10 Reasons Why I DON’T Miss Having a Microwave

10 Things I Don't Miss About Having a Microwave

10 Reasons Why I DON’T Miss Having a Microwave:

Eliminating Electronic Dependence in the Kitchen

 

I love my blogging community of homesteaders and food writers—they are experts at what they do.  Many of them have written about the dangers of using a microwave; there seems to be a healthy body of information out there about why a person should not use a microwave.  This is not that.

This is the practical side of not using a microwave and I won’t even touch upon whether it is or isn’t harmful to health.  I figure that people don’t care.  People are still eating margarine, refusing to wear seatbelts or helmets, and smoke cigarettes.  But as a highly practical individual, I want to instead appeal to your sense of logic.

We (Wilson and myself, pre-kids) used to live in Europe.  We learned to live quite well without a microwave, something that—having only been the part of the American home for 20 years—had become unbearably important.  I really did not feel the need to have one upon our return to the United States, but visiting family did and thus—it was a Christmas gift to us one year.  It swallowed my countertop and eventually made its way to Craigslist in my constant endeavor to keep things simple.
My friend Julia loves simplicity.  In fact, she authors a blog by that name: Simplicity for Julia, and she has officially been microwave-free for a full month.  She wanted me to pass along this encouragement to anyone considering the freedom (and free counterspace):

“Living without a microwave for the past month has been challenging, but as time continues, life without a microwave becomes easier.”

We (the Pantry Paratus crew) have not had a microwave this time around (yes, we fell off the wagon for awhile) for over 2 years.  I just burnt myself on a cup of coffee while using my parents’ microwave…

and so I am oh-so-inspired now to give you this list:

 Top Ten List of Things I Don’t Miss By Ditching the Microwave:

 

1.    Cleaning it.

2.    Scalding hot drinks and food.

3.    An icy-cold center to the food.

4.   Food that is ice cold in the center and yet still scalds your mouth.

5.   Mushy, slimy textures

6.    The weird smells foods take, not noticeable until you ditch the microwave altogether.

7.    Losing 1 whole countertop to the space hog!

8.    One more clock that’s wrong in the house.

9.    The hum-buzz, electronic beeping, and iridescent lighting that consumes the kitchen when in use.

10.    Food explosions, which brings us back to….cleaning it.

 

The Homestead Lady

Tessa, The Homestead Lady, wrote a nice email to me today, when I asked her to read this blog.  Did she agree?  Did I miss anything?  This is what she said:

We’ve been microwave free for several years now and so I had to think back to when we first ditched it and what that was like.  We never did use it for cooking since we don’t buy pre-packaged foods but we used it to warm leftovers and melt butter, that kind of thing.  I remember wondering what I would use instead of the microwave to do all those things and then I realized, duh, I’d use the stovetop and a pan.  It took longer to do those things but if it was inconvenient at first, its not now. 

 

That thing you said about food tasting and smelling weird – yeah, I didn’t realize it was the microwave until it was gone!  Gross.  Plus, once we got rid of the  microwave, we bought an air popper for popcorn.  Look, the space shuttle is cool and I’m really into indoor plumbing, but the 21st century is what it is because you can have air popped popcorn.  It tastes divine.  With butter melted on my stovetop.

 

One of the coolest things was that it cleared up all kinds of space on the counter and was one less blasted thing to clean and suck energy.  I have five kids; I’m full up on my quota of things that suck energy and need to be cleaned.  Know what I’m sayin’? 

 

There you have it….leave a comment and tell me what you DON’T miss…or perhaps why you’ve chosen to keep yours after all.  You know, I actually heard from another friend of mine about 5 reasons why she cannot give her microwave up!  I have to laugh–we do not all have the same gait as we walk our own journey to simplicity.

What about you?  Keeping it or ditching it?  What is your experience?

Keepin’ It Simple,

Chaya

 

10 Things I Don't Miss About Having a Microwave
10 Things I Don’t Miss About Having a Microwave

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Comments

tessa

posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 1:28:16 AM America/Denver

This was a great post, Chaya – you thought of several things I hadn’t! So don’t miss that nasty, ol’ thing!

chris

posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 7:37:14 AM America/Denver

I still have my microwave, but I finally taught my husband to boil a kettle on the woodstove rather than nuke it in the microwave. Softening butter and reheating pizza (a once a year treat) are the only chores my microwave is still used for. But it is also my stove ventilation and my stove light so I don’t want to lose it.

