Has anyone got rid of their microwave ? Would you?

[Arisbottle]

My microwave has died because one of the children tried to microwave a tin of beans in it. Yesterday I removed the microwave from my kitchen and I am really impressed with the space it has created , especially as my kitchen is not huge and I cook a lot.

Currently I use the microwave to do the following;

Heat those ready cooked rice sachets to speed up weekly meals, about once a fortnight.
Make scrambled eggs
Heat up ready meals and soups about once a week .
Steaming food ( we steam food a lot , although I also have a separate steamer which tends to sit out on my work surface as it is used so often. )

I would like to stop using ready meals altogether , it is a lazy , unhealthy and expensive habit.

When I went to view microwaves I was distinctly underwhelmed, they felt plasticy and unlikely to stand up to family use . I did quite like a sharp steamwave one which felt very solid and would allow me to abandon my separate steamer. But it was £250 and would take up valuable space in my kitchen.

So has anyone got rid of their microwave, do they miss it? Would you get rid of yours?

Alternatively am I under using my microwave! What do you use yours for?

[WillieWaggledagger]

we don't have one because we rent and in our previous house it came with a microwave, and in this one it didn't and we've just never bought one. i do miss it from time to time for speedy heating up of leftovers etc, but you can do all these things in the oven anyway and you get used to planning accordingly. it would be useful for defrosting but our freezer is crap anyway so that barely gets used!

[jimblejambles]

I managed to blow our microwave up melting chocolate about 4 years ago. We couldn't afford to replace it and to be honest we haven't missed it at all.

[Arisbottle]

I never really used mine to defrost because I didn't trust it. Maybe I don't need one.

[MumToTheBoy]

I really only ever used ours to zap a ready meal or reheat the puréed food I had bulk made and frozen for ds when I was weaning him. When he was about 3 I decided to get rid of the thing as it was taking up so much space and we have limited surfaces as it is. It's been nearly 4 years now and the only time I miss it is when I fancy some a quick jacket potato, or the small choc puddings you heat in the microwave, but I just take them to work and use the one there at lunchtime!!

I often found soup or beans would be hot round the edges and lukewarm in the middle when using the microwave. Using a small saucepan takes no time at all and the food is hot all the way through. And a saucepan is a lot easier to clean than the microwave ever was.

Get rid of it!!!!

[ouryve]

No. We use it quite a lot. Breakfasts, heating milk, porridge (and ours has a simmer function which means it comes out lovely with no need for constant stirring), reheating soups and sauces, cooking veg and even the occasional ready meal.

[ouryve]

And I forgot about getting baked potatoes started, though I usually finish them in the oven or even under the grill. DH melts cheese on his toast with it, but I think that microwaved cheese is pretty vile.

[YoullScreamAboutItOneDay]

We don't have one.

I try to plan defrosting in advance, and have one of those 'fan only' settings on the oven for emergencies. Lots of things like veg soup can also be gently defrosted in a pan on a low low heat.

Someone asked me today how you make porridge without a microwave. I didn't really understand the question . Hob, with a pan?!

The only thing I would say I miss it for is heating up certain leftovers. Things like lasagne or cottage pie heat up much better in the microwave than in the oven. It just isn't worth the loss of work surface for just that though.

[BackforGood]

Well, I think I'd miss ours a lot, but I guess as you don't have one noe anyway, the best thing would be to leave it until after Christmas and then decide if you've missed it enough to justify buying a new one.

[Arisbottle]

I think that is good advice backforgood.

I had forgotten about porridge and jacket potatoes

[TeWiDoesTheHulaInHawaii]

Ours has just broken.

Had been using it to make porridge, heat soup, cook veg (can do all of in the hob) and defrost neat for dinner (can do in the fridge if I'm organised)

...I think we'll do without.

[IWipeArses]

The paint inside ours was peeling, so I chucked it.
Differences have been - need to plan further ahead for baked potatoes/sweet potatoes, but they are sooo much nicer in the oven! DH can't have a microwave only ready meal, not been an issue really, and it's tricky reheating a meal. I'll need to think on to take any meat out of the freezer to defrost overnight in the fridge, but none of this has been enough to make me buy one. It's lovely having more counter space, one less annoying thing in the kitchen to clean, and better quality food.

[YoullScreamAboutItOneDay]

Oh yes, I do miss microwave jacket potato as a quick at home lunch. Can't justify an hour + of oven time for spuds for three.

Porridge really is very easy in a pan though. I don't understand why people feel it needs microwaving?

[iseenodust]

DH makes custard in it. I warm milk for DS. Sometimes we have microwave curries. We wouldn't miss it and I won't replace when packs up. We parked it in the garage when thinking about selling the house and I wasn't bothered if it came back in.

[AtiaoftheJulii]

We haven't had one for a couple of months and I haven't really missed it. Can't reheat any cups of tea I forget about! I've got a gel hot water bottle thing that I was going to warm for dh yesterday and realised I couldn't. That's about it.

[NellyBluth]

We haven't got one. Its mildly irritating on a rare occasion when we've forgot to defrost something. But I certainly don't miss it enough to want to buy another one - soup and porridge and warming food barely takes a minute longer on the hob! and I didn't even know you could screamble eggs in one. You do have to change the way you do a few things, like defrosting food and planning ahead for jacket potatoes, but certainly nothing that to me would warrant spending money on a microwave.

[Bamaluz]

Never mind the food, I would miss my bedtime wheatbag to warm my bed.

[ToffeeWhirl]

Ours broke many years ago. We liked the extra space, so we didn't replace it. The only time we missed it was once when we were serving roast pork for lunch and the pork hadn't cooked through. That's once in about 10 years. Oh, and sometimes instructions on ready meals assume you have a microwave and don't provide you with alternative heating instructions, which is irritating.

I always make sure I remind myself to defrost things a day ahead of time (write it on the calendar).

[Arisbottle]

Youllscream you are right about the porridge . It is just as easy to do it on the hob. The children do make up those ready sachets of porridge but again this is expensive and probably deeply unhealthy

It may stop our eldest from eating those microwave burgers.

[LadyMaryCreepyCrawley]

I don't have one, I left the monster in an old house when I moved. I only miss it when I want some popcorn, so can't justify buying another one. I only used it to heat curries and jacket potatoes. You can cook everything you use it for on a hob. You can even get steamer saucepans.

[noisytoys]

I have one but use it for just heating milk for DD. minimalist kitchen though. The only things on the 20 foot of work surface is a microwave, a kettle and a draining board so it can stay for now

[Poosnu]

I use mine a lot. For scrambled eggs, porridge, veg, defrosting and reheating DD's mush from the freezer, jacket potatoes, heating up soup, heating up leftover dinner the second night. There is no way I would do without it.

However it all depends on what you use it for!

[bulletwithspookybatwings]

We don't have one, I don't miss having one tbh. I have a tiny pan for heating small portions for ds and I use boil in the bag rice if I want to save time.

[nancy75]

Haven't had one for years, I can't remember what I ever used it for, but I never think pooh I wish I had one

[daisydoodoo]

Don't have one and don't miss it. Only ever used into heat beans or the microwave curry. But realised microwave curry tastes awful abduct beans just as easy to heat in a pan.

[Arisbottle]

Thanks , this is giving me the confidence to not get one. DH needs convincing