Microwave ovens

[Camyle26]

That is fine!

[TheFirstBus]

It plugs in that could get loud.

[Evilfluffbunny]

I used to have a microwave but I got rid of it about 9 months ago after reading all the scare stories. With the exception of making baked potatoes, I don't miss it at all and I find most of the food is nicer when it's grilled, boiled, oven cooked or steamed rather than nuked in the micro.

[phillip888]

Microwaves are just that, microwave transmitters. They excite water molecules until they create heat. Microwaves are so fast because the water molecules emit so much heat, it's the main reason microwaves destroy nutrients so quickly too. Microwaves were invented by a radar tech. He and others working on radar discovered that if they had food in their pockets when working near radar equipment, the food would cook or melt. The fan in a microwave is actually a cooling device, to keep the transmitter from self destructing. The door and body act as a broken Faraday Cage because an unshilded microwave can kill you.

I have used a microwave in the past, even recently I nuked a amys meal. I wasted an amys meal.

Steam your veggies if you must cook them. If it's not steamable, then cook it in a croc pot or low heat pan. The more heat, the more destructive the action.

BTW so many veggies can be eaten raw, even some that most people NEVER eat raw. Why? Because people seem to think you have to cook everything. Nuts.

[veganblue]

Physics behind microwaves and how they are used to heat

I was curious to know how microwaves heat things - this site is really cool -I wasted a lot of time with the spinning water molecules

The general principle seems to be that microwaves are energy waves like light and infrared and radio waves, but have a specific frequency that is absorbed by water molecules making them jiggle more (kinetic energy or heat). Water is a polar molecule (has a negative and a positive end) and other polar molecules like some fats and sugars also start spinning in response to the microwaves, but plastics, glass and paper food wrap does not respond.

Metal reflects the waves and the fan in a microwave (not the exhaust fan) is actually a microwave "stirrer" that bounces the waves around the cabinet to get better distribution though the food. Dense food can also effect the penetration of the waves and you get incomplete heating - cold patches.

Not so scary for vegans but very scary for anyone with a carcass in the oven as the tepid conditions are ideal for bacteria. This said, it is possible to get sick from poorly cooked reheated vegan food too.

I am unaware of any scientific material on the kinds of detrimental effects that microwaves can have on any particular molecule that would then be deleterious when eaten but others may have better referrences.

Till then, the old MW comes in very handy to heat a quick meal or warm a cooled coffee

[veganblue]

Microwave links

Some educational video's of unwise microwave experiments and some other useful links.

[Evilfluffbunny]

Here's another link, it's very disturbing! http://www.relfe.com/microwave.html

[feline01]

My apartment is officially microwave-free as of yesterday. Our old microwave, which we had stopped using a few months ago, was transported to my car yesterday and I brought it into work today. No more microwave cooking, at least at home .

[veganblue]

Here's another link, it's very disturbing! http://www.relfe.com/microwave.html

I understand the case but would not recommend anyone using a microwave for heating blood. There would be patches of poorly distributed heat - some cool but even worse, some hot. Heat denatures protein at temperatures over 65 Celcius and blood is full of proteins. The poor lady who received the transfusion would have received a huge dose of ruptured and destroyed cells which the immune system would have tried to clean up. The resulting effect would be like the blood clotting and hence the person would likely die very swiftly.

It's not about microwaves per se but the partial heat treatment of the blood and the damage that would have resulted.

[RockyRaccoon]

I use my microwave mainly for reheating rather than cooking, and usually only because it saves on washing up!. Baked potatoes are about the only food I cook from scratch in there. Now I've read a bit about them though it's got me thinking. I suppose cleaning an extra pan isn't that much hard work.

[spo]

I understand the case but would not recommend anyone using a microwave for heating blood. There would be patches of poorly distributed heat - some cool but even worse, some hot. Heat denatures protein at temperaturees over 65 Celcius and blood is full of proteins. The poor lady who received the transfusion would have received a huge dose of ruptured and destroyed cells which the immune system would have tried to clean up. The resulting effect would be like the blood clotting and hence the person would likely die very swiftly.

It's not about microwaves per se but the partial heat treatment of the blood and the damamge that would have resulted.

You are right, veganblue, but what "foxes" me is why the Nurse did this in the first place. The microwaves are there for heating the staff's food and are located in nurses/doctors lounges. I actually had to stop some fellow nurse from heating blood in our lounge microwave!! I just couldn't believe it!
Not only would she have killed the patient, but what was she doing putting the sterile blood bag in our food microwave!?!
You just can't make this stuff up :/

[spo]

Here's another link, it's very disturbing! http://www.relfe.com/microwave.html

Dear EFB:
Thanks for the link - this is surely worth considering and looking into.

