Goodbye Microwave

After 11 years, my microwave finally bit the dust last month.

It wasn't a tear-jerking farewell. In fact, the death of that appliance went unmourned. I never had fantastic memories with that microwave that would make it a sad death. We never vacationed together. It never remembered my birthday. If you asked me what amazing dinner I had courtesy of the microwave, I don't think I could give you an answer even if you gave me until next Tuesday (Uncle Ben's Rice Bowls come close, but they don't make those things anymore).

The day of it's death came when I was trying to defrost some ground beef. After 35 minutes with barely a warm plate, it was determined that the microwave had become a glorified kitchen timer/clock. The last thing it ever cooked? A sponge (you can disinfect a sponge by dampening it and throwing it in the microwave for three minutes).

When it died, I told my wife we'd better run out and get a new one quick. After all, there's no way you could live without it, right?

Right?

Well, a month has passed, and we didn't really miss it. Sure, there was a bowl of soup or two that would have been easier to cook with one, and I had to think ahead a day or two if I wanted to defrost meat, but other than that, it wasn't missed. Still, we felt the obligation to go to the store and purchase a new one.

Off to Walmart we went, and found their selection of microwaves. We grabbed the $63 one, and went off to do some other shopping. But something kept nagging at me.

You don't need it. Put it back. Sure it was strange that a voice from nowhere was telling me how to shop for appliances, but I kept looking at that microwave and thought of all the other things that $63 could buy. I also remembered some cooking show a while back where a woman was talking about not owning a microwave, saying that it forced her to eat healthier.

Without a microwave, you can't cook so many of those processed foods in the freezer aisle. And God knows the wife and I need all the help we can get when it comes to eating healthy.

So it was with a sense of empowerment that I put the microwave back on the shelf, and picked up a Black and Decker Toaster Oven instead. $23 cheaper, cooks food with better quality, and keeps us from using the oven as much (and in turn, keeps the kitchen cooler and uses less electricity). With the extra money, I turned around and bought a four-slice toaster (yes, I realize that the toaster oven could double as both, but Allicia had wanted a four-slice toaster for months now).

It's the dawning of a new era for us. Hopefully the $23 we saved will turn around and benefit our health in the future. 

Just don't bring us your microwave popcorn.