Janice Newell Bissex, MS, RD and Liz Weiss, MS, RD, Co-authors, The Moms' Guide to Meal Makeovers
The Meal Makeover Moms have created a series of online videos featuring cooking demonstrations and mealtime/pantry tips. Discover easy ways to improve your family's diet by watching more of their how-to videos.
Microwaves: 90% of American households have one and people say they can’t live with out it. But despite the fact that the microwave oven has been around for 25 years, people are still puzzled about the dos and don’ts of using it.
Safety Tips:
Supervise Children: From little kids to latchkey kids who cook their own meals after school, “train” them on the safe use of the microwave oven.
Steam Savvy: Steam can burn so when you cover your food with plastic wrap, be sure to fold a corner over to create a “steam vent.” Venting allows some of the steam to escape during heating and can reduce the risk of burns.
Popcorn Pointers: When making microwave popcorn, be sure to follow directions. To prevent the bag from catching on fire stay in the kitchen while it’s popping so you know when to take the bag out. If you let the bag pop for too long, a fire could occur.
Superheating: When it happens you can get seriously burned. Superheating occurs when people boil water in the microwave. If you boil water on the stove, bubbles appear. But water that’s boiled in the microwave doesn’t always have bubbles so people tend to continue heating the water, thinking it’s not hot. When they take the water out and place an object in the cup (a tea bag for example), the object helps to release the trapped energy and the super-hot, superheated water can explode from the cup. To avoid superheating, people should put the tea bag or coffee granules in first.
Container Confusion: Some containers are intended for the microwave while others are not. If you heat your leftovers in an old margarine tub or a take-out container, the container could end up melting. When using a plastic container in the microwave, read the manufacturers instructions to be sure it’s intended for the microwave or look for a microwave symbol on the bottom of the container which indicates it’s safe for the high heat of the microwave.
