How Clean Is Your Microwave?
By Janey1966
@Janey1966 (24170)
Carlisle, England
June 10, 2010 12:03pm CST
Mine is spotless due to the fact we don't use it for anything elaborate. If I spill something in there I tend to clean it up immediately as caked on grease and food would be harder to get rid of. How sad am I!
Mum has the same Panasonic microwave as me but it's white not silver. Amazingly, hers isn't in such a good condition. For someone who works in a School Kitchen this is rare indeed..and the rest of her own kitchen is fine. The reason for her "lapse" is not due to any grease or food lurking in the microwave...it has TOBACCO STAINS in it!
Yes, we all know my Mum is on the eccentric side but d'you know why there are tobacco stains in her microwave? Well, she microwaves her tobacco! It's true! She does this to "loosen it up so I can roll my tubes easier."
Initially, she wanted me to write to Panasonic about the state of her microwave and I told her that she hasn't got a leg to stand on. For starters the manual states that "no substance other than food should be heated in this microwave" or some such sentence.
So, tell me, what state is your microwave in and do you use it to heat other things in it besides food? I suppose the most bizarre thing I've ever heated up was a little cushion with cherry stones in it (don't ask) lol.
Mum has the same Panasonic microwave as me but it's white not silver. Amazingly, hers isn't in such a good condition. For someone who works in a School Kitchen this is rare indeed..and the rest of her own kitchen is fine. The reason for her "lapse" is not due to any grease or food lurking in the microwave...it has TOBACCO STAINS in it!
Yes, we all know my Mum is on the eccentric side but d'you know why there are tobacco stains in her microwave? Well, she microwaves her tobacco! It's true! She does this to "loosen it up so I can roll my tubes easier."
Initially, she wanted me to write to Panasonic about the state of her microwave and I told her that she hasn't got a leg to stand on. For starters the manual states that "no substance other than food should be heated in this microwave" or some such sentence.
So, tell me, what state is your microwave in and do you use it to heat other things in it besides food? I suppose the most bizarre thing I've ever heated up was a little cushion with cherry stones in it (don't ask) lol.4 people like this
16 responses
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
11 Jun 10
We have not had a microwave for about 4 or 5 years now and will never again have one. I do not believe that there is any need to have one and they are not very helpful in maintaining a healthy diet. 
I think the strangest thing that I have heated in a microwave was my underwear. I can remember one morning not having any clean undies to wear except for the ones on the line that were still a little bit damp. So into the microwave they went for a minute. They came out nice and warm and dry. 
I think the strangest thing that I have heated in a microwave was my underwear. I can remember one morning not having any clean undies to wear except for the ones on the line that were still a little bit damp. So into the microwave they went for a minute. They came out nice and warm and dry. 
@RawBill1 (8531)
• Gold Coast, Australia
12 Jun 10
Thanks...I think!
We have a food dehydrator that I use to dry clothing from time to time now!
We have a food dehydrator that I use to dry clothing from time to time now! @Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
11 Jun 10
Haha! You're the second person to mention placing an item of clothing in the microwave. Not a good idea if it's dry lol...but you're not that stupid, even though you're a bloke (only joking). Haha!
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
10 Jun 10
Well I know you can't force them! Mucky pups lol.
1 person likes this
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
11 Jun 10
I should jolly well think so too lol.
1 person likes this
@margerydaw14 (735)
•
10 Jun 10
I only ever put food in my microwave but I have had some really spectacular 'accidents' with mine. In your micro cookbook, they always tell you to pierce your egg before you cook it ?? well i did that but eggs have this habit of the yellow coagulating. Yep you guessed , i blew the egg up in the microwave !!
Quite amazing how much mess one little egg can make.
I have also 'blown' up a sausage in a microwave too, also very very messy. my current microwave is silver and very clean. I have had white ones, a very fetching blue one, but this is silver and was a real cheapo to buy, but very easy to use.
Quite amazing how much mess one little egg can make.
I have also 'blown' up a sausage in a microwave too, also very very messy. my current microwave is silver and very clean. I have had white ones, a very fetching blue one, but this is silver and was a real cheapo to buy, but very easy to use.@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
11 Jun 10
I've had a blue one too but Mum kindly replaced it with a shiny, silver one that I have now. I intend to keep it as clean as the day it was purchased and I'm doing a good job up to now.
Oh dear, I dread to think what the egg and the sausage incidents looked like...but I can imagine. The nearest to that disaster I can think of is not piercing a fish boil in the bag thingy properly and the bag ended up looking like a balloon. That was the point the sauce in the bag decided to explode with it.
