Do you all have microwave ovens?

[oliveoil]

Am thinking of whether to get a microwave oven.

I make the majority of dd's food and at the moment reheat it in a pan. However, I have been mainly making casserole/pasta/rice type sludge (!) and want to move on to shepherds pies/bakes etc and these would take ages to reheat in a normal oven, but mins in a microwave. Also want to make chicken nugget type things, but how to reheat apart from a microwave?

Only thing is, it would only be used for her food as I have never really used them so think it may be a waste of money.

I don't have a microwave - simply because when I did have one I didn't use it at all. I also made all DD's food but she had the same as us then pureed. Now she is 19mths she still has the same as us and at the same time - she has lunch at the childminders that I provide which is a cold packed lunch and she has her main meal in the evening with us. How old is your dd?

OliveOil - if it's only going to be used for dds food you can buy them pretty cheap nowadays for about 40 quid I think. I'm sure these will be fine for simple reheating. I mainly use mine for reheating, warming milk, baked spuds etc. They're usefel for defrosting aswell.

OO - How have you survived this long???

You say it would only be used for dd's food. Perhaps at the start it would, but you'd quickly start using it for loads of other stuff. I find it handy for heating up things like bean. It's much more convenient to dirty a small plastic tub that it is to use a pot. We don't have a dishwasher so keeping dishes to a minimum is priority!

I also use mine for making scrambled eggs and gravy. And baked potatoes which I finish in the oven. They taste just like oven cooked ones, but only take 15 mins.

They are also good for giving oven cooked food an extra blast just tomake sure they are hot all the way through.

And I just don't know how I could cope without it for defrosting stuff! I'm not organised enough to defrost meat for 12 hours before using it. 5 mins in the microwave and hey presto!

We use ours for jacket spuds (has a grill so not too soggy) and perfect frozen peas. It also has a "gratin" setting which is ideal for frozen shepherds pie/lasagne things, you ignore the normal instructions and cook by weight and they get browned. And you can make steamed sponge puds in no time. And soften butter. And defrost things you forgot to get out of the freezer in time. Probably worth getting one with a grill and some programmes rather than a dead basic one.

Not sure about the nuggets - you can do frozen shop ones in a frying pan with a little oil, I don't think they would be nice microwaved (see Tansie's thread about cold stew and microwaved fish fingers!)

Message withdrawn

I use mine for defrosting things, warming bottles, re-heating food (you're right, it's very quick), cooking baked beans, jacket potatoes etc. Mine has a grill so I use it to do sausages and so on sometimes. It's also a convection oven and I'd really recommend getting one that can be used in this way - it's great to be able to use it as a conventional oven if I'm doing a roast and don't have room for everything in my main oven - I can use my microwave to roast the potatoes or the chicken.

Oh yes and I use mine to steam vegetables. I bought a steamer from Asda for about £3. Much healthier way of cooking them.

Couldn't be without mine. Lots of reheating and defrosting. Also jacket pots in minutes, and veg cooked in a bag from freezer (birds eye) for those times when you need to make a meal in a big hurry.

My tip is to make tomato based pasta sauces and freeze in ice cubes. When i make my kids pasta I just defrost 2 or 3 cubes heat for a few secs and stir into pasta. If lots of kids for tea, defrost more cubes. Very handy - you can also do this with jars of ready made sauce and it saves wasting loads if only needing a small amount.

Thanks all!

I did used to have one but when we came back we didn't bother replacing it and haven't missed it for 2 years. Dd has her tea at 5pm when I get in from work, we don't eat till 7 when she goes to bed (far more civilised. But bad parentish ). Dh makes a lot of curries and she won't eat them as they are too spicy, so I make up different meals and freeze them.

DSW - she is nearly 15 months

You have got me thinking about potatoes now, that was one thing I used to make, 10 mins in the micro and finished off to crisp in the oven, mmmmmmmmmm

I don't have a microwave or a dishwasher

Kayleigh - good tip on the pasta sauce in cubes, might nick that one.

Help yourself oliveoil

ks - I've only done broccoli and sugarsnap peas so far. They have turned out okay. I like them quite under done though.... with a ccrrrrrunch!

Yep I think ill nick the pasta sauce idea too - very good idea, i do the same for DS purees never thought of it for the rest of us!

Well that's one for the Tips section then. Shall submit that now !

We have a microwave but only use it for the speed. They are brill for jacket potatoes which we then put in the oven to crisp up. Also for heating milk etc.

I don't have one - had one years ago.... don't miss it.

I have one; it's convenient, esp. for jacket spuds, but I still don't like it.
I thought... not to start another stilly food scare -- but I understood that microwaves denature proteins. So best not to heat any high protein foods in there (like milk or meat). That's why we don't cook in it.

Oh no zebra, so what does that mean for baby milk? eeek.

Zebra - Dredging my memory for info from my Biology degree..... ALL proteins denature at a temperature above 40 degrees centigrade. So it's nothing to do with Microwaves, it's the heat... HTH folks.

Oh and it doesn't really make any difference to the nutritional value of it.... as far as I know.

and the vitamins stay in veg better

my dh bought me one for Christmas, (they are not very common here, and so we were a bit wary, didn't want to appear "rich" and I have used it every day since. Defrosting is my main thing, and reheating ds's food (he often eats the same as us, but i do like a hot curry, and we sometimes have packet sauces which I'd rather he didn't yet) It is SOOOO much easier than the hot water thing we were doing before, and quicker, especially when I realise at 2 minutes to lunchtime that ds's lunch isn't ready.

Having said that, my mum has a aga, and I reckon if I lived at her house I'd probably never use a microwave, so maybe it all depends on if you live in gloucestershire!!