Day 41: "To Zap or Not to Zap"

I never had a microwave growing up and was always a little dubious about using them, and this is a question I have pondered for a while: is it better to microwave food or use a conventional oven?

Well, after a bit of reading, the answer is: it depends.

The Sierra Club has this interesting articled, "To Zap or Not to Zap", posted on their website, and they highlight some tips about when and how to use a microwave.

First things first- some food just shouldn't be cooked in the microwave (baby bottles etc -and be weary of super heating water).

After that, it seems that it is best to use a microwave if you are just heating or making a small portion of food. Both conventional and microwave ovens use radiation to heat the food, the former just uses infrared and the latter uses part of the electromagnetic spectrum (Fun Fact: did you know that the wavelength of a microwave is 6.1 cm?). Microwaves are more efficient at heating food quickly since they agitate water molecules in the food, and this kinetic energy results in heat. Conventional ovens must first heat up an element and then either a pot or ambient air  to transfer heat to your food.

So, it is more energy efficient to use the microwave to heat up small portions of food - it will help to reduce your carbon footprint and also save you some coin. What I have been doing is cooking larger portions of food on the weekend and sticking them in containers that I can heat up in the microwave during the week -it saves me time, money, energy and water from doing pots and pans every night!

However, if you don't have a microwave don't rush out and buy one - the average microwave contains pounds of plastic and glass that are difficult to dispose of if the microwave breaks - if you are considering buying one, try to buy a good quality one that can be repaired and will last a long time.

Some people might be concerned about the safety of food after it comes out of the microwave or radiation leakage - but these are only really of concern if the microwave is physically damaged. Other than that, just avoid putting plastic, especially those that are not "microwave-safe", into the microwave as the waves may cause certain chemicals from the plastic to migrate into the food.

Any  thoughts?