Who cooked only with a microwave?

Rather than veer off topic with John F's thread of "who cooks with a crock pot", I will start a new thread.

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Forgive me for being politically incorrect but when I hear crock pot I think 1970s/80s era woman who has a job and is trying to mange a household too - and to save time dumps something in the crock pot in the morning because there isn't time to cook at night...

When I think of a "1970s/80s era woman who has a job and is trying to mange a household too -" I think of my mother who tried to cook every meal in our new microwave. After all, one could cook a full meal in just a fraction of the time it took to cook it with conventional appliances, according to many cookbooks she was buying at that time. So, who back in the 70's or early 80's did any of you cook or have meals that were solely prepared in the microwave? Now, I do not mean reheating leftovers or heating frozen meals but cooking raw meat and fresh vegetables, etc. My mother still has cookbooks from that era that stated that this was the wave(pun intended) of the future. My mother finally realized that the micorwave like many new technology had its limitations and could not replace in its entirety traditional cooking methods and appliances.

[David M. Bueker]

It's how I survived college, but I'm not sure if that really counts.

We never had a microwave when I was growing up.

I have one now and use it for steaming vegetables, defrosting things, warming sauces, melting chocolate and butter for baking. I use it much more than I expected I would when I received it. (My Mom purchased it for me about 6 years ago. Liz and I joked at the time that it was a $70 kitchen clock since I really didn't know what to do with it at first!)

I think I couldn't survive with only a microwave. I love cooking and so I really couldn't imagine live without my oven, pans, etc.

[Jenise]

I think I couldn't survive with only a microwave. I love cooking and so I really couldn't imagine live without my oven, pans, etc.

Me neither! But to answer Eric's question directly--my mother in law. She had a real stove removed and replaced with a cooktop and separately, a microwave-convection combi thing. It was an under-cabinet mount about the size of a typical 70's microwave--probably not big enough for a whole roast chicken. Best I could tell the convection feature was just a fan that added another layer of destruction by dessicating her food(s). It COOKED with microwaves. You've never had a worse chicken breast than the one she me on the occasion of my first meal at their home. It was served with asparagus and some cake that she also had the nerve to cook in there. Breakfast was bacon cooked with half a roll of paper towels that had to be reshuffled every two minutes during the total 6 or 8 minutes of cooking time. And throughout it all, she'd be crowing, "Isn't this EASY?"

No.

Never cooked in one. Didn't plan to have one in the new kitchen. My son, who looked longingly at the microwave popcorn varieties in the grocery aisles, bought us one as a Christmas present last year. We make a production of using it when he's around- to melt butter, quick thaw frozen stock etc. but I don't know how to cook in it and I do not intend to learn. We consider the microwave as his first getting ready for college item.

Can't imagine cooking only with a microwave, except maybe in college. I never encountered one until after I was out of school, so I didn't have the opportunity to use one back then.

I find them useful, but in a very limited fashion.

I had one for a while, but hated using it. I also have it down as the cause of my mom's cooking going badly downhill.

Good for reheating I suppose, but gave that one up about 18 years ago and never replaced it.

Definitely couldn't cook solely with microwave (and keep my sanity)

Hi Eric,

We were pretty poor growing up...and we didn't have a microwave until I was much, much older. I am not sure my parents even got one until after I moved out to go to college (in the 90's). So definitley didn't grow up with one. I think that we actually bought my grandparents one first...and they thought it was the greatest thing ever. When I came home from college, the only thing the microwave was used for was to make popcorn and melt the butter to go on the popcorn.

However, I have one now and use it quite a bit. In fact, I use all my applicances A LOT! My outdoor grill, my outdoor smoker, my stovetop, my oven, my toaster, my toaster oven, my microwave, electric tea kettle, coffee pot, etc.

I don't cook whole meals in it, but it is use everyday to reheat, steam veggies, boil water, pop pocorn, make bacon, santize sponges, and warm bottles (when I had babies). Obviously, it has it's limitations, but for the above listed things it's fantastic, especially having little kiddos. I definitely use it everyday...but I would never try to make a cake or chicken in it!

Oh, and in college, we had an "illegal" toaster oven and a hot plate. No microwave...heck, I had a dot matrix printer then...LOL!

I never actually cook in the microwave. We reheat, melt butter and chocolate, defrost (not totally, just get it started) and pop fresh popcorn. Our daughter used to come home from school, cut slices of cheese, nuke them, soak up the fat with a paper towel and eat the hardened slices. She loved this snack.
I did try some of those bags of veggies that you are supposed to steam in the microwave. I thought they would make a quick lunch for me....ghastly! I chopped up the rest of the veggies and mixed them into my dogs food....he thought it a fine treat!