Comments on: Thoughts about Microwave Ovens!

By: Patricia

Patricia — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:21:32 +0000

You welcome Dot – glad I could be of some help….cooking for folks who can not retrieve nutrients from the GUT has really added a great deal to my knowledge base – thru trial and error…but when they told me my children as infants were failing to survive I had great motivation.

By: Dot

Dot — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:27:58 +0000

For all the people who have warned me about the harmfulness of microwaves, not one of them had any research to back it up. Thanks for yours!

By: Patricia

Patricia — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:28:03 +0000

Carla,
We do not have a toaster over or clothes dryer (gas or electric) because they are part of the worst for outgasing and putting bad things into the environment…as is the toaster….I have been researching convection, MW with temperature probes for a smaller unit and to replace the MW with a probe that gave up a couple of weeks ago.
Several of the German made ones are truly amazing on their energy efficiency….once again I will need to learn some new cooking strategies.
The unit that died is a combo MW oven above a wall mount electric oven. So I have to remove that huge unit and rebuild the cabinets. It gives me time to continue my research…
I do have a professional cook stove which has a gas cook top and convection oven. Love it for all the GF bread I make and meat cooking – convection makes the time shorter for running it – distributes the heat more effectively. I have a found a bread machine is more economical for these heavy duty breads than the big oven.
Let me know what your research turns up! Let’s compare notes?

By: Carla

Carla — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:15:34 +0000

@Patricia – Thank you for your response! I was thinking of getting a toaster oven so that I wont have to turn on the large oven if I’m baking/cooking something small or heating something up. I wonder how they rank in terms of energy usage…
.-= Carla´s last blog ..Green and Chic Store Makeover & SoLi Design Studios Review =-.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:04:23 +0000

Hello Carla,
Nice to see you here, welcome back! I had to use a MW for 3 years and so I wanted to learn to use it well – like I learned to use my computer. Since my husband is an architect working on sustainable, energy efficient, and green design he really like how efficient the MW was and what an energy savings we discovered from using it. We do not use very much pre-processed foods…with Celiac Disease and allergies….so I had to learn to use the MW to prepare tasty and not just efficiently.
I think MW ovens get a “Bad” connotation most of the time..without folks knowing enough about them….We have a new computer program that measures the carbon footprint savings on our house….yesterday with all the laundry cooking and heating we had to do we saved the earth 70 pounds of carbon emissions and ourselves about $7.00 off our bill…

I just wanted to share some of the good news too! I appreciate your comments – it adds to the knowledge base here…

By: Carla

Carla — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 03:37:16 +0000

Its been years since I’ve owned a microwave, but when I did, I hardly used it. I loved to cook and don’t like the texture of microwaved food. I usually either eat veggies raw or sauteed or lightly steamed. Meats are cooked on the stove, grill or oven.

When heating up leftovers, I usually just use the stove.

So because I don’t eat prepackaged, frozen or processed foods (black olives are my only canned food), I never had a need for a microwave.

They can be handy when a motel has microwaves in the rooms though!

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:16:39 +0000

Davina,
I think what we believe is most important and then by being aware we can figure out what is correct for us. The comments I was receiving all week were from folks who use cell phones and computers but had labeled the MW horrible.

One fellow even said if you could not use seasoned cast iron pans in one, then it must be no good. I had to give up cast iron pans and synthetic iron vitamins when they discovered my kidney stones were from iron….what a relief to get rid of those.

I think knowledge is key here

By: Davina

Davina — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:01:39 +0000

Hi Patricia.
Definitely no plastic in the microwave for me. When I studied nutrition I was taught the MW was not ideal. For a while I “followed the crowd”. Then I relaxed my rule and bought a MW. It died months ago & I’ve never replaced it (not a priority). I don’t know enough about their effects one way or the other to make an educated comment — they just don’t “feel” right for me to use. But I do know enough about food to say that the way you preserve your beans sounds fantastic.

It’s funny with controversial topics… they can easily become more about which side is right rather than what the actual truth is You made some valid points here Patricia.
.-= Davina´s last blog ..9. Thyme Out On A Mountain =-.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:06:00 +0000

Jannie,
I blanch at the thought! Yep I do that in the MW…
And plastic bottles are very hard on the earth…as are all those plastic trays and stuff from fast food places…they just don’t break down.

Still feeding myself for stress relief!

By: Jannie Funster

Jannie Funster — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:07:56 +0000

Yes, I agree with you about no plastic in the MW for reheating, due to leaching.

I am a huge MW user, frozen dinners, thawing hamburger, reheating, heating tea water in mugs. (Think I’ll go get some nice tea after I post this!)

Sometimes I eat a whole bag of potato chips too! Yep, once in a while I love that for a treat.

That plastic bottle out-gassing in landfills — I did not realize that.

Mom blanched a lot of our beans, peas and stuff before freezing for the winter. Do you ever blanch?
.-= Jannie Funster´s last blog ..And So On. And So On. And So On. =-.