or in the oven.

>I can't imagine how you scientifically think that happen

I'm not the guy you're replying to, but the reasoning is easy to explain scientificially.

First, the magentron inside the oven--the device which actually produces the microwaves--shoots them out in a perfectly straight line. Imagine a laser beam. The oven then contains various features which are supposed to redirect that beam and bounce it around evenly inside the oven. Of course, that's imperfect. Like you mentioned, different ovens vary by size and model. Some do a better job of bouncing that beam around evenly than others do. But even the best microwaves are not as even heating as a traditional oven is. (At work we have special commercial microwaves that have two magnetrons instead of just one. They heat a lot more evenly than a home type does, but they're still not perfect)

The second variable has to do with the food. Most foods are not uniform in shape. And microwaves tend not to penetrate very far into the food. That means that food which is thicker in places than others (most food) will heat unevenly. This is largely self-correcting with a traditional oven because the cooking time is long, so there's more time for the heat to be conducted from the hotter parts of the food to the cooler parts. But a microwave cooks so much faster that there isn't time for conduction within the food to help address that issue.

>food which is thicker in places than others (most food) will heat unevenly.

The same thing also applies to parts of the food with different moisture content. Because the microwave agitates water to generate heat, those parts of the food which contain a lot of water will heat more than those which contain little water.

Toaster oven is better for a lot of things, but a microwave is essential to reheat liquids. Something most plebs don't even bother with is adjusting the power settings, and basically do the equivalent of toasting everything they put in a microwave. For most things 90 seconds on 80% power is far superior to 60 at 100%. Also take stuff out and stir it and put it back in you lazy shits.

Anyway, microwave = yes

in my kitchenette i have a microwave, a two burner hot plate, and a toaster oven and i can cook pretty much anything!

nature.com/news/1-500-scientists-lift-the-lid-on-reproducibility-1.19970

rahhhrrr! humans are flawed so that means science is WORTHLES!!

microwaves KILL YOU with RADIATION CANCER

most people just don't know how to properly use a microwave oven. they would reheat a single portion in the middle of the oven for 5 minutes on 1200w which is equivalent to putting your food on the stove for 5min on max heat. then they wonder that it tastes like shit.
One and a half minute is usually enough and you should never put it in the middle so it will get a better heat distribution. you should stirr before and after and let it sit for some seconds before you dig into it.

I use mine to make porridge every morning. Other than that I don't use it too much.

>porridge

Wait, that's a real thing and now something on fictional bears eat?

So do they just make this shit up or does someone there think they're actually doing science?

It's a publication/website with sensationalist headlines and topics. The exact same thing as those tabloid newspapers talking about Britney Spears being pregnant with Elvis's baby. It's fiction written to appeal to a specific demographic. In this case, hypochondriacs and conspiracy theorists.

just don't put bread in there and it's fine i guess

There's also this.

how the fuck do you think microwaves work?

You haven't really lived until you've drank a bowl of porridge with milk and honey.

once i realised that everyone who talks shit about microwaves is basically just irrationally scared of the word 'radiation' i stopped giving the least bit of a fuck about what they have to say.

i only use microwaves to heat up wet foods like soup and stews and shit. i also use it to cook vegetables, especially when they're gonna be pureed, and they're also fucking dope as fuck for par cooking potatoes to make chips or wedges or even jacket spuds. you can make a jacket potato in like 15 minutes, all you have to do is finish them in the oven or a pan.

just try making a pea or tomato soup by adding frozen peas or fresh tomatoes into a bowl, thinly sliced onions and garlic, seasoning and water, then wrapping tightly with clingfilm and microwaving for about ten minutes before pureeing and straining. it's so fucking good to have fresh soup on a rainy morning without fucking around on the stove. and you just ladle less water into the blender to make thicker purees for plated dishes or whatever. i make apple sauce a pretty similar way too.

Never owned a microwave. Never saw the need for one.

I drank water boiled in a microwave and got cancer, AMA

Soups taste better if you pan onion and the like a bit before adding watery ingredients.
Microwave can't reach temperature needed to have Maillard reaction : boiling water don't go over 100°C, you need 140° to 165°C.

I haven't had one for 10 years mostly because they haven't been installed in my apartments and
im too lazy to buy one. Dont miss it one bit.

Havnt had a microwave in a few months. Actually feeling much better, microwaves make you lazy about your health.
Cutting Ramen out my life has been the biggest plus.
You don't realize how much it clogs you up until you stop eating it for a few days then shit a mountain.

But microwave popcorn did contain a dangerous chemical.....

>What should we use instead
I don't own one. I use a pressure cooker.

>Soups taste better if you pan onion

not necessarily.

god there's always a fucking smartarse. i know what the maillard reaction and microwaves definitely can reach it, just not feasibly in systems with a high water content.

Pressure cooker is good. I use mine several times a week.

>microwaves make you lazy about your health.

no they don't. don't blame a fucking heating device on your inability to put vegetables inside it.