Using microwaves

[kando]

Just wondered how often you all used your microwaves to heat up food? (A friend told me she'd heard something on the radio about cooking veges in the microwave and how it destroys most of the nutrients.)

I have a microwave/grill combi and use the grill most days for dd1, but use the microwave all the time to warm up food for the whole family, not just dds. And there I was thinking I was being good steaming all our veges - in a microwave steamer!!

We use ours all the time. It's a godsend. We use it to heat up both the children's and our food, bottles etc. However, we don't really use it for cooking veggies as we found it made them a bit rubbery IYSWIM. We now use a steamer that fits inside a saucepan and this keeps the food crisper.

Just read about this www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s973460.htm

Bummer!

Kando - the study only says that microwaving, steaming, pressure cooking and boiling were tested. It is quite possible that steaming in a microwave is not as bad as boiling in a microwave as the anti-oxidants will not leach out into the water.

Its only one study anyway - I use the microwave to de-frost and re-heat mostly, but also boil veggies in it sometimes (especially when making up a quick meal for dd). Can't decide whether to get the pans out or wait for someone to replicate the results.

I couldn't get the link to work but it's my belief that this study, and all the others that appear in the tabloids every day, are to be ignored. If the results are real at all they are very subtle and in the grand scheme of things don't matter at all. The important thing is that our kids eat veggies (and all the other good foods there are) and don't exist entirely on lollipops and coca cola. DON'T WORRY!!