[FR]

I used to use one but recently stopped. I still have one sitting in my kitchen but will be putting other things in its place as soon as I get them.

[Seaside]

There's no room on my boat for even a tiny microwave oven!

This is just as well, though. I do not have a habit of using them, and I don't think they are entirely safe.

[urbandryad]

I used microwaves before but don't own one. Frankly, I like using an oven. Especially in winter, as it helps warm my kitchen. :3

I also found microwaves really detract from the TASTE of foods as well. They come out limp, or mooshy, and not very pleasant at times. I used to use it just to quickly boil up pasta, but not anymore. Now I have a HUGE pot in which I can boil large quantities if I need to. XD I'm buying a wok in September, so I'm looking forward to using stir fry instead of conventional methods anyway. :3

[cvC]

http://www.rense.com/general70/microwaved.htm

[tabitha]

Great!! Something else to worry about.

[RedWellies]

That's interesting. I got rid of my microwave a few years ago (not that I used it much) after reading that they were originally used in the second world war and people carried on using them after that even though they had never been properly tested for safety! Also, they are supposed to do very dodgy things to your food...
http://www.cam.net.uk/home/aaa315/he...microwaves.htm

[tabitha]

Oh My God! I use the microwave every day!! I cant believe Russia hasnt used them since 76. Im so glad I read that!

[Pob]

Ha ha - what a pile of toss.

I wouldn't take anything on that site seriously.

Assuming you microwave water in a glass or glazed bowl, then you will end up with pure water afterwards.

If you do it in a plastic bowl, then it's anyone's guess what crap is in the water at the end. But if you stuck a plastic bowl of water on your cooker and heated it up, it would be plenty worse for you.

Microwaves + pure water = hotter pure water.

[feral]

Aye, I wouldn't get too excited by it.

[Tigerlily]

It's not a big deal for me. I don't cook with my microwave, only heat up my soy milk for coffee and heat up leftovers (but I usually eat them cold). This day and age, everything causes cancer and diseases.

[archaeopteryx]

This information, warning about the alleged dangers of microwaving food, appears in a number of places around the net. I have wondered before if it was actually safe to microwave food. I'm still left wondering now - despite blank assurances.

[feral]

I believe there is a risk with microwaves if you cook every meal in them or regarly stand in front of them.. apparently chefs have a higher risk of liver cancer because of standing in front of microwaves while operational... tbh if you're just using a microwave to heat the odd leftover/cup of soy milk your chances of developing cancer from it are much less than from mobile phone use, especially with the likes of bluetooth headsets.

[veganwitch]

I've never had a microwave and don't use them. I don't even like being near the one at work when it's on.

I do believe that things can have a positive/negative impact on water as evidenced in The Hidden Messages In Water by Masaru Emoto.

[cvC]

The article at the following link reflects and contains photographs from "The Message from Water":

http://www.wellnessgoods.com/messages.asp

This one also refers to Russian research:

http://www.rense.com/general69/water.htm

[archaeopteryx]

I remember reading somewhere or other that a kind of ice forms at cellular levels within our bodies due to the high pressures within our cells. Crystals called, ice 6. Perhaps we are all filled with "snowflakes".

[Geoff]

This is as high tech as we get. We boil up a big kettle (rescued from the ruins of a children's home in Swansea in the early 70's) and fill two thermos flasks, which supplies the day's hot water.)

[foxytina_69]

lol tigerlily.

well i hope its not true, because i always boil my tea/coffee water in the microwave now.

[aubergine]

Wow. Geoff, I'm very impressed. Seriously.

[aubergine]

As I'm living with my parents I use their microwave to heat up my porridge in the morning and that's about it.

When I get my own house, it'll be heated up on an Induction Hob.

[tabitha]

We all eat at different times. I use the microwave ALL the time

[Tiggerwoo]

I hate microwaves........ they nuke the food, make it taste horrid and destroy all the nutrients. Plus the fact there have been rumors of the radiation and damage it can do to all living creatures.

My colleagues at work think I am mad as we only have microwaves there and when I work a late shift, I won't use the microwave but bring in my slow cooker, full to the brim with some yummy freshly prepared dish.

[ravenfire]

I got rid of my microwave a few years back and don't miss it at all. I just reheat leftovers either on the stovetop or in the oven depending on what it is.

