The FastDay Forum

The difference between making porridge in a microwave and cooking it on the stove is staggering. No more 'Scouring out the porridge pot - round and round and round!'

We use ours all the time - the odd veg every now and again, potatoes, etc, defrosting stuff, reheating hot drinks.

Never used it as described in the OP. Good luck with that, John!

Just remembered - I make a delicious chocolate cake in the microwave. A small one - with three 50g portions - can be made in as little as 7 minutes - calorie counted for 5:2:

http://nobreadisanisland.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/52-diet-cake-in-mug-vegan.html

I barely use mine. It's only ever been there to defrost food or reheat leftovers and I have never cooked with it - I don't think I'd know how. As I work from home, I usually take stuff out of the freezer in the morning and leave it to defrost and it's very rare I reheat something in it - mostly it goes into a pan on the hob. The current one is under 5 years old but on the face of it I'm unlikely to replace it when it goes.

Hi John I use my actifry for the occassional chips which come out superb. I use my Lean Mean Grilling machine (mouthful) for cooking bacon, chicken used with a rub tastes great use my slow cooker for various things like stews, soups (batch) one pot joint etc. I use my steamer for fish, chicken and veg and the only use I have for the micro is rehaeating!

So I rarely use the micro but on the other hand I do enjoy cooking hence why I have all these gadgets

I couldn't live without mine because I tend to cook in bulk and reheat (I'm mostly cooking for one). Also, I cook a lot of Indian food, which responds well to reheating - SO much easier in a microwave. Couldn't be doing with the constant pot-washing that heating on a stove would require!

Health issues? Well. There are so many question marks over so much stuff (radiation from electronic gadgets, non-stick cookware, so many others), I've given up worrying about most of it and just try and find the best balance I can between health and convenience.

Or, in the case of food, between health and greed!

May I just add that my slow cooker is waking up tomorrow, the need for a green lentil slo-pot has arrived as I attempt a 20/4 day and the weather looks appalling. Having a good meal at the end of all that will help.
Never encountered a halogen oven, tell me more :0)

May I just add that my slow cooker is waking up tomorrow, the need for a green lentil slo-pot has arrived as I attempt a 20/4 day and the weather looks appalling. Having a good meal at the end of all that will help.
Never encountered a halogen oven, tell me more :0)

http://www.myhalogenoven.co.uk/
There you go Azureblue, that explains it far better than I ever could!

I use my microwave heaps, also halogen oven is my preferred way to do roasts and have even taken one camping a few years in a row along with a tiny microwave. We did roasts each evening with salads. We had a powered site, probably will shock the camping purists but for us cooks it was time saving and a simple way to do the evening meals with some leftovers for the sandwiches the next day. We played scrabble and had a wine while dinner cooked

I will have to google for images of kerlian photos rawkaren but I do use Pyrex containers to ping my food in microwave, to defrost, steam vegs and reheat. I have my microwaves built in above the oven for years now as being on the bench annoyed me space wise

The slow cooker is a winter must have in our house and I am still operating on 2 crock pots I do the prep work on a gas cook top then bung it all in the crock pot so I can get on with other stuff. Yesterday was a scrumptious Kashmiri Curry. I find using the crock pot, halogen oven and microwave saves on power and in summer kitchen doesn't get hot

John--After 30 or so years of owning one, our latest microwave died recently. We decided to try life without one and now hardly miss it at all. It's just as easy to steam things on the stove top and to put OH's coffee in a thermos awaiting his pleasure as it is putting it in a mug for him to heat in the mv, for instance.

I had to google halogen oven, though--sounds interesting, but at our age, downsizing our possessions is the ticket, not acquiring more stuff.

I have a small microwave that I use a lot, for defrosting, porridge, reheating, steaming veg, the odd cook chill meal, all sorts. Wouldn't be without it. I used to have a big all singing, all dancing one but didn't use it for anything other than microwaving really so it was a bit of a waste.

I have a slow cooker that I use in winter but each year I forget what the settings are and can't use it until I have dug out the instructions!

I also have a halogen oven that was bought as a present. I have used it a couple of times but just don't 'get it' don't you have to have small round oven proof dishes and tins? Can anyone @gillymary maybe? give me some pointers as I would love to use it but not sure how. Thanks

I use my microwave a lot-though I don't really cook in it. Reheating, scrambling and poaching eggs are it's main uses but I opulent be without it. I certainly wouldn't be without my slow cooker either epically in the winter. I often prepare a casserole for the next day and put it on as I co to bed-a hangover from working days I guess.

I use my microwave for warming the milk when making scones, reheating rice (it makes it lovely and fluffy) and syrup sponge puddings - which take about 6 minutes (result!). Apart from that it's really only used by my son and daughter when they come in from work to reheat their dinner - which has got to be quicker than steaming on a plate over a saucepan of water, which is what my mum used to do. So I could get rid of it quite easily really as I certainly don't do any of my cooking in it (apart from the syrup sponge you understand ) - but I guess my grown up kids would miss it, so I'd rather not give it up

I had no idea we can do scrambled eggs with the microwave.

Mine also have an alarm and several useful tools so it really impossible to live without it. On the other hand I think my parents could get rid of theirs as they don't really use it.

Mine is very useful to melt chocolate to make a ganache and I find it really useful to warm up milk as it never burns and the washing up is much easier.

Now, I compare it to the internet, I lived without it for most of my life and now it would be very difficult to live without it as it became an everyday tool.

I have 2 electric hobs, so not really useful, and my oven is an electric oven, so not very useful either so the microwave is the most reliable appliance of the 3. I can understand, however, that with proper hobs and a good oven, one can live without it

I make meals for my son on my home-days, and he microwaves them on the days I'm at work, and he wants to eat before I get home. I'm sure its cheaper and safer for him to do that, than warm up over a steaming saucepan. I warm up coffee in it, and make cauli-rice, and a few other things, so I find it very useful. Mine is a combi oven, and I use it as a conventional oven a lot, as I love the timer.

No way I could give up my microwave!

got many uses for it, its a good few years old too and the plate doesn't even rotate anymore but it works!!
if we ditched everything those called scientists told us to, then we might as well stop living!
just my penny's worth

Well, I actually have TWO microwaves in my kitchen

One is also a combi oven, and I use it every day. The oven is small, quick and efficient, and the microwave function is used for cooking peas (my husband has to have peas almost every day or he gets withdrawal symptoms) and heating milk etc.

The other microwave was bought fairly recently. It's a dinky little one that fits into a corner; it has a round back so it can be angled. I bought it because my nearly nine year old twins are not able to reach the combi microwave which is in the top of an oven stack, and I won't let them stand on a stool to fetch hot thing in and out. They enjoy the independence of being able to use the microwave. Also, I use this small countertop microwave when melting chocolate (I do sugarcraft/cake decorating/chocolate work) as it is much more conveniently placed for my work area, a better height for constant stirring, and also has a turntable, which the combi doesn't.

I steam my porridge on the hob though. Much better than either a pan or the microwave, as you simply set the timer for 15 minutes and walk away! No stirring, no sticking or burning, and if you take 18 minutes in the shower instead of 15, the moist heat keeps the porridge ticking over nicely.