to love my microwave?

[redspottedfrog]

I know quite a few people who don't have one and I just don't get it, I would miss mine loads if it broke on me!

Now, let me just say that we don't live off ready meals. In fact, any ready meals we do get I usually put in the oven as it cooks them better. But you can do soooooooooooo much with a microwave.

DH is fab at batch cooking, so it's used loads to defrost stuff (I have a terrible memory and always forget to take stuff out of the freezer in the morning).

Our hob was out of action for ages recently when we were wrangling with the insurance company, and the microwave really came into it's own then. We used it to cook rice, pasta and mashed potatoes. In fact, we've carried on doing rice in the microwave as for some reason it's easier to get the proportions right and it doesn't come out soggy. We used it to soften onions etc before we popped them in the slow cooker, and it's great for steaming veg.

I cook porridge in it, in bowls so we don't have a pan to wash too. And heat up milk /melt cheese / butter as needed.

I think microwaves are FAB!

I used to have a microwave but you've just made me realise I haven't had one for about 11 or 12 years.

I don't miss it and when I went on holiday, we had a microwave in the chalet and I couldn't work out how to use it

I'd live on sandwiches if it wasn't for my microwave. I don't know how my poor children will get on in life . I batch cook, my husband works shifts, its an absolute godsend.

Ahhh, I suppose you don't miss what you've never had (or haven't had for a very long time). But when the hob was broke we really would have lived off ready meals and pizzas without the fab piece of kit that is our (rather old) microwave!

I wouldn't know what to cook in it to be honest?

If my hob broke, I'd just carry on using the oven I suppose.

Looking back, I was pretty unadventurous and only used it to defrost and re-heat anyway

I don't have one, and don't want one.
I used to have one years ago, it blew up, and I couldn't afford to replace it. By the time I could, months later, I realised I didn't miss it.

I batch cook too, you can heat the food in a pan on low, we don't really eat ready meals, and anything that comes in a tin can go on the hob.

No problem with them, I just don't need one.

Hmmn, we're just so used to using ours all the time. I think for a long time I felt a bit bad about having one as they do smack of being a bit of a lazy arse in the kitchen. But now we seem to use it to help us do "proper" cooking (as I'm a grown up now, scary!), I actually think it's a little bit wonderful....

I haven't had an oven for nearly ten years now, so my microwave is my best friend (although I have recently since I came here been unfaithful with a slow cooker )

And I just thought goes all misty eyed I can remember when microwaves were the very lastest thing, and my parents went to buy one. The shop had a big "gala day" event and we got sweeties and balloons, and my mam even had a glass of wine! and we bore it home in triumph, and everyone came round to view it It was quite the sensation and the size of a house

redspottedfrog can I ask which one you have? (and others who like theirs)... ours doesn't have any digital controls for the time, just a wheel you turn, so you don't know how long it's going to heat for. And the minimum time seems to be about a minute! Drives me nuts, you have to stand there counting and not forget it's in there. But 'twas cheap.. I want one that doesn't cost a fortune but with digital controls where I can set whatever time I want (none of this 'pizza', 'soup', 'chicken' options, or at least, not only that kind). As for 'this would be better if we had a microwave', heating up tea/coffee that's gotten a bit cool, same with dinner ... particularly drier foods that would maybe burn or stick to a pan, I guess. I use it. Would like it more if I could control it! Any thoughts?

Mine is ace. It's a combination one so has an oven and a grill and gets used far more than my range cooker oven.

On the days the kids are at nursery they are always starving as it's 6 when I pick them up, so it's good to be able to reheat something that I have batch cooked for them really quickly.

Yes I could reheat food in the oven, but you'd have to wait ages for it to heat up and then 1/2 an hour for the food to heat through, by which point it would be bedtime for the kids and I might as well have cooked from scratch.

I couldn't live without it, but different strokes...

For what I use my microwave for it is a waste is space.

I use it to heat up milk and warm up pasties for myself, I store my bread in there as well

afussy we've got a pretty old Sanyo one (DH has had it for about 14 yrs I think!). It goes up in 15 second chunks, and we only use the "reheat" and "defrost" settings even though it's got other buttons on it that are are for specific things. Reheat and defrost works for us though!

My best microwave was an old Sanyo. It lasted for nearly 10 years before giving up. I then bought another Sanyo which lasted 364 days, they replaced it and the replacement lasted about 366 days. I then bought a Panasonic which is ok, but not as good as my old Sanyo.