Amy @ Tenth Acre Farm

posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 8:22:32 AM America/Denver

I LOVE your top 10! We’ve been without a microwave for about three years now, and I also don’t miss any of the things you mentioned. It makes food taste like plastic or something weird. We make food from scratch, so the microwave had be come less important in our lives over time. Now it’s easy to melt butter or coconut oil in a pre-heating oven. The toaster oven warms up leftovers in 15 minutes. A few months ago I was staying with my mom to help her recover from surgery, and I got to remember what beverages taste like warmed up in a microwave. Blech.

Kathryn

posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 3:17:49 PM America/Denver

Love it. We ditched our microwave about four years ago and I don’t miss it one bit! Food that’s warmed in the oven just taste so much better it’s worth and extra couple of minutes.

Clare

posted on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 6:56:51 PM America/Denver

Using mine less and less. I have no problem getting rid of it, my husband is another story. We are getting ready to move and the microwave is staying. Do not plan on buying another one.

Cindy

posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2014 7:23:53 AM America/Denver

Four years ago, I decided to stop using my microwave. It was also my range hood and light, so it became a giant bread box. I used it like that until we put in new cabinets a year ago. It was hard at first, learning how to reheat things, but boy what a difference it made. Who knew leftovers could be so good!!

arlene

posted on Friday, December 5, 2014 10:37:58 AM America/Denver

I do use my microwave for some things – it uses less energy than heating up the stove or even a kettle…I don’t cook in it – basically I re-warm things…. I’m sad to say that, that convenience also saves food..? Without a microwave I’d probably end up having to throw out left overs – sad but true (would compost tho) It doesn’t help that I live alone….

Wanda Tolbert

posted on Saturday, December 6, 2014 8:44:09 AM America/Denver

I have a microwave now because it was given to me and I’m not buying another one when this one dies. I’ve lived several years in my life without one so here goes my rant. I have never used it for cooking, only to heat up leftovers. Even if you do buy prepackaged foods, the times to cook them are always wrong. You have to get to know your microwave and always adjust the times in your head. My toaster oven gets used far more and I like the texture of the food better (I live alone and don’t want to fire up the big oven for a small amount of food). I swear the coffee heated in the microwave doesn’t stay hot as long. I take food to work that does not need a microwave because there’s always a line for them and your lunch is half over by the time one is available (we have 8 of them and 200 people on my break). There too, each microwave is different and I can’t remember the idiosyncrasies of all of them. Microwave popcorn always tastes like the bag and I’m quite adept at making it on a stovetop. And there you have it from a part time microwave user.

Andrea

posted on Tuesday, December 9, 2014 6:46:36 AM America/Denver

We still have ours but I don’t use it much. I have lived without one for years, but my ex had to have one. And when we split, he left it with me. My teen uses it more when I have to work late to heat up food. But I do not really like it. I’m trying to talk her into a trial run totally without it. I would love to have the extra counter space.

Marcy Lundy

posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 9:33:30 AM America/Denver

I gave mine away in July when I moved to my new house. I wanted the extra counter space. I really didn’t use mine all that much, maybe for microwave popcorn, bought a popper. The popcorn is so much better! I heat my food in a little pan and it tastes so much better!

Karen W.

posted on Thursday, December 11, 2014 4:49:07 PM America/Denver

My microwave is getting old, and I have already decided not to replace it when it dies. The only thing I use it for is melting chocolate and butter and to reheat beverages. I can do that easily on my stove.

Scott

posted on Friday, December 12, 2014 12:46:38 PM America/Denver

I agree with Wanda. I only use mine to reheat and I know what times i need to put in for certain things. I don’t buy frozen foods but i live alone and like to cook big so i freeze a lot of things. I make frozen burritos but they take forever to to heat up in the toaster oven. So I will nuke it for 2 min to get the center thawed out. Then I put it in the toaster oven to heat it evenly and get a good texture. Its using 2 devices but its a lot quicker and provides a good end result. That alone makes it worth keeping for me. As for cleaning, that can be a pain. I nuke a bowl of water for few min and that loosens all the food splatter, maybe add a little vinegar if its really bad.

