Do you actually use your Microwave??

daisyroots_2

Like everyone else, I use mine for starting off baked potatoes, but also for starting off roasted veg (peppers, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, etc., in olive oil) then spread out on a tray in the oven they only need half an hour.

When making a roux I heat the milk or stock in a small jug before adding it, less time spent standing and stirring

Ice cream out of the freezer, 30 seconds on defrost, scoop a portion out and whip it back in the freezer before temptation overcomes...

heating baked beans while the bread is toasting, and hot milky bedtime drinks of course.

Apart from defrosting, that's all I use mine for. A microwave is a different kind of oven, not a substitute for the real thing, in my opinion. I could live without mine, and if/when it dies, I may not replace it.

carol_a_3

Porridge, gel filled hotwater bottle and reheating my drinks when I forget to drink them. Oh and Christmas puddings.

juliapenguin

Hadley wrote: »

I use mine alot but only because it is a conventional oven also.My cooker is a huge range one so when I am only cooking one thing I tend to us the oven setting in the microwave.I don't use the microwave part much.I wouldn't have my Microwave if it was not a combination one (Microwave/Grill/conventional oven).I like things cooked better in a conventional oven.

Hadley - I'm in the same position as you with the big range oven and the combination microwave. I don't use the microwave bit much on its own but you can make the most delicious low fat oven chips/potato wedges by doing them on the combination bit with 220 degrees oven plus medium microwave. When I do them on just normal oven I often find them dry but they're lovely done on combination.

newmrslockwood

I don't like anything done in the MW. Nothing tastes the same. My DS who is 13 is the only one that uses it for reheating food. I used it for sterilizing bottles when kids were babies. I would bin it personally but it was a gift from my Mum when we moved into our house so I'd best not.

rosieben

I use mine a lot for

reheating my extra meals from freezer
heating up soups, baked beans etc
milky drinks
part cook bacon bits for recipes (on upturned plate so fat drains off)
jacket potato
boiled/poached eggs
packet sauces (when I'm being lazy)
making sponge puddings
warm milk for ready brek
custard
frozen peas - sprinkle a very little sugar over and they taste like fresh!
lemon curd
jam
lemonade (lost this recipe, off to search it out when I've posted)
warming jam for my rice and semolina pudding
best scrambled eggs ever - done in a large jug and whipped every half minute, they are soft and light - gorgeous! careful not to overcook though

and lots of other stuff.

I would be lost without mine, not just for the speed, but for the washing up it saves me :rotfl:- the jug from scrambled egg just soaks clean, ditto custard and sauces.

I used to buy the Home and Freezer digest years ago (wish I still had them all!) and they had a really good section on microwave cooking and lots of recipes, I still use some of them, microwave choc brownies etc. Plain cake just needs icing to cover paleness (or I think they suggested adding gravy browning but I never fancied that! .

Edited to say that I've had a microwave since they first came out - treated myself from my redundancy then! I wouldnt bother with a combination again. The one I have now is a small basic one and cost £30 and its brilliant!

Lucie_2

I very occasionally use it for scrambled egg or reheating beans on the rare occasion we eat either of those things, and reheating leftover portions of chilli/curry etc from the freezer. It's certainly not in daily use.
When we moved here (6 years ago) the old microwave had packed up, and it took us 4 years to get around to buying a new one, so I guess it's not essential. We paid for this one with mostly Tesco clubcard points, so I think it cost us less than £10 of "real" money. Probably wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

angelavdavis

I'm am not such a heavy user:

- Defrosting
- Reheating precooked soups/bolognaise/chilli while pasta/rice cooking
- Making chicken liver paté
- Cooking bacon for a quick sandwich
- Making lemon curd or jam sponges
- scrambled eggs
- cooking frozen peas, steaming: broccoli, corn on the cobs, sweetcorn, cauliflower, mange-tout
- cooking salmon steaks or smoked haddock
- jacket potatoes
- cooking popcorn

I used to have a combi microwave and loved it, but when it went bang, it just got replaced with a cheapy (and smaller one) as we were limited with funds/space.

tiamai_d

Since January I have used it 5 times. 3 times for popcorn and twice for jacket spuds.

rosieben

angelavdavis wrote: »

I used to have a combi microwave and loved it, but when it went bang, it just got replaced with a cheapy (and smaller one) as we were limited with funds/space.

I think space is a big consideration now that so many of us have small kitchens - except Penelope Penguin of course ; my first microwave was massive, and so heavy I had trouble lifting it. The one I have now is small and I can just tuck it under one arm whilst I clean the worktop!

Justamum

I don't have a MW and have never wanted one. I have in the past been given them - once as a xmas present from the inlaws. I never used it, then when we moved we got rid of it. We were then given a spare one from my sister when they had a clear-out, so as I didn't want it OH took it in to work. I've always been very underwhelmed by MWs. Defrosting seems to be useless because things seem to be frozen in parts and cooked in other parts. I'd rather get stuff out early in the day and get it to defrost naturally.