Using a microwave for heating up food or making TV dinners is fairly common in most houses, but did you know that you can use it for more than just that? Check out these unique ways to get some extra use out of your microwave.
1) Remove a stamp from an envelope
Place a few drops of water onto your stamp and place the envelope in your microwave for 20 seconds on medium. When it comes out, you should be able to peel the stamp right off.
Need some toasted nuts for your recipe or to snack on? Your microwave can toast them right up for you. Just put a half teaspoon of vegetable or canola oil on a plate and then pour one cup of nuts over it and spread it out over the microwave safe plate.
Put the plate in your microwave for one-minute intervals and stir up your nuts in between. Continue for three to eight minutes or until your nuts become toasty.
Soak your sponge in water then wring it out. Put it in your microwave for 2 minutes on medium to kill up to 99 percent of germs.
Did someone leave the bag of chips open? Before you attempt to strangle them, place some potato chips on a paper towel and nuke them briefly. This will crisp them right up.
5) Disinfect a cutting board
Rub each side of your cutting board with a slice of lemon. Stick it in your microwave for one minute on a medium setting to disinfect.
6) Prevent microwave splatter
Foods that have a thick skin tend to explode in our microwaves. The workaround for this is to pierce the skin of things like potatoes, squash, and tomatoes before you put them in the microwave so that the steam escapes from them.
7) Steam clean your microwave
All out of elbow grease? You can squeeze two lemon halves into a bowl of water then drop them in the bowl. Place your bowl in your microwave for five minutes on medium heat. You should easily be able to wipe away all the gunk on in your microwave after you take the bowl out.
Beat your eggs and pour them into a mug along with some milk, cheese, salt, pepper, and whatever else you want in your scrambled eggs/omelet. Nuke for 45 seconds on medium, then take out your mug and stir it up. Put it back in for another 45 seconds and then enjoy your delicious breakfast.
9) Tear-free onion cutting
Cut off the ends of your onion and put your onion in the microwave on full heat for 30 seconds. When you go to chop your onion, it won’t make you tear up.
Place your herbs on a paper plate or towel and nuke them for 30 seconds. Take out and flip them over. Keep doing this for about 2 to 4 minutes until your herbs are dry.
Stop painstakingly peeling your garlic. You can put a head of garlic in your microwave for 15 seconds on medium and when it comes out the skin will slide right off the cloves.
Don’t throw that stale bread away or feed it to the birds. You can revive your stale bread by placing a damp paper towel around it and putting it in the microwave for 10 seconds on its highest setting.
13) Speed up bean/lentil soaking process
Some recipes call for beans or lentils to be soaked overnight. Nobody has time for that! Just place them in a bowl with a pinch of baking soda and submerge them in water. Place the bowl in your microwave on high for 10 minutes, then take out and let it stand for 30 to 40 minutes.
14) Peel tomatoes or peaches
Peeling a tomato or peach can be tricky and tedious, but not if you use a microwave. Nuke it for 30 seconds on medium and let it stand for about 2 minutes. The peel should slip right off after two minutes.
15) Sterilize garden soil
To help seeds grow, sterilize your gardening soil first. Seasoned gardeners already know about this trick. Now you do too!
16) Bring dry mascara back to life
If your mascara is getting clumpy, put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It will become an easy to apply fluid once again. You just saved yourself a trip to the store!
17) Get more juice out of citrus fruits
Warm your fruit in the microwave for 10-20 seconds before squeezing them. Don’t overheat them. This is just to get them warm. Warming up the fruit will help them to release more juice and make your juicing more fruitful.
18) Revive crystallized honey
If your honey is more of a solid than a liquid, consider using the microwave. Put it in for long enough to heat the honey, and it will become liquid gold once again. There won’t be a crystal in sight.
19) Make your own heating pad for sore muscles
Cut the foot off an old sock and sew that end closed. Fill it with rice and then sew the top closed as well. Now you’ve got an inexpensive heating pad you can use over and over.
20) Bake a cake without the wait
Make a single-serving cake in your microwave in just 5 minutes using ingredients you probably already have at home.
Fish can be cooked perfectly in the microwave. Wrap your fish in microwave-safe plastic with some seasoning and cook for about 2 minutes on high.
Put away the steamer basket and cook your veggies in the microwave. Not only is it simpler to do, but it’s also better for you. You lose fewer nutrients than if you steamed or boiled the vegetables.
To get an old block of sugar soft again, moisten paper towels and place them on top of the sugar. Microwave in 30-second increments and your brown sugar will be as good as new.
Make crispy bacon in your microwave. Cover a microwave-safe dish with a few paper towels and add your bacon in a single layer. Cover the bacon with a few more paper towels and microwave it in 2-minute increments until it is crispy.
The microwave is the perfect place to set up a temporary proofer for bread dough to rise in. The sealed environment of the microwave will keep in the moisture and heat needed to the yeast to activate and the dough to rise. Heat a cup of water until it’s steaming and then put your dough in with it. Close the door and wait!
26) Warm up beauty products
Use the microwave to warm up waxes and oils that have hardened due to low room temperature or age. Microwave your beauty product in the container for 20 seconds, and it should become easy to use again.
27) Identify microwave-safe containers
A microwave can itself be used to test if the container is microwave safe or not. Fill a cup that you already know to be microwave-safe with water. Place the cup of water on or in the container (do not pour the water into the container) and microwave both of them for one minute until the water starts boiling. If the container you are testing is cool to touch then it is microwave safe, if it is warm or hot, then you shouldn’t use it in the microwave.
28) Froth milk for a quick latte or cappuccino
No, you don’t need a special machine – just your microwave and a jar, and you can have a delicious cappuccino or latte whenever you would like.
29) Cook dinner in under 10 minutes
Use the microwave for any recipe (not just TV dinners) that requires for braising, poaching, or steaming. Just subtract about three-quarters of the cooking time. Remember to stir liquids often to redistribute the heat, and always take the food out a minute or two before it’s completely done since it will continue to cook.
30) Partially Cook Foods for the Grill
To cut the grilling time of vegetables, cook them part way in the microwave before putting them on the barbecue. Heat potatoes for two minutes (prick them first), and bell peppers for one minute.
Don’t wait for your next camping trip for this treat! Just top a graham cracker with a piece of chocolate and a marshmallow. Put it in the microwave for about 7 seconds, and you will have a little piece of heaven.
A good ratio of pasta-to-water is one cup of pasta to one quart of water for elbows, with a little bit less for spaghetti and a little bit more for penne pasta. Microwave your pasta on high for about 20 minutes.
Corn actually tastes best when it has been microwaved, rather than boiled or grilled. The microwave allows it to retain its flavor, freshness, and nutrients.
The next time you are about to break a spoon on a tub of ice cream, stop! Place the whole thing in the microwave for just a few seconds, and it will be easy to scoop.
Skip the baking and make your brownies in the microwave. Turn on the microwaves for 1 ½ minutes if you are making a cup of brownies or 6 minutes for a full place of the chocolaty treat.Please
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Using a microwave for heating up food or making TV dinners is fairly common in most houses, but did you know that you can use it for more than just that? Check out these unique ways to get some extra use out of your microwave.
