I’ve never had a microwave as an adult. I like to cook and really don’t mind “slaving away over a hot stove”.
However, with the cost of living crisis, I wondered are they more energy efficient. If I buy in for say £70 is it worthwhile?
For people who own one, do you cook real food in it or only convenience food? I’ve seen recipes and techniques for cooking in a microwave, but I remember when I was young and the family had one the results were always a bit beige and soggy.
23 comments
If your a ‘cook’ at the most you’d use it to cook veg and the odd other thing. Same scenario here tho I find veg great in it,hence having one.
I’ve made a belting steamed pudding in there from scratch from a book of microwave recipies. Although “Nuked Pudding” didn’t have quite the same ring.
If you really wanna save money just eat salads and sandwiches .
You’re better off with an air fryer or pressure cooker over a microwave. I know I’ll be using my pressure cooker a lot more this winter.
If you cook the same thing in a microwave vs an oven, the microwave will be cheaper. For example, a ready meal might take 25 minutes in the oven or 5 in the microwave, so the microwave would take a lot less energy.
Microwaves are less useful for “real” food though. We use ours for defrosting food, reheating things (my usual idea of a “ready meal” is left-over portions of lasagne which come up great in the microwave) or making porridge. I’ve never tried to cook “proper” food in ours.
It will depend on what you’re using it for, but the answer is probably yes.
I don’t actually have a microwave, but I *do* have a slow cooker. I did jacket potatoes in it today, and according to my smart meter I was using ~11p/hour (bear in mind that figure also included my fridge and my computer monitor). Over 4 hours that cost me about 45p. My oven, on the other hand, tends to work at about 82p/hour. Given 20 minutes to get hot and then 90 minutes to cook a potato, we’re looking at £1.60 to cook a jacket potato.
Of you have a garden use a barbeque or outdoor stove as much as the weather permits. You can claim you’re being Al fresco while saving money. Just make sure if you are cooking directly over coals any wood you use hasn’t been treated with weather resistant chemicals. Doesn’t matter so much if you’re using a wood stove.
Yes, [microwaves are far, far more efficient than ovens and stoves](https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/energy_saving_tips). They use far less energy to get your food to the same temperature.
Personally, with a few exceptions, I hate cooking anything in a microwave as it tends to ruin the texture of the food (beige and soggy as you said), but if you’re looking to save some money it is a very smart move.
And I also think like anything if you practice enough you’ll get better at cooking with a microwave and the food probably won’t be as beige and soggy as it could be.
A microwave won’t cook most things and the stuff ut will cook takes awile so won’t save you any money at all.
If you cook stuff in the oven you could get a air fryer I have one and it’s fat cheaper than the electrical conventional built in oven.
For stuff you cook on the hob you can get a rice cooker that’ll cook everything from pasta to veg.
I swear by cooking in a slow cooker and then freezing the left overs to heat up in the microwave. Saves a LOT over cooking and reheating in the oven.
Cooking from scratch in the microwave can be a bit hit and miss. Anything requiring a crunchy finish doesn’t tend to do well, but anything that just needs to be made hot is fine.
I think a happy middle ground might be to focus on doing big batches of nice stuff which you then heat up in the microwave through the week. I can do 15-20 portions of stuff to freeze and refrigerate on the hob in an hour or two. Couple of example recipes
[https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegetable-curry-crowd](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegetable-curry-crowd)
[https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/golden-veggie-shepherds-pie](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/golden-veggie-shepherds-pie) although I make it with a batch of mash, to skip the oven bit.
That’s 18 portions you can do easily in a morning. I’m sure you could come up with plenty more.
There’s a cost of living crisis? Why does nobody ever mention it on this sub?
Batch cooking is the answer, cook on the oven, portion up, freeze and then reheat in the microwave as you need.
Have you factored in the cost of buying a Microwave in the first place?? Also you may need to buy a few microwave containers etc as well.
There’s little doubt in terms of power usage, it’s bound to save money but not all foods work well in a microwave so it’s probably worth looking at what you tend to cook and do a little due diligence to see what works and what doesn’t.
