Saying goodbye to my microwave

Jacket potatoes. Porridge. Scrambled eggs. Three things you’ve previously told us microwaves are perfect for. I’ve certainly given the first two a spin – who has time to make a gorgeously crispy jacket potato in oven alone? Microwaving scrambled eggs worries me slightly, but I’d certainly give it go. At least, I would if my new flat had a microwave…

Two thirds of you use your microwave all the time

My prospective landlord says the flat’s ‘furnished’, but this apparently doesn’t include a microwave. It seems I’m now going to be in the minority, as when we last spoke about living without a microwave, nearly two thirds of you told us you use yours all the time. In fact, only one in ten of you said you don’t own or even want a microwave.

And then there was commenter Vic Wilkins, who took her love affair a little further than the rest of us:

‘We have two microwaves, but no oven. We bought a newer microwave because it can do so much more than the older model. But we still keep the older microwave for ‘ready meals’ etc.’

Now, I don’t think I could live without an oven (even if I happened to have two microwaves) like Vic, but will I be able to live without a microwave? I’m going to give it a damn good try, with Alice’s comment to egg me on:

‘You don’t need a microwave. I had a hand me down for a short while and gave it away.’

I’ll miss it for defrosting. But I’ll just be more organised and take my frozen goods out of the freezer the day before. I’ll miss it for softening butter when I’m baking cakes. But I’ll just take the butter bar out of the fridge a few hours before I need it. I’ll miss it for heating up frozen peas, but I’ll just take them to the hob. There’s much to miss, but I’m up for the challenge.

There’s something quite ugly about a microwave anyway – an unattractive square box taking up valuable space on your kitchen worktop. It might be quite liberating to be microwave-less. At least, that’s what I’ll keep saying to myself. Will I survive?

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