The microwave might be the easiest appliance in your kitchen to work. Heck, even three-year-olds know how to push buttons! Especially when you’re younger, the microwave is like a lifeline between you and being able to cook for yourself. No need to mess with the flimsy oven or the tricky stove – you can cook anything you’d ever need in the microwave – or so you thought. As some of you more experienced kitchen users might know, there’re a lot of things you shouldn’t put in the microwave. Here are a few of them from LifeHack.org, and they just might surprise you!
Plastic Dishes/Containers/Wrap
Maybe you already know this, but don’t know the reason why. The reason you don’t want to put anything plastic in the microwave is because when the plastic is heated, it can release harmful and toxic chemicals. And, if you have food in these containers or wrapped up in plastic wrap, those toxins go right into your foods.
Defrosted Meat
The defrost button is on 90% of microwaves for a reason, right? Have you noticed when you defrost your meat in the microwave, the edges are cooked while the rest of it is frozen solid? That’s because microwaves tend to defrost and cook food unevenly. This uneven cooking can promote the growth of harmful bacteria in your meat. To avoid this, thaw your meat in the fridge overnight.
Frozen Fruit
According to Russian studies that were done sometime in the 70s, microwaving your fruit can turn the healthy stuff in fruit into carcinogenic substances. For a healthier thawing, you can try thawing it in the fridge or letting it sit on the countertop at room temperature.
Breast Milk
A lot of you new mothers have been pumping breast milk and saving it in the fridge for later. Breast milk itself has a lot of benefits. But, you kill those benefits almost immediately when you put it in the microwave. Breast milk that was put in the microwave on high heat showed a greater amount of E-Coli afterwards. Ew!
Broccoli
Wait, the king of frozen vegetables can’t be put in the microwave? Technically, you can put in the microwave. However, you’re going to lose up to 97% of the antioxidants that make it healthy for you. While any form of cooking is going to hurt the nutrients in food, you’re better off steaming your broccoli; it only loses 11% of the antioxidants that way.
