Do you really need a microwave? Tips to remove this space hog from your kitchen.

The world has been bonking me over the head with talks about microwaves, so I figured it was time for me to write a blog post about them.

I’m not here to scare you, or make health claims for or against microwave usage. I want to talk about its place in the modern homestead kitchen and if it really even has one.

I’ll start this off by telling you, we do not have a microwave in our kitchen. We have one (that came with our house) down in the basement, because we are hoarders of “things” and just haven’t thought to get rid of it. Now that I’ve typed this out… I am going to go post it on our local “Buy Nothing” page to gift to someone who feels they need it.

We initially moved the microwave out of our kitchen because our kitchen is small, and microwaves take up precious counter or cabinet space that we can’t afford to give up.

Last week I was standing at my daughter’s school with the other “walker” parents waiting for our children to be let out of school and one of the dads was talking about some reusable hand warmers that he was gifted for Christmas this year a how much he loved them. I was thinking out loud and mentioned that I hadn’t used those in a while because I didn’t know how I would heat them up since I didn’t have a microwave, and in the same breath mentioned that I could probably put them on warm in the oven.

The two parents I was chatting with looked at me with their mouths agape. “You don’t have a microwave?” “Do you just not eat leftovers?” We ended up having a great conversation, and then this week at pickup one of the moms said that she had purposefully tried to avoid using her microwave over the weekend to see how it would go.

If you have never thought about giving up your microwave, give it a whirl, test out a weekend, see how it goes.

If you are sitting and reading this saying you could never possibly give up your microwave, let’s talk about the things that you use it for, and the reasons you like it, and see if we can find some replacements.

I buy “x,y,z” foods and a microwave is required to heat them up. How will I eat them?

Most of those type of foods offer a convection oven option, but I would encourage you to take a look at the nutrition in those foods, or the lack there of, and eliminate them from your regularly consumed foods list. Most likely any food “requiring” a microwave to heat it up is going to contain some ingredients that we should be avoiding. Premade and convenience foods that have wildly long ingredient lists. Other foods “requiring” a microwave for heating purposes might also involve you heating up your food in a disposable plastic or paper lined in plastic. Heating plastics is a big “no no” in our house.

If eliminating a microwave from your house helps you to eliminate some of these “ready-to-heat” foods it might be a great first step. Eliminating “ready-to-heat” foods from your diet is a great way encourage eating healthier and more wholesome foods. 

How do you reheat leftovers? It must take so long.

In definitions of homesteading you will often hear the words “slowing down” or “back to basics.” These phrases really are a big part of the homesteader mindset.

Reheating food without a microwave, gives you the time and option to make adjustments that will help those leftovers taste even better.

My three favorite microwave alternative ways to reheat food:

On the stove in cast iron – we use this method most often to reheat pizza. I like to add a little bit of olive oil to the pan, put it on super low and put a glass lid on top of it. Lodge makes glass lids specifically to fit their pans. This creates a nice crispy crust. Make sure you keep it on a low setting though or you will end up with a black crust.

On the stove in stainless – this is the preferred method for leftover pastas, if I am reheating a cream based pasta (like mac and cheese) I will add a little milk or cream to the pan along with the leftovers to keep them just as moist and creamy as they were the first go ‘round.

In the oven – leftover lasagna goes in the oven to be reheated. I often will do it in the same pan (as long as we are going to be eating all of the leftovers). I will add a little water to the pan and cover with foil, again, to keep it moist for its second go ‘round. Just make sure that if your lasagna pan is ceramic or glass that you let it come up to room temperature before putting it into the oven.

I use my microwave to defrost meat quickly. How do you deal with frozen protein that you forgot to take out of the freezer on time?

Some days I will just pivot my plan for that night and choose to cook something that I know that I can throw in the instant pot without thawing first. If you really need a specific meat for that night, put it under cool, running water until thawed. It won’t be as quick as a microwave, but its faster than thawing in the refrigerator and safer than just thawing it on your countertop.

How do you soften or melt butter for a recipe?

I used to always soften or melt butter in the microwave, and you know what? It was always a game of stopping and restarting the timer to make sure that it doesn’t start bubbling, but that it was still melted. Some solutions, if you are baking, would the recipe be even better with browned butter? When browned butter isn’t an option I do one of two different things. I add my butter to a pyrex bowl and put it on our glass top stove on low, or I put the bowl into our toaster oven on the warm setting.* Both work well, but I find that I use the toaster oven to soften, and the stove top to melt.

*If you use these methods, the glass bowl does get hot, handle with care and oven mitts or thick towel.

The mom who shared with me that she had given it a shot, said that her weekend was not really all that different, but she did feel that there was more intention in her cooking that weekend, and I really think that is a big part of what it is all about. It was really only 2 generations ago that microwaves were not available, that life took a little longer, and required us to be more purposeful with our daily actions.

We can feel purpose in our lives doing many things, but bringing that intention into your home rather than focusing it on outside things will provide so much more reward to you and your family.

Do you still have a microwave? Have you thought about ditching it? What is holding you back?

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