Vent Thread

Can someone explain to me how a microwave is supposed to work, because I can microwave a frozen pizza for 2 minutes and the edges get so hot they melt while the center remains a block of ice.

@UrbanMysticDee  
It boils the water in the food. Microwaves don’t penetrate very deep, however, so the middle of most products is partially reliant on the heat generated throughout the rest of the food to cook it.

@Officer Hotpants  
It’s uniform thickness, so shouldn’t it then heat evenly throughout? Is there something about the geometry of a triangle that’s causing it to heat unevenly?

@UrbanMysticDee  
No. The middle of the food can only be hit from above while the edges of the food are getting hit from both above and the sides.

@Officer Hotpants  
So that’s why when I Microwave T.V. dinners I have to do it three times to get the warm enough eat.

@Officer Hotpants  
So that’s why the babies I put in there don’t get very warm.
 
Huh, learn something new everyday.

Welp my Mom and her sisters have to take cave of there mom since she has Alzheimer’s and refuses to got to a nursing home.

@Officer Hotpants  
That sounds like a design flaw to me. They should make better microwaves.

I have never understood american’s love for frozen food when you can cook a tasty, healthier and cheaper meal on 20 minutes or less.  
Plain rice takes 20 minutes to cook and while it boils you can stirfry veggies and meat to accompany it, or you can just fry chopped meat, onions, carrots and garlic before adding tomato sauce and let it boil to make a stew to accompany the rice.  
Same as with boiled pasta and meat tomato sauce.

@UrbanMysticDee  
The key to using a microwave to evenly heat something that tends to stay cold in the middle is to heat it on a lower power setting for a longer period of time. Microwaves can only really heat up the outer layer of anything.
 
Its one of the reasons so many things state ‘let sit for 3/5/whatever minutes’ after microwaving. It allows for thermal conduction to take place, which is to say the outer very hot layer will transfer its heat in to the colder areas during that time and become more evenly heated. Microwaving it on a lower setting though can avoid overheating the outer layer, and still let conduction take place during the microwaving process.

@Color Anon  
It’s about the laziness factor really. Take it out of a box, put it in a microwave or oven, set a timer, and walk away. I personally don’t eat much frozen food because I genuinely enjoy the cooking process but most people simply don’t in America for whatever reason. Hell I’m the only child of 3 in my family who can cook a proper meal, and ironically I’m also the only one who has no desire to have a family or anything. Both my brother and sister have kids of their own and neither can reliably cook a meal, and usually eat out or eat frozen foods…

@ArchiveAnon  
I began cooking meals to help out mom when I was 12 and by when I was 15 I was already cooking full meals during non school days.  
Plus, I like preparing food, as personally I feel it’s a very relaxing thing. And hey, I can cook 2 meals or more spending the same amount of money I would have spent on frozen or premade food.

@Color Anon  
Yeah, nothing like going out and spending the same amount of money as a couple ‘value meals’ cost at a fast food joint, and making a big pot of soup or chili with it that will leave me with leftovers for another 3-5 meals at the same price.

eats frozen pizza while reading this thread.
 
Totally agree.

@Color Anon  
I started cooking probably around that same age because my mom straight up can’t cook and I was tired of eating charcoal and leather. I just can’t eat a whole pizza in one day so I freeze the rest to heat later.

@Acres  
Frozen pizza is one of the few frozen foods I actually eat. Just because making a homemade pizza from scratch is actually quite time consuming. That said, I absolutely love making my homemade pizzas when I do. Dammit now I really want one. I’ll make another one soon and post more pics in the food thread.

@ArchiveAnon  
Soups are the easiest, laziest meal ever because it’s the only one you can just throw in a pot and then walk away until your kitchen timer buzzes to remind you that your meal is done.  
And yeah, you get to put the leftovers (or servings9 in the fridge to reheat and eat for dinner or what you have at a fraction of the cost of a premade meal.  
Having said that, frozen ingredients like peas, garlic, corn, mushrooms, greens and such are a huge help to cook faster and tastier.

That sad thing is I don’t know how to use the stove or the oven.

@coolmaster43232  
Yep!
 
@Acres  
Well, that and the fact that, like the women who birth them, their feet will always be cold without regard for the temperature of their environment. I’m pretty sure women’s feet actually drive entropy forward.
 
@UrbanMysticDee  
You could probably design a microwave with emitters on the bottom and a rack for food in the middle. Don’t know how well it would work, though, and it would mean making microwaves bigger than they already are. Probably considerably so.
 
@Color Anon  
In the 20 minutes that it took you to make your home-cooked meal I can microwave 7 frozen meals.That’s why. I’m not hungry half an hour from now; I’m hungry now. Plus they require next-to-no preparation and it makes for fewer dishes to be washed. A real concern in a household that doesn’t all eat at the same time (especially if you’re the one who has to clean them all…).

@Officer Hotpants  
You seem very knowledgeable about microwaves.
 
Any reason?

@Acres  
Partially just shit I picked up over the years, partially shit I looked up earlier out of curiosity. Like I knew that the outside heats up faster because it’s being exposed to more energy but I didn’t know that the other half of the equation is that microwaves are really shit at penetrating solid matter (apparently they can only reach about a centimeter deep. At least the ones the appliance generates, anyway).

@ArchiveAnon  

I mean, most of that time can be spent doing nothing. Try kneadless dough.
 
@coolmaster43232  
Learn, it’s very useful and reduces your dependency on consumerism (of microwaves and toasters).
 
@Officer Hotpants  
Cook ahead of time, doofus. Homemade meals can be frozen for later reheating too, and soups are warmed up by a microwave just fine. Also if you eat whenever you feel hungry (or “hungry” because thirst exists) you’ll end up being very American :^)

@Barhandar  
… I’ll accrue guns?

@Officer Hotpants  
You’ll accrue excessive body fat.

@Barhandar  
… … made of guns?