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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not have known I SHOULD put a metal spoon in the microwave?

176 replies

Meme69 · 13/03/2021 07:56

I've owned my microwave for 6 years. Clearly I'm not the most observant person in the world because I've spent my whole life panicking about accidentally putting metal in the microwave. Today I noticed a sticker on mine (inside the door-see picture) that clearly shows I should use a spoon when heating fluids. Couldn't believe it, so I got out the manual. Sure enough, it says I should always put a metal spoon into fluids whwn heating them, but not let it touch the sides of the microwave!!

How did I not know this. I've spent all my life believing if I put something metal in the microwave it will combust into flames!! Am I the only person in the world who didn't know this?

OP posts:
Ddot · 15/03/2021 05:28

@Stoppissingonmyheather
If you read the op you would know why I said that. I personally couldnt be bothered but you can do it. If you dont have a hob you can boil eggs in a microwave, say at work. I also gave the reason why you would put a spoon in liquid.

poshme · 15/03/2021 07:04

My microwave sparked when i defrosted some frozen blackberries.

Why?

paintedpanda · 15/03/2021 07:19

@TheGirlWhoLived

I put a little thing of butter in the microwave and it burst into flames (had a metal wrapper) that didn’t touch the sides!

Are you sure you have it right!?

I did exactly this when I was about 13 Blush
myneighbourisaCF · 15/03/2021 08:52

my microwave actually came with a metal shelf that allows you to stack plates above each other! i have been too scared to use it but the instructions clearly state i can! It does have rubber feet though...

bemusedmoose · 15/03/2021 10:05

i have accidentally put a cup with metal details on in the microwave - didnt touch the sides and there were huge arcs and sparks and flashes. Wont lie - thought it was going to explode!

Have also accidentally done porridge, taken it out to stir and whacked it back in with the spoon in it - was like a solar flare for the second it was in there before i realised and whacked stop.

It certainly isnt normal to tell you to put metal in and definitely not something most people can put in!

chocorabbit · 15/03/2021 10:35

I have not RTFT and please DO take what I say with a pinch of salt but does your microwave have a grill too? Ours has a metal base and I also freaked out when I saw it. But then I realised I could microwave lukewarm takeaways in their metal containers! But we couldn't have done it in the ealier model.

chocorabbit · 15/03/2021 10:36

I also remember MIL boiling milk in a small pan and she had told me that if you leave a metal spoon it will not flood. Of course the spoon will be too hot to touch with bare hands.

chocorabbit · 15/03/2021 10:38

@LunchWithAGruffalo

Our Bosch has the same sticker, I'm not great at remembering after years and years of avoiding putting any metal in. We always have the metal shelf in and do use metal dishes when using the combi settings.

I've only seen it on the combination microwave ovens, I presume they work in a different way.

Oh, I see it has already been metnioned. But read the instructions everyone!
apalledandshocked · 15/03/2021 11:16

@evilkitten

For a party trick, if you put a lightbulb (filament, not led) floating in a bowl of water into a microwave, it lights up.
And then my house exploded Sad
apalledandshocked · 15/03/2021 11:18

Off topic, did anyone else put crisp packets in the microwave to shrink them into tiny versions of crisp packets that could be attached to your pecil case? They would always spark threateningly. I guess kids these days are too busy with their tik-toks and gender-fluids and flossing. (shakes head sadly)

apalledandshocked · 15/03/2021 11:20

@Sunrainsnow

When I was a teenager I remembered how people used to put crisp packets in the microwave which would make them shrink. They would turn them into little jewellery and things. I thought I would give it a go. The thing was it wasn't the microwave it was the oven. Being made out of foil you can imagine the sparks. Incidentally it did shrink the crisp packet, but it is not a method I would recommend.
Missed this, me too!
toffeebutterpopcorn · 15/03/2021 11:27

We did it in the oven... but crisp packets weren’t metallic back in the day...

GravityFalls · 15/03/2021 11:43

Microwave porridge tip - you need a much bigger bowl than you think, and cover it with WET kitchen roll. It still explodes but just on to the kitchen roll which is easy to peel off and throw away. Microwave remains clean!

chocorabbit · 16/03/2021 11:02

I tried it today and the milk was for once warm and not hot at the top and cold later on!! Thanks, OP!!! Smile

Aweebawbee · 16/03/2021 11:42

Yup. Tried it yesterday with thick soup in a bowl. I thought that the spoon would be burning hot when I removed it, but no, just warm.

Thanks OP. An education.

Devlesko · 16/03/2021 11:58

YABU

Metal doesn't go in the microwave at all. It tells you in the instruction book.

RandomLondoner · 16/03/2021 12:05

DW told me this about our Neff microwave. She had nothing to do with choosing or installing it and would never think of reading a manual, so imagine my surprise when she turned out to be right. (Apparently I had read the manual and told her this, when we got it. She remembered me telling her, I didn't remember anything!)

RandomLondoner · 16/03/2021 12:07

I wonder if a spoon would have prevented my recent soup problem. I put half an M&S soup carton in a bowl, two minutes into heating it exploded and covered the top of the microwave in soup. Then when I tasted it, the remaining soup wasn't even hot enough to eat!

magimedi · 16/03/2021 12:12

This thread made me remember this site:

UNWISE EXPERIMENTS WITH MICROWAVES

Ddot · 16/03/2021 15:37

RandomLondoner
I posted the issue and why you put spoon in liquid, you can get a hot, cold spot in liquid, this can cause liquid to mini explode. Inserting a spoon in liquid, heats it evenly.

Soontobe60 · 16/03/2021 15:55

@apalledandshocked

Off topic, did anyone else put crisp packets in the microwave to shrink them into tiny versions of crisp packets that could be attached to your pecil case? They would always spark threateningly. I guess kids these days are too busy with their tik-toks and gender-fluids and flossing. (shakes head sadly)
Yep, and also make ash trays out of LPs by dunking them in boiling water and pressing over an upturned bowl.
toffeebutterpopcorn · 16/03/2021 17:53

And plant pots. Did we have the same 70s craft book?

Sweetpea1532 · 17/03/2021 03:59

Happened to me on Saturday with coffee I was reheating!
And the again right after...

I am a bit slow...the next time I heated a cup of water, took the cup out, added a coffee packet, and woosh! Coffee erupted out of the cup like a volcano, flowed over on to the worktop, and down into the three drawers. Second giant mess I had to clean up for the day.

To not have known I SHOULD put a metal spoon in the microwave?
Ddot · 17/03/2021 05:27

you cant sleep either

Helixer · 19/11/2023 20:01

You can definitely put spoons in the microwave. Fork can be put in there also as long as they are not really thin metal cheap ones although they won't damage the microwave. All metal silverware will heat up to temps that will burn you. The only thing that will cause any major reaction is thin metal like tin foil and gold or silver leaf on dishes. Thin metal and crumpled thin metal of any kind. So all the wives tales are false. The walls of the microwave are metal! That is all the info needed to answer this question.🤓