Needless to say, I've not made that mistake again!
Oh dear, I dread to think what the egg and the sausage incidents looked like...but I can imagine. The nearest to that disaster I can think of is not piercing a fish boil in the bag thingy properly and the bag ended up looking like a balloon. That was the point the sauce in the bag decided to explode with it.
Needless to say, I've not made that mistake again!
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
15 Jul 10
I don't have any problems with the microwave at home. It tends to be cleaned up immediately. Specially if kids start microwaving the instant mac n cheese which always spills out the liquid.
My problem is the microwave in the office. I don't think anybody ever cleans it. Yet we keep using it.
I once saw my brother stick his damp pants in the microwave...
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
15 Jul 10
Oh he never did..did he? How gross! Yes, I have seen some minging microwaves in the workplace in my time. Amazed they still worked to be honest.
@udayrao2 (781)
• India
11 Jun 10
Hi Janey
we mainly use that for heating and short cooking - no elaborate long time cooking - so hardly any spills- if at all there are then those are cleaned immediately.
And at times we use for roasting - like maybe groundnuts, or some other dry fruits like almonds, walnuts etc !!
For other cooking prefer to use the gas or the regular oven
So the microwave is always very very clean.
Oh yes once just to dry something very fast - I think it was a wet or soaked shirt that needed drying fast my daughter used it with great success!!!
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
11 Jun 10
Wow, I've never heard of clothes being dried in a microwave before. It's a good job my Mum has a tumble dryer otherwise she'd be using it all the time lol.
@rastogisw (445)
• India
10 Jun 10
My microwave remain clean now because few days back some problem arises with my microwave so have to call technician for that and technician said after using any oily thing you need to clean this.So now I can say my microwave is spotless ,though I use my microwave for many things like taking out ghee,heating up the things,making the rice,baking cake and many other things
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
10 Jun 10
Wow, you seem to use yours more than I use mine. Mum used to have one of those combination oven microwaves and I used to bake biscuits and cakes in it whilst I lived there. Nowadays, I use my main electric oven for cakes although I'm ashamed to say I've only baked one cake in it from new. It's actually cheaper these days to buy a shop-bought cake as the ingredients are so expensive.
@rastogisw (445)
• India
10 Jun 10
AS I dont have seperate oven so have to use microwave with oven but if I also have seperate one then I will prefer the separte as in that (microwave with oven) oven things wont get baked properly ....but yes for making other things I use microwave and without that I feel like I am helpless .
@BarBaraPrz (47308)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
10 Jun 10
My microwave is fairly clean. If something goes berserk in there I generally clean it up right away.
The only thing other than food that I heat up in it is one of those seed-filled heater thingies when my neck tenses up.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
11 Jun 10
Yes, I know the type of thing you mean. It's amazing the products that can be microwaved now for our ailments. They tend to stay warm for ages too.
1 person likes this
@animegirl334 (3263)
• United States
10 Jun 10
My microwave is pretty brown and grummy. Sometimes I microwave, I just put my food on a napkin or two before I heat it up so sometimes the food gets inside the microwave. I suppose I should be less lazy clean my microwave more often or else I might be eating all the grease and bacteria stuck inside it......but I can't help myself; I'm just a lazy girl. Maybe I'll clean it if I end up in the hospital.
I suppose I should be less lazy clean my microwave more often or else I might be eating all the grease and bacteria stuck inside it......but I can't help myself; I'm just a lazy girl. Maybe I'll clean it if I end up in the hospital.@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
10 Jun 10
Haha! Very good! When I was younger I just didn't really clean anything. Why I have changed since I've become a bit older is a mystery!
@cortjo73 (6498)
• United States
10 Jun 10
Mine is in good condition. I clean my house once a week and, as part of the cleaning, I clean the inside of my microwave. So, it rarely has much of anything in it. Maybe a drip here or splatter there for a day or so. But, it gets cleaned once a week. And, I cover everything I heat up in there with wax paper or a microwave safe lid. The messiest thing I make in it is popcorn. Sometimes popcorn splats from the opening in there.
I don't use my microwave a lot. Maybe once or twice a week. Sometimes more often than others but, usually, not too often.
And, I don't use it for anything but food. At least, not that I can remember.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
10 Jun 10
Wow, I bet your microwave is gleaming my friend...just like mine!
