Your microwave can be your best friend or your worst enemy, really?

Nothing makes life easier at dinner time than when you can just zap your leftovers from the night before…Bon Appétit in 3 minutes!

and when you have a baby, toddler, child, the microwave is such a time saver….those cubes of frozen baby food, that frozen applesauce, the cold soup in the fridge, all ready to serve in minutes thanks to that miracle worker.

But wait!

Auchtung! Attention! Caution!

Don’t microwave anything in plastic or on plastic or with plastic wrap over it. Use a damp paper towel. And don’t microwave anything in styrofoam….

why?

Well, there have been quite a few panic emails circulated over the past years about microwaves, plastic and a multitude of health problems: cancer, infertility, impotence, birth defects, etc

And though I don’t normally buy into the culture of fear, I’ve found there are certain aspects of these proclamations that make you say, “Duh, yeah!  Of course!”

For instance, it makes sense that during the heating process, chemicals/substances possibly found in plastics, or styrofoam  can leak into your food.

And OK, it’s pretty clear that these chemicals are unhealthy to ingest.  So putting hot food or microwaving food in plastic or styrofoam containers is not good for you.

That’s it.  Basic logic.

Nothing’s ever been proven, as far as links from microwaved plastics to cancer, but let’s be real.  The possibility is out there.

So, since we know that too much sun exposure isn’t good, we use sunblock.  Right?

And now, the next time we go to pop something into the microwave, we’ll make sure it’s on a plate (made of some sort of pottery) or in a glass dish!