Microwave virgin

[sausagedoesnotroll]

We have just bought a microwave for the first time mostly because I'm expecting DC2 in january and we expect to be having to sterilize bottles and other stuff which seems to be easier that way.

I have never had one before. People keep telling me how great they are, but so far all I have done is warm milk and make other things soggy and horrid and yet hotter than the surface of the sun.

Don't really do ready-meals, so other than that what are they good for? I'm particularly interested in anything reasonably healthy I can make DS for lunch before he goes to nursery and I go to work, which might be quicker than in a conventional oven.

I tend to use it for defrosting and reheating things like chilli, bolognese, cheese, curry sauces. It is good for starting off baked potatoes and then you can pop them in the over to finish off. Dont really use it for much else.

Just given in myself and got one - baby due in 12 days. Have so far used it for defrosting, reheating and jacket potatoes. Actually I have cooked dtd's veg in it in a covered jug - was amazingly effective and quick!

I have a recipe for microwave chocolate cake.

It's the only thing I make in the microwave. But we reheat leftovers regularly.

surely you must be a troll if you've never had a mircrowave before

I use ours mainly for re-heating food (2 mins t oreheat a plate full)
I wouldn't use it for sterlizing bottles, though.

and it's good for cooking one portion of beans, and jacket potatoes.

No, I genuinely never have had one. I left home before my parents bought one, lived in crappy student accommodation for years where they weren't supplied but you were also banned from bringing in your own electrical goods, and then in a succession of houses with kitchens so tiny we couldn't afford to give up the space on the work-surface.

I had to express a lot at the beginning with DS1 because I had long labour and he was too exhausted to feed straight from the boob to begin with. When I was doing this in the MLU immediately after having him they used a microwave to sterilize bottles/pumps etc. and it was really quick and easy. When we got home we used a plug-in sterilizer borrowed from a friend, but it was a real pain because we had nowhere to put it where it didn't steam the wallpaper off or get in the way all the time. Can't do that this time as DS1 is marauding all over the place and would inevitably scald himself with it, so microwave seemed like the preferred option.

I use ours for

• reheating food (dh sometimes comes home after we have eaten) or leftovers
• taking the chill of milk
• warming up my cuppa (that I didn't have a chance to drink before it got cold)
• heating/cooking frozen vegetables
• making custard (egg-free)
• defrosting food if I didn't think to get it out of the freezer in the morning

I use ours for:

• reheating already cooked food
• warming up cold tea/coffee
• getting butter to room temp for baking/spreading
• baked beans
• cooking broccoli when its just a small amount
• defrosting bread
• warming milk for hot chocolate
• warming tortillas or pancakes

My friend makes a chocolate cake/pudding thing in hers.