Judy

posted on Tuesday, December 16, 2014 6:25:07 AM America/Denver

For a real eye opener, boil water in your microwave and after cooling, use it to water your plants. After a week you won’t ever want to use a microwave again.

Patricia Tow

posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 11:04:29 AM America/Denver

I admire you gals for trying to live a clean simple life.. but I grew up in the almost dark ages without any of today’s fancy gadgets and some I can live without and some I would never give up such as my K-cup coffee maker, dehydrators, gas cook stove etc.. the microwave is not something I’ll give up either unless I can never afford another one.. I don’t cook in it, never have but it sure is handy to melt butter, pop corn and I’m not talking about the nasty microwave popcorn.. you can air pop corn in the microwave in any glass bowl.. I sometimes thaw meat in it and cleaning is no problem because I have covers on my dishes and it takes up no room in my kitchen since it’s an over the stove kind and is also the stove vent… sometimes I think the younger generation is heading backwards to what they think is the good old days.. the good old days weren’t actually good if you lived back then.. you have those choices we didn’t and each new labor saving device that came out was a blessing to us.. can you imagine living in an era when you had no choice but haul water bucket by bucket from the well, carry in wood to fire up a stove to heat the water so you could wash clothes, wring them out by hand and hang them out to dry whether it was winter, summer? if it were raining then you strung lines through out the house? Hot summer days the wood stove had to be fired up to cook breakfast, then again for lunch and again for dinner.. sweat pouring off your face you stood in front of it cooking and canning.. Not for me anymore, I’ll keep my lovely kitchen gadgets..

Tabitha

posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 12:07:15 PM America/Denver

Ours went out about 3 years ago and I really do not miss it. I was thinking about getting another one and was like nope I am good. It is above my stove so now I have a great place to store my bread and other items that have no reason being on the counter. I like making popcorn on the stove and everything taste better.

JulieBaby

posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 1:03:35 PM America/Denver

I still have my microwave but I very rarely use it. Two of our adult offspring are currently living at home, and they do use it, but when they move back out, one of them can take it with them if they like. I’ve wanted to get rid of the thing for years.

Karen in WA

posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 1:16:28 PM America/Denver

We still have ours. We rarely use it for its intended purpose of cooking/reheating foods. But it is indispensable for me. I have 3 black labs and a cat. Anything that is left out of the frig is in danger of being stolen and eaten by my 3 furry black partners in crime. (Yesterday they were left out loose by accident when we left the house and they ate a large baked Brie that was left on the counter to cool,,,) Anything that is defrosting has to be left in the microwave so that my furries can’t reach it off the counter and eat it.

Carolyn S.

posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 5:35:13 PM America/Denver

We recently were without a microwave for 3 months. Really hard at first. It got me remembering the decade of teaching our four children kitchen skills. At times when our microwave was busted, we had more small kitchen fires and other mishaps than when we had the availability of a microwave. For example, they would start a kitchen stove-top project and get distracted (before internet!), or leave items on the stove-top as they were igniting a burner! I realized how much safer I felt with a microwave, and for that reason, continued to teach them microwave skills, but ramped up the safety precautions during food preparation.

Daniel

posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 5:48:37 PM America/Denver

We got rid of our microwave because it was giving me real bad heart palpitations.

Patsy South

posted on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 7:33:03 PM America/Denver

I love my microwave, I cook around 50% of our food in it. I haven’t had any horror stories with my microwave. On our regular stove we set it on fire 3 times. Whoa close calls.

1 thought on “10 Reasons Why I DON’T Miss Having a Microwave

  1. I was ready to give mine up until my daughter reminded me that I needed it to warm up my rice bags for my knees and my neck. I have arthritis really bad and so does she. I had a toaster oven for years and I love them but when my last one died I got a toaster instead . That was not a good decision so I toss the toaster got back a toaster oven and now my toast is good.

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