Microwave Cleaning and Cookware

CLEANING MICROWAVE OVENS:
Wipe off all spills as soon as possible, using wet paper towels to saturate dried or cooked-on food. Do not use metal tools to scrape up food because they seriously damage the interior of the microwave. Deodorize and clean your microwave every now and then. When the oven is turned off and cold, wash its inside surfaces with a solution of 4 tablespoons baking soda per 1 quart warm water. Two microwave cleaning don’ts: Don’t use commercial oven cleaners in a microwave. Dont ever remove the cover in the top of the oven for cleaning.

MICROWAVE COOKWARE:
Not sure if a dish is suitable for the microwave? Put the empty dish and a glass measuring cup half filled with water in the oven and set it on full power for 1 minute. Then gingerly touch the dish and the water. If the water is hot and the dish cool, the dish is OK to use.

Some surprising items can be used as microwave cookware. Try warming leftovers on a paper plate, cooking bacon on paper towels, and heating rolls wrapped in a napkin in a straw basket.

In a microwave, food in a round dish cooks more evenly. A shallow dish also cooks more evenly than a deep one. And any dish cooks slower in the center than at the edges. Give preference to dishes with straight rather than sloping sides.

Before putting food in the microwave, cover it with plastic wrap or a glass lid. The food will heat faster and more evenly. It will also retain more moisture.

Don’t rush out to buy special cookware for your new microwave. Most of your present ceramic and glass casserole and baking dishes are microwave-safe.

Save the microwave-safe plastic containers that some frozen foods come in. They’re great for heating individual portions of any food in the microwave, and you can put them in the dishwasher.

Select plastic microwave cookware that can also be used for freezer storage so that precooked portions can go directly from the freezer into the microwave.

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Attribution:
The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.
Household hints & handy tips
Pleasantville, New York
Published: 1988