To tell MIL to stop cooking food like that

[Ohhbaby]

My mother in law defrosts food, especially meat in the plastic packages / clingwrap that it comes in, in the mocrowave. Or sometime she will pop it in one of those ziplock bags and take it out of the freezer and pop it in the microwave for 10 or 20 minutes to defrost.

When it comes out that plastic is sooo hot. And it's so bad for our health. And it is not like she just pops it in plastic Tupperware(which is bad enough), it is literally clingwrap.

I know we can not side step every health hazard, I mean there is pesticide and microplastic in probably all our food, but I feel like we should try and sidestep those that we can.

I have 2 small children, 18 months and 3 years and pregnant with our 3rd. I really really dislike the thought of my children eating that meat .

Would you say something to your MIL or not?
How would you say it?
With my own mom I feel very comfortable to say something. "Ooh mom did you know it's really bad for our health if you do xyz"
But I feel like my MIL is sensitive. My husband grew up drinking hot chocolate in his bottle, and eating lost of sugar and processed food. So I'm already always saying, "aw mom thank you but we prefer them not to have sweets every half an hour etc.
We have different ways of doing things, especially health wise. I don't want her to continuesly feel like I know better and am questioning her decisions, but man, it's bugging me so much!

Pick up meal ingredients en route... Simple tea next night. Take away the next..

Most places use a microwave for something or other. For example, melting chocolate.

To be honest you don't have a clue what happens in cafe/ restaurant kitchens!

Has it made you ill?

I don't cook in the microwave, but I use it a lot:

Melting butter
Melting chocolate
Making chocolate fudge icing
Making the odd mug cake (Actually it is DD who does this)
Making porridge
Making custard if using custard powder
Reheating/defrosting frozen meals that I have cooked
Heating baked beans snap pots
Reheating tea/coffee/hot chocolate that has cooled down too much before I finish drinking them
Making popcorn
Disinfecting dishcloths and wash up sponges
Softening butter for baking
Warming tortillas
Toasting nuts and sunflower seeds
Starting off baked potatoes to reduce cooking time in the oven
Heating wheat bags

100% of people who defrost meat in the microwave, go on to die... 100%!

(off on a tangent, reminds me of the advert that used to claim drinking green tea reduced your chances of dying by 5%; I used to think a 1/20 shot at immortality might be worth drinking green tea).

What does 'defrost naturally' mean?

I'm DOOMED!

LOL at the poster who thinks she doesn't eat any microwaved food when she eats out 😂

there are quite a few studies that show that plastic particles end up in food when heated in the microwave. it is a risk to health to adults and children.

you have a few options:

the best one is to ask your dh to speak to your mum

when you are there, go do some shopping and buy some nice cuts of meat or fish and then offer to cook them as a treat. say something like i want you to put your feet up. let me look after you etc

in the morning, ask what are we having? why don't I take it out of the freezer?

@baileybrosbuildingandloan my great aunt lived to 94. She was fuelled largely on black coffee, cigarettes, and spite. She never threw food away and used to simply cut moldy pieces off before nuking in microwave to make it “safe”. She was as healthy as a horse nonetheless. Smoked 40 a day too.

Just say you've ready horror stories about plastic and ask her to cover it with kitchen paper instead. Is she really that touchy?

@sandyhappypeople I assume she means defrost it slowly at room temp or in the fridge. Not in the microwave.

I actually think research is becoming clearer and clearer on this. It is bad!
Maybe some of the other posters like @BonheursTrousers framed their answers better and you could read that

Yes!

Microwaves DO have a defrost function with set times for different meats and weights (if not on the microwave then in the handbook)

I never use it as it makes the edges tough but some must otherwise it wouldn't be a function

Lots of nice restaurants pre-prepare and do use microwaves.

It's depressing. Microplastics are already in our water, in our bodies, in our breast milk. There's no way to avoid it completely, especially when you also think about air pollution, surfaces cleaners, not to mention processed foods, general diet and so on. It depresses me that every week there is some study or news article on how toxic we make our environment to us. One of the more recent ones I read was how melamine plates, when you put in hot food, releases chemicals that leach into your food, so we've stopped giving DC hot food off melamine plates. 🤦‍♀️

Sorry for the very unscientific rant. But the posts that say "I do this and I'm fine" annoy me so much. No it's not going to kill you soon, but it's one of many sources of toxic chemicals that are slowly building up in your body. Why put yourself at more risk of cancer or illness?

I think you shouldn't have to put up with the way your MIL prepares food but I don't think there's a way to address it without upsetting her. Maybe show her some articles from a source that she can't argue with.

I strongly advise you to chill out! Your child won't die or contract some serious disease from eating food that has been defrosted in a bit of plastic twice a year. Far more harm could occur from tensions that arise by you falling out with in laws.

Seriously, a child is more likely to have physical and MH ailments if there is stress between parents or family members, and you rapping her over the knuckles for eating differently from you when she is clearly healthy will do more harm than good. You could end up with longer term tension between you and your partner too.

In the same way you won't want her telling you how to look after your kids, she won't want told how to cook in her own home. If you're bothered then don't eat there or pretend you've all turned vegetarian!

I hate to break it to you but I used to work in silver service and we even heated the bread rolls in the microwave for 30 seconds before serving them. The diners always used to rave over how great it was to get hand-baked bread that was clearly fresh out of the oven.

It had never seen an oven since the moment it left Warburton's.

I hope if these are your principles that you ask hard questions to ensure you're getting what you think you're getting.

Yes, we both are! Although hopefully from old age, not defrosting in a microwave x also, isn't this exactly why microwaves were invented?!

So do I put not in a freezer bag or clingfilm! One is designed to be microwaved and the other will leach plastic into your food.

@kitsuneghost I know microwaves have that function and people do use it. I just don’t personally like to, so I don’t.

But her a set of Pyrex dishes "so you can defrost the food easier"

Why not buy her a suitable gadget? Tell her that you and DH have been reading all about micro plastics and what it does to children [she won't give a monkeys about you] and you've started using this utterly marvellous defrosting box. It's so good you've bought one for her and for your mum. Big smile and lots of enthusiasm. She's more likely to use it while you are there, OR take stuff out earlier if she's taken offence but won't say anything out of politeness.

@kitsuneghost sorry, I got the wrong end of the stick re which message you replied to. Yes, I know the MIL is using the microwave to defrost and I know they have defrost settings. I was responding to someone who wanted to know what “defrost naturally” meant.

Most places that you go to.