Cooking Without a Full Kitchen, Microwave Edition

Takeout and restaurant bills tend to add up—but what happens when you don't have a fully equipped kitchen to whip up delicious meals from home? Before you consult your food delivery apps again, let's run through easy ways you can cook from home with only the help of a microwave. This standard, compact and cost-effective appliance can create surprisingly nutritious and satiating meals with the press of a button.

Cook evenly

It's no secret that the dishes you put in the microwave will determine how much time they need to be nuked for. Generally, large, dense or thick ingredients will need more time to heat thoroughly. To prevent food from cooking unevenly, separate large ingredients from the smaller ingredients so you don't end up with raw food or unsavory overcooked bits. Another way to hack through this problem is to slice the larger ingredients into smaller pieces—think large vegetables, meat, and potatoes.

Another key way to ensure your dish cooks thoroughly is to arrange the food in a single layer on a microwave-safe dish, with the thicker or larger pieces away from the center of the dish. When using a microwave, the food at the outskirts of your plate will cook more quickly, so arranging your ingredients intentionally can help you achieve an even cook.

We also recommend cooking in intervals and stirring or mixing to distribute the heat. For small items you can cook at one-minute intervals, while larger ingredients like meat can cook for longer periods like three minute intervals. While this takes a bit more patience then simply nuking your meal for seven minutes flat, it will ensure you don't have any frozen or cold portions in the center with steaming hot outskirts of your dish.

Avoid the mess

Cooking on the stovetop will generally mean a pile of dirty dishes to clean, which is yet another benefit of using a microwave to whip up your next meal. To avoid the dreaded microwave splatter, be sure to puncture foods with a skin like sausages and potatoes—otherwise they might burst and create a mess. We also recommend covering your dishes with a microwave-safe lid, while leaving a small gap for steam to escape. In addition to preventing splatter, a lid will also ensure even cooking and keep mositure locked in so you don't have any dry bites.

Play with the microwave's power

Many of us default to using the factory settings on our microwave while cooking, which leaves out an array of temperature adjustments that can help us cook more precisely using this appliance. We don't cook two dishes the exact same way on the stovetop, so why would we in the microwave? Most microwaves wattage can be adjusted using the set power button, so you can tailor your cooking experience to the meal at hand. Nuking with less power is one way to slow down the process, which can actually help you avoid overcooking certain portions of your meal.

Get it delivered

Feel like no amount of convenience beats opening Seamless? Meal delivery services like Freshly and CookUnity will deliver fresh, prepared meals straight to your door, so you can just pop one in the microwave and feel confident you're getting the nutrients you need without a bunch of added sugar and over-processing.