Everything You Need To Know About Microwave

The microwave has become an indispensable tool in today’s kitchen. It isn’t anymore simply for reheating leftovers, the recent trend of ready-to-eat food has made it a must for kids, teenagers, and whenever you don’t feel like spending significant time cooking. On the downside, microwaves are reputed to be allegedly somewhat of a health hazard, causing cancer with its radiations. However, you can rest assured, this is mostly a myth. It has been proven that the only risk is when there is a leakage or the microwave’s door isn’t shut while working. If you’re considering to buy a microwave, check out the following guide, you’ll have everything you need to know about microwaves.

Auto Sensor:

This is a great feature to have for your microwave as it will prevent any under/overcooked meal. In fact, the automatic sensor stops the microwave as soon as the food is sufficiently heated. Very convenient, isn’t it?

Auto Defrost:

While in a manual defrosting you will have to constantly keep an eye on the meal, an auto defrost function chooses on its own the optimal heating temperature determined by the weight and the type of the food. It allows for less monitoring and it’s always a welcomed feature.

Multi-Stage Cooking:

Multi-stage cooking allows you to cook the meal at different temperatures without having to manually handle the microwave. The trick is to set beforehand your microwave in a way that it divides the heating process in different time stages with different temperatures. Multi-stage cooking is the best way to prepare a dish, this feature greatly facilitates it. This option is best used for high capacity microwaves though.

Power Capacity:

As mentioned above, multi-stage cooking isn’t exactly suited for low capacity microwaves. Simply put, the higher the power capacity is, the more heat is produced and the less time you will need to get the food ready. Low capacity have a 600 to 800 watts power, medium ones 900 to 1200 watts, while the best ones can exceed 1500 watts. Choose according to how many people are in need of a microwave. A large family would need a powerful microwave, but if you live alone, a cheap and small microwave will do the job.

Control Panels:

The control panel is where you set your microwave to work the way you want it. There are 4 things to look out for here:

• Mechanical Controls: Mechanical controls are more convenient because you can easily repair them. Roughly, the controls work with a dial that you can turn to choose the wanted temperature and time. You can thus adjust your dish without disrupting the cooking.

• Electronic Panels: This may seem more convenient as the controls will be in a clearer display, but repairing an electronic panel is much more difficult, so manipulate with care!

• Child-Lock: A smart choice if you happen to have kids that want to play with pretty much everything. That’ll prevent any bad surprise with the microwave.

• Speed Cook: This on/off feature allows the microwave to use extra energy in order to cook your dish faster.

Budget:

Naturally, the more expensive the microwave, the more features it will provide. You can pretty much divide budget of microwaves into three categories:

• Cheap: Affordable, these cheaper will provide you with just the basic features and a capacity of about 15 to 20 litres. They are used for heating leftovers only. Some models also propose about a dozen of auto-menus, that is a multi-step guide for cooking dishes.

• Medium-Budget:  There are many microwaves available in this budget category. With a capacity of 20 to 40 litres, you can cook an entire meal with those. There’s also about a hundred auto-cook menus and some even propose the child-lock feature.

• Expensive: If you want the complete microwave experience, you’ll have to invest in a top-notch model that harbors more than 200 auto-menus, multi-stage cooking, and other helpful options