Microwave Oven Advantages and Disadvantages

Today, microwave oven has occupied a prominent place in the modern kitchen due to its convenience, time saving and unavoidable utility. It is a multipurpose kitchen appliance in which cooking, roasting, grilling, baking, toasting can be done. They are fast and efficient. They have both advantages and disadvantages presented below.

Advantages

• The main advantage is cooking time in microwave oven reduces to one fourth of the time taken on gas stoves. So, the energy and time are saved.

• The utensils in the oven do not get heated, only the food gets heated.

• Heating frozen foods through microwave oven takes less time.

• It cooks food uniformly and the flavor and the texture of the food are not changed when reheated.

• Microwave cooking minimizes the loss of nutrients in food while compared to cooking in pressure cookers.

• It reduces the consumption of oil, thereby allows prepare low fat food.

• Baking can be done only in microwave ovens.

Disadvantages

• Often, the color, texture and taste of the food changes, when it is overcooked in microwave.

• It lacks the ability to brown the meat surfaces as the food is cooked in a short period of time. Also, this happens if it do not have browning unit.

• Foods that require deep frying like puri’s, bonda’s etc. cannot be made in microwave oven. Also, it is not possible to make chapatti’s and roti’s.

• Only specially made microwave bowls should be used. Otherwise, there may be a chance of transferring unwanted, harmful chemicals from the plastic cookware into the food.

• The major disadvantage is that some studies had proved that microwaved food is hazardous to your health causing diseases and increasing the risk of causing cancers as it emits cancer causing agents. Also, it causes the degeneration of the immune system and abnormal changes in the human blood.

• Microwave ovens can be harmful if you stand directly in front of them, while they are on. The only other way they can cause problems is if you misuse them.

• Food thicker than 1-1.5 inches cannot be cooked evenly since microwaves can penetrate only up to the depth of 1.5 inches.

Recommended: Pros and Cons of Cooking In The Microwave