Microwave magic

With a view to saving energy costs I also use the microwave more. Although it is very energy greedy the cooking time us much shorter.
However, I’ve been experimenting with shorter cooking times on the hob too and have found the following works well. For boiled potatoes cut them quite small, bring to the boil then turn off the hob and leave them in a tightly lidded pan for at least half an hour.
For pasta, first soak in a pan if cold water for several hours, drain. Bring a pan if salted water to the boil, add the drained pasta, return to the boil then turn off the heat and keep tightly lidded, again for about half an hour. Depending on the amount if pasta and what shape you might have to experiment a bit but I found this worked perfectly for the pasta tubes.( mind gone blank on the name)

I have an old omelette maker from WW and microwave tomatoes, mushrooms, courgette ... One minute and ready to eat.

I minimise water use for cooking vegetables, very little is needed as the steam cooks them. Water dissolves out the vitamin C so you pour it down the drain with the water.

Aldi do various mixtures of frozen vegetables in pouches which steam the vegetables. You just place the pouch in the microwave for the time specified, usually 3 minutes, and let it stand for a minute.

I only recently realised that I could cook lasagne in the microwave. I use mainly lentils with a bit of meat and use instant cheese sauce. I cook a batch of ragu type sauce and freeze it. It’s been too hot to have the oven on recently and soon it will be too expensive!

I don't turn the oven on for just one meal or item. Baking is done in large batches and put in the freezer when cool. The other evening we were having pasties for dinner, whilst the pasties were reheating I roasted some pre-cooked and frozen potatoes to go with the pasties and I cooked a batch of sausages for the following evening.

Lakeland are advertising a product in which you can cook a whole small chicken in 20 minutes followed by 20 mins in The oven to brown. Anybody tried it?

If cooking veg, don't need to cover with water - just a small bit in bottom of lidded dish. Steam will cook the veg and take less time as less water has to be heated.

I often make a white sauce in with my microwaving cauliflower too. I start the sauce halfway through the cooking time by melting some butter in with the half-cooked veg (just stirring the butter in with the already hot cauliflower is usually all it takes to melt it), then stir in some flour, zap again briefly to cook the flour, then add milk. A couple of minutes more, stirring part way through, is usually all it takes for both cauliflower and sauce to be cooked.

I often do the same when microwaving a mixture of veg together, or throw in mushrooms too to make it a mushroom sauce.

I have a conventianal oven in my microwave which until the rise in fuel I had never used...I now use this most days as its less than half the cost of my cooker oven...I'm also using my micro for cooking veg, potatoes and rice...Needs are must as they say..!!

crazyH

Angela73 - are you having us on?
Place the Veg in a microwable, glass dish (ie Pyrex) , pour enough water to cover the veg. Place in Micro for 10 minutes - perfectly cooked. !!

Ah no - that’s what I do. I just wondered if there were other ways

I only put a small amount in with the veg I am going to microwave - I steam them in it rather than boil them, and cut into smallish pieces they are cooked in under 5 mins.

I mostly cook my veg in the microwave I bought microwaveable bags which mean no washing up they work really well. I do use my oven and grill though for chops and sausages and the odd oven chip. I’ve been looking at air fryers lately.

In the 70s, when there was a fad of ‘Kitchen parties’, I bought a couple of lidded, double walled hard plastic tubes. The theory was that filled with certain vegetables or pasta and topped with boiling water and the lid - the contents would cook in 10 minutes. I gave them away many years ago, but they might have been useful now, with rising fuel prices.

I have been cooking rice in my microwave for decades. Ever since someone gave me a rice cooker - a plastic cotainer, lid and vent - about 30 years ago. Ditto veg, I do not cover vegetables with water, just put a couple of tablespoons of water at the bottom of the dish I am cooking them. Excellent for virtually water free cauliflower, which means the cheese sauce on it isn't all watery.

I am not a vegtarian and I do not fry sausages and burgers either. Sausages get griddled and I do not like burgers, so neither cook nor eat them.. Meat is casseroled or stewed and goes in the slow cooker Then there is the air fryer.

Angela73 - are you having us on?
Place the Veg in a microwable, glass dish (ie Pyrex) , pour enough water to cover the veg. Place in Micro for 10 minutes - perfectly cooked. !!

How do you cook the veg in the microwave?

We have cooked a variety of veg in the microwave for quite a while now. Must be more cost effective than a hot plate.

This must be cheaper than using your gas oven too I would think.
Due to rising energy costs I may use my microwave more.