Or… have a change of diet and start eating things that generally do work in a microwave.
Final point to make…. Microwave ovens are “serial” devices. If one item takes 5 mins, two of those items take 10 mins. If cooking for 5 people, that would be 25 mins.
Where as in an oven, one or two or even ten items take the same time to cook.
Batch cook, freeze portions and use the microwave to reheat.
If you’re willing to spend around £70, why not get a combi microwave – ie one that has a conventional oven and a grill – and you can also cook things using both microwave and oven at once – cutting cooking times [and cost] but getting nicer results than a microwave alone gives.
I got one last year and I use it more than my standard gas oven. Obv, for heating ready meals etc but also for poaching salmon, cooking veggies, and even bread – it’s utterly brilliant and has saved me money. Comes with a very good recipe booklet, there’s nothing you can’t make in one of these beauts.
They’re great for heating up leftover food, I would say it’s an essential investment for someone who lives alone. I never really “cook” in it, but I use it almost every day for either heating things up or reheating them. Every kitchen should have one.
Hubs is in energy. Air fryer better investment!
I researched this exact topic last week and I bought my first microwave on Wednesday as the general consensus is that it is a lot cheaper. I will batch cook twice a week on the stove and then reheat the meals in the microwave each day. Another great tip is to boil the kettle just once per day and pour the hot water into a large flask and just use the flask to make hot drinks during the day.
The trick with a microwave is to play to its strengths.
A microwave is good at heating things that come in a sauce, but it isn’t terribly good for anything you want to actually look like it’s been in a real oven.
A combi microwave/oven/grill is a very different animal. It can work absolute wonders like you wouldn’t believe – you can whack the grill or oven up to brown the food while the microwave speeds the whole cooking process up, and while I haven’t worked it out, I daresay it’s a helluva lot more efficient. But you won’t find many recipes for them so you pretty well have to figure it out as you go along.
I have a microwave and a toaster oven that’s not huge and other than full size frozen pizzas, the oven gets no use. Both use far less electricity than a full oven does. Convection toaster ovens are faster.
The thing about ovens and hobs is that they can also heat the room – extreme circumstance but think about Christmas Day and how hot it is in there! So it might be more expensive to run the oven but you’re dual using it as it were especially in the winter. We may not have open ranges any more but there was a reason that in the past kitchens were the main family room.
Also, say you wanted to make a Sunday dinner, in the microwave:
a) you would have to separate each component because of microwave size
b) even if it all did fit, microwaves are serial, so if your carrots take 10 mins and broccoli 10 mins, it would take 20 mins. Then the chicken, what, 5 mins per breast? What about potatoes etc etc. The time is equal to the quantity.
c) the quality is way worse
In an oven/hob, yes you might be using both, but you can get your chicken, roasties, idk pigs in blankets, etc in one oven and have it all done in 30 mins at the same time. Throw all the veg in one pan, takes 15 mins max.
That was an extreme example yes, but it just shows how you use it matters. Will a ready meal (easiest to microwave) cost more than fresh or even frozen or tinned ingredients? If not how long will you have to cook each component in microwave vs oven?
Any savings you would make probably costs the same as the microwave – however much an oven is per year minus the microwave cost and then minus the cost to run the microwave per year. Factor in food costs too and is it worth it?
Personally I mostly use the hob (gas) and can make great meals in 10 minutes without ever having the oven on. I reheat leftovers on the hob too. Not as cheap as the microwave per unit, but the way I cook would add up per component to microwave vs stir fry.
I have been investigating the running costs of gas cooker/oven versus electrical gadgets.
My research shows that has oven costs the most per hour usage. Then a slow cooker uses roughly half the cost, an air fryer less than a slow cooker and a microwave about a quarter of the cost of the gas appliance.
I am used to “proper” cooking. And usually only reheat in the microwave. And like you, I never really wanted one to everyone’s aghast. But I have used it for quick steamed veg and a lot for small things like nachos.
On the basis of the cost factor, I think that I may have to review using the gas oven less, which I use a lot, often for ease of being able to leave the dish and get on with every day life.