Advantages & Disadvantages of Microwave Cooking

Totally mess free and easy to operate, microwave has surely made our lives easy. Even better than conventional ones, it reheats our leftovers and is instant in everything but could you think that it could also carry few limitations or cons which could harm our health in some way.

Just as they say, everything in the moderation is good, excess could be bad, so is with microwave. Excess usage of it could lead to several health concerns and we should be careful about it.

Here are few pros and cons to make you a little more aware:
Advantages

• Microwaves cook food faster than conventional ovens and won’t make a mess in the process. It also utilises lesser space.
• Reheats food instantly quickly. These microwaves vibrate the water molecules for about a million times in a second. So this result in fast cooking in a microwave oven. It is automatic. Moreover, it saves a lot of time. Unlike gas stoves, you don’t have to be present in kitchen looking after or stirring the veggies in pan in the fear of getting overcooked.
• Helpful for health conscious people. It saves the taste and flavour and also the nutrient content of the food. Steam your veggies without losing all the nutrition in boiling water. Make oil free tikkis and chips.
• Microwaves also ensure that you’ll never burn your food again. You don’t have to keep checking on your to make sure it’s not over or undercooked because you can set the time and temperature and leave it to do its thing.
• Microwaves are also very economical and energy efficient. They tend to consume much less energy than both gas burners and conventional ovens. The usage of the microwave oven is around 600 – 1200 watts.
• It can help in the process of defrosting any food item easily that you may need. It aids in melting and cooking the frozen food within the short span of time.
• Cleaning a microwave oven is easy. The cleaning of the utensils and the cooking chamber of the oven is very easy. The microwave oven makes only the food hot but not the utensils and this does not make the food to stick around utensil making it easy to touch and clean the utensils with causing burns.
• Cleaning the cooking area of microwave is also easy because of the smooth finish inside the oven with a glass finish. It requires only a damp towel to wipe off the spills if you found any and that too not very often.

Disadvantages

• You have to take care of what utensils you use in a microwave. A dish that is not microwave-safe will set off a chemical reaction between the food and the plastic.
• It lacks deep frying or chapatti making option.
• Food up to limited capacity can be cooked and due to this they are not the best option for large families.
• Few studies suggest that the food prepared from the microwave contains agents that can weaken the immune system.
• It is unsafe to cook in plastic cookware in microwave. It releases radiation that can be dangerous and lead to being a cause of cancer.
• Microwave food can lead to dehydration. This microwave cooks food by water molecules and reduces the water content in it which results in dry food. Sometimes the food can come out half cooked.

Caution:
Some say that the microwaves get leaked when damaged and cause some health concerns, it is advisable to not use even if slightest of the doubt about damage occurs to your mind. Also, cooking baby food is also not recommended.

Over to you
In the modern times of today, every family requires working and time-saving appliances for doing household chores. In doing so, the family can spend more time together or doing other better jobs. But make sure you are aware of the both advantages and disadvantages before using it. Cooking some meals monthly or weekly and not regularly could be a good option.