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
14 Jun 10
I occasionally heat up a cold/hot pack for my back. But usually it's food. And I try to wipe up after things that splatter. The kids don't necessarily, so I can't say it's exactly pristine.
@lelin1123 (15595)
• Puerto Rico
10 Jun 10
I have only used my microwave for heating up or defrosting foods. I do have others in my home that don't seem to know how to cover their foods when cooking. I just decided to look inside two days ago and was aghast as to what I saw. It was so disgusting on the top inside. I scrubbed it clean and told everyone to make sure when heating things up to cover up the food. I have now put a paper towel inside so they can use that when necessary. It is so hard to clean a microwave once everything is so caked inside.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
10 Jun 10
I do know what you mean. I would never use a microwave in the workplace because staff couldn't be bothered cleaning it. Not hard to do is it? Once it's neglected over time that's when it gets more difficult to sort out.
At least you have all areas covered my friend.
@nonersays (3335)
• United States
10 Jun 10
Ours is used pretty much for food and water only.
Our old one was FULL of stains of food that popped over the years and cooked on. Hubby used to microwave baked beans without covering them and they would pop all over, even when I got home and cleaned out the microwave it was too late, the stain was there.
Our current microwave is still mostly spotless.
The microwave at work, however, is HORRID. Its so disgusting because no one EVER cleans it out. I dont know why people keep cooking their food uncovered in there. I'd be afraid some of the gunk on the microwave walls would fall in my food.
I'm the only one who EVER cleans the microwave at work, but when its really busy like we have been all the time lately then I dont have time to clean it and it just gets worse and worse.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
11 Jun 10
I do sympathise as I have witnessed absolutely filthy kitchens in the workplace. In fact, a friend of mine GOT TOLD OFF by leaving sarcastic post-it notes in a work's kitchen. She was perfectly justified in doing so as she was the only one who would clean up after herself (I never used the kitchen anyway) so for her to be berated in this way was so out of order by management. I don't think she bothered to clean up after that...and I don't blame her either.
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
11 Jun 10
When it comes to my kitchen, my microwave tends to get slighted. I can sometimes forget it needs cleaned as well. There are times when i can get too carless and sloppy when i pop something into the microwave. Microwave cleaning can be a kitchen oversight we can all neglect from time to time.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
11 Jun 10
Mmm I suppose that could be said with me and my conventional oven. I do try to clean it every week but it's also dependant on what I have cooked in it. The grill is also inside the oven at the top so splashes from that can leave the oven looking a mess at times. I don't have the same problem with my microwave as it is generally used just to heat stuff up. However, if I used it more it would probably be the same scenario as my oven...if that makes sense!
@GreatAttractor100 (246)
• United States
11 Jun 10
Mine is pretty clean most of the time, we only heat food in ours. When heating soups and stuff like that I put a lid or paper towel on top of the container when microwaving. It gets cleaned maybe about once a month depending on how dirty it is.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
11 Jun 10
Yes, that would be the same with me too as I only heat food up in it as opposed to cooking anything. The most over-used item in my kitchen would probably be my steamer that I use on the gas hob. I have potatoes in water at the bottom, peas in the middle so the steam from the potatoes cooks the peas and I have a lid on the top. It's a great way of cooking vegetables. If I didn't have a steamer no doubt the microwave would be used more than it is at present.
Welcome to MyLot!
Welcome to MyLot!
@GardenGerty (160663)
• United States
10 Jun 10
You just gave me an idea of what to do with all the pits from my great crop of cherries this year. I think I pretty well just heat foodstuff. I am disappointed though, the paint inside this microwave blistered and peeled. I am the one in the house who cleans the microwave, though.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
10 Jun 10
It's annoying when they blister and peel like that isn't it? How long have you had it? Touch wood; it hasn't happened with ours yet as it's only 2 years old.
@kaka135 (14931)
• Malaysia
10 Jun 10
My microwave is quite clean, as I usually use it to reheat my solid food, such as rice, dishes only. I don't use it to cook or reheat liquid food, such as soup. Also, if I dirty my microwave, I will just use a cloth to clean it. The stain will be more difficult to remove if I don't clean it immediately. I don't use my microwave to heat up other things beside food.
@Janey1966 (24170)
• Carlisle, England
10 Jun 10
Hello there! I like your avatar, it's very cute. Yes, you are like me, you just HAVE to clean the microwave straight away...makes life easier in the long run.
Yes, you are like me, you just HAVE to clean the microwave straight away...makes life easier in the long run.