What to use instead of microwave ?

[Soher]

Never owned a microwave. A lot of people I know irl can’t get their heads around it and don’t believe me when I say I’ve never needed one, I haven’t until now.
I have a baby and I’ve no idea how to warm his food up that I’ve batched cooked.
For example last night I made salmon, sweet potato and kale , extra portions in Tupperware ready for meals this week but how do I reheat?
Do I give it cold? Warm in pan? Can I reheat salmon?

Gosh when my eldest was born we didn't have a microwave.. they were just become available and were £300.
I used to just put in a glass dish over a pan of boiling water.

You can reheat from frozen in a pan on the hob, make sure it's piping hot then leave to cool until it's a suitable temperature for eating. That's what I did 30odd years ago with my weaning children when I batched cooked and froze in ice cube trays. I would worry that it wasn't hot enough doing it in a bowl of hot water.
My baby granddaughter was living with me for a while decades later and at that point I bought a very basic microwave to reheat the batch cooked baby meals, it was much easier. I've still got that microwave but have very rarely used it after that time.

Fellow microwave denier here (although planning to buy one soon.) My baby is happy eating a lot cold, otherwise I heat things in a pan on the stove, in a dish in the oven with foil over, or in a Bain Marie type situation.

Agree . Just get a microwave. So much easier , no need to scrub pots or have food dried up .

Given you've never needed a microwave until now, and if you're hesitant to buy one, there are several ways you can effectively reheat baby food. You can gently warm the food in a small saucepan over low heat until it's heated through. Stir regularly to avoid any hotspots that could burn your baby's mouth. Another method is using a bain-marie or double boiler, where you place the food in a smaller pot or bowl over a larger pot of simmering water. This method heats food more gently, which can be perfect for preserving the nutrients in baby food. If you do consider buying a microwave due to its convenience, there are compact models that won’t take up much space but will make reheating quicker and easier.

Hey I don't have a microwave either, and I batch cook, I just re-heat using pots, pans or oven on low temp depending on the food.
Really easy actually.

Forgot to say that I don't have kids, I have a lot of free time, which is probably not OP's case.
If I had kids, I'd probably optimise for time and get a microwave.

A no brainier! A microwave would save time and money! How have you managed up til now?

More faffing about and a lot more expensive !

You’ve missed out on the joy of leftovers, then! Many a meal can be made from them.

I'm nearly 60, and I've never had a microwave either.
Equally, I've never had a baby, but I'm sure people were perfectly capable of reheating stuff before microwaves were invented!

Generally older people tend to live in bigger properties and have freezer space for batch cooking. If someone does batch cook, it’s generally at least partly with the aim of saving time in which case a microwave is needed.

When I was young I lived in a tiny rented flat with only the ice box in the fridge for freezer space so I didn’t cook more than I ate (I also ate out a lot).

So to answer your question, yes, being older (and therefore having more money and space) means I batch cook and deliberately have a lot more leftovers.

OP, just buy a cheap microwave. I promise you won't regret it.

We didn't have a microwave for a long time, heating up leftovers on the stove/in the oven not really an issue. If however you only want to heat up baby sized portions of something it's a pain in the bum. A microwave would be a sensible investment

Pan or oven. Depending on the food. Those foods I'd heat up on the hob. Microwave is not a necessity but it is convenient with kids.

I didn't have a microwave. If they are on purees or little portions of food I stored them in those glass aldi small yoghurt pots and then could reheat in a pan of warm water. But in general baby ate what we ate or squished it in his hair. So basically a warm face mask

You could put in a steaming basket in a pan. I sometimes add sliced left over roast meat to a pan of steaming veg for a leftover roast. Works really well, just don’t over do it as it won’t need long at all, especially salmon.

Salmon is probably the easiest bit to cook in small amounts. Just cut it up and cook the bit you are going to use. You can even freeze it and then cook from frozen like fish fingers.

In all honesty for a tiny one just steal a bit from your meals.

Reheat in a small saucepan on medium heat with a splash of water if needed, stirring often. Ok now I've given a real answer, how can you both not know that and not own a microwave 😂

Sorry not sure why I quoted a PPs post, just meant for the OP

I suppose people are just surprised that at the age of 31 you have never, ever reheated any food. Though I guess you have probably opened a can of beans or soup and heated that, which is of course reheating.

Even if you don't 'batch cook' (and I don't intentionally) surely you can't always be absolutely precise with portions. Soup, roast chicken, pies of any kind, lasagne, crumble - all of these things are not usually made for precisely 2 people so you end up with leftovers. How can people never eat leftovers?

Also, a previous poster said that the advice is never to reheat rice. That is absolutely not the advice. The advice is to make sure you cool cooked rice promptly if you are going to reheat it. If people never reheated rice all those delicious dishes such as fried rice and arancini would not exist.

What you need is a little diddy non stick milk pan. It’ll heat just as quick as a microwave.

I also don’t have a microwave anymore and never miss it.

Are you located anywhere near a large particle accelerator? I don’t know anything about physics but microwaves and all that, it’s all particles and shit, so maybe the scientists would be willing to recreate the effect of a microwave in their accelerator, maybe for a small donation to the research fund?

DH had beans for lunch.

Bean pan pic attached to show no issues with cleaning up.

Pic