Four years ago we downsized the size of our microwave. Now I’m wondering if we really need it.

I’m taking a hard look at my kitchen today to see how I can have more prep space to make my deliciously healthy low carb, high fat foods. After removing most jars, canisters, and machines from my counters, I’m now considering giving my microwave the boot.

From cooking Lean Cuisines, instant oatmeal, “baked” potatoes, to warming up leftover pizza or chicken breast, there was a time when the microwave was my kitchen’s workhorse. But now it seems more like a monument to convenience food. Stuff I don’t eat anymore. And that means it’s taking up valuable counter space!

I don’t mean to imply that since eating real foods I’ve stopped using the microwave. I use it to warm up grilled meat, chili, soup or to quickly melt butter or coconut oil. But I can do that using my range.

Dot’s Top 5 Reasons To Say Goodbye To The Microwave

1. No matter what I do, the food always comes out luke warm (soup) or lava hot (dang potatoes).
2. All my reheated grilled meats come out bone dry.
3. Taste…or lack of. I’m eating real food now and microwaves suck the tasty goodness out of my food.
4. I no longer defrost meat in the microwave – I use cold water.
5. An awesome excuse for investing in Pyrex containers – perfect for the oven (hint, hint Santa!).

As an added bonus, my husband tends to rely on snacks too much. If he thinks he has to pull out pots and pans to eat something, he’d rather “starve.”

“But It Saves Time”…To Do What, Exactly?
I know some of you wouldn’t part with your microwave because it saves you “precious minutes.” Really? But what are you using those minutes for? I know I spent nearly 25+ years fretting about spending too much time in the kitchen. After all I had so much time and so little to do. Yet, if I had taken the time in the kitchen and cooked my meals I wouldn’t have ballooned to 325 pounds.

Just seems to me our go-go-go society has its priorities screwed up.

Let’s be honest: do you spend your valuable time on social media reading the latest outrages (some real…a lot faux), watching cat videos, following a boring celebrity or pinning someone’s home decor (yep, I’ve done this.)?  How much time do you spend playing free games, only to curse those dang video ads until the skip button appears? I promise it’s a lot more time than you think.

Most Americans spend an average of 4.7 hours a day on their smart phones. Adults 25-54 check ALL their social media accounts 17 times a day – that’s more than once EACH waking hour.

Wow…I guess those extra minutes using the microwave really are important, huh?

Instead of making one cup of tea at a time with my microwave, my tea kettle kept the water hot long enough for me to easily enjoy my second cup.

All snark aside, yesterday I did a little experiment — no microwave. I used a pan to reheat my leftovers for lunch. To make hot water for tea, I used a strange device called a “tea kettle” (OK, I had some snark left). All in all, that took 5 minutes out of my life (including putting the pan in the dishwasher).

I convinced the husband to join me in not using the microwave for the rest of December. The hubby took the microwave away to a dark corner of our basement.

Hopefully I won’t notice it’s gone…otherwise it will be a very long 2 weeks.

Do you use a microwave? Why or why not?