[speedylemons]

You know, this is the first time i've even though about the potential dangers of microwave usage. Hmm. This sounds like it would be risky, but then again, i use a microwave for lots of things.. it just makes it easier than starting up the stove, especially since i pay for all the utilities here. yikes! I guess then as soon as i am able to i'll try to cut down on it.

[Cherry]

I don't own a microwave and don't want to...

however:

a) The sample size of the experiment is 1! Not really huge.
b) The plants are in different sized bottles.
c) The microwaved water plant looks as though it was watered with more water than the other plant - overwatering is a big cause of plant death/suffocation.

I would agree with Rob. Microwaved pure water = hotter pure water

[Cherry]

oh, and d) people aren't plants and I don't agree with testing on other species

[Hemlock]

We're all gonna die in a few years time when the polar icecaps melt anyway so I'm going to start drinking, smoking, taking up dangerous sports and microwaving everything I eat (not icecream)

[Enchantress]

I don't know, microwaved ice cream could be pretty tasty. I always like Swedish Glace Chocolate ice cream best when it's melted anyway.

[insubordination]

I also gave away my microwave about 5 years ago. Find I don't need it at all. You can heat most things on a stove top.

Of course, I have a mobile phone. Life's confusing, ain't it?

[snaffler]

On the subject of microwaves I have never scene a use for them, enough stuff in life is must be now, rush, rush, cant wait and all that bollocks.....what ever happened to take it easy and chill.....if you got to eat quick food then eat fruit no nuclear heated crap.

Very anti microwave something for the junk food generation.

[chickendude]

Yea, I say rather than spend a hundred some dollars on a microwave, take a five dollar bill to your local farmer's market and get yourself a variety of fruits. Eat them, plant the seeds, and you've got a self-sustaining panoply of fast food. Then use the hundred bucks you saved to buy yourself a ton of tofutti cuties.

[Pob]

I pretty much only use a microwave to cook my porridge or reheat my leftovers or soup for lunch. This is at work - there isn't a conventional oven so it's either that or only cold food.

[Ara]

I'd been brought up without a microwave, and never had a problem with it - things cooked in the oven taste a lot nicer anyway! Jacket potato's for example! Then when i moved into my current house with my friends two appeared in our kitchen :s i only ever use it for defrosting things like chilli or soup that i've made and put in the freezer, then suddenly decided i want to eat it noooow. When i'm at work and in the kitchen we make everything in the microwave, it's minging, especially when they try and cook scrambled eggs in it - eeeuch. I feel sorry for the old people, it can't be nice when we serve them a plate full of that!

[TofuFooYung]

Wasn't the safety of microwaves questioned when it was destroying nutrients in mothers milk when women used to warming the bottles up in the microwaves?

My MIL always uses the microwave. She'll reheat something over and over again in there and it really turns me off my dinner :-( Have to keep reminding her not to do it without sounding like an ungrateful snot! Give me a plate of raw carrots over a nuked soy patty anyday!

[TofuFooYung]

When i'm at work and in the kitchen we make everything in the microwave, it's minging, especially when they try and cook scrambled eggs in it - eeeuch. I feel sorry for the old people, it can't be nice when we serve them a plate full of that!

Uuuuh I know that smell! Microwaved scrambled eggs... VOMIT! I think the smell is nature's way of 'seriously, don't even think of eating this'.

[speedylemons]

I'm going to start cutting back on the microwave usage.


As for the microwaved scrambled eggs.. i second the VOMIT. I can't stand it when people do that, it just seems like it wouldn't really cook them if they WERE serious about eating them. gag. gag. gag. gag. PROJECTILE VOMITING.

[Mr Flibble]

microwaves are our friends

Normal ovens met the same hysterical mistrust as microwaves did when they were introduced - people used to think they would get electricuted eating food cooked in something powered by electricity.

As for the terribly scientific experiment in the first link, abondoning basic questions such as how it was conducted you only need to look at the rest of rense.com to figure out what crap it is

[Risker]

I think your underestimating the risks that we face from microwave ovens, when I'm done typing this post I'm going to throw mine out.

Once that's done I'll throw out all the rest of my electronic items, wrap myself in kitchen foil and bubblewrap and sit in the corner of a mattress-padded room sobbing quietly to myself.

[Mr Flibble]

Bubblewrap

Plastic is bad mm'kay

If i cared *that* much about electricity usage i'd be reading a book by candlelight right now not posting on the interweb, but it's probably worth mentioning that microwaves are generally more efficient than conventional ovens. I'd rather warm a cup of soya milk in the cup i'm gonna drink it from than hafta heat up a pan that's just going to cool again, then waste water by washing it up.