GONE!

This is a picture of where our Microwave used to sit.

This is something I've been working toward for quite some time now, and I'm happy to say we've finally done it. We've ditched the microwave!

If you haven't read up on microwave use, I highly suggest reading this article.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/18/microwave-hazards.aspx

As always, I suggest reading the article for information and sifting it through the screen of your own common sense.

When I read about the dangers of radiation, my common sense screams out "Why are you eating that?!Why are you feeding that to your kids?!". It just doesn't make sense to me that we go to such lengths to make sure that the radiation waves stay "safely" contained in the microwave, and then we promptly remove the very thing that has absorbed the majority of the radiation and EAT IT!? Even without any scientific proof, this just doesn't make sense to me.

With all of that said, I've know about this for a while. Ditching the microwave was not something that could be done overnight in this house. First, slowly but surely I had to change my kitchen habits. To reduce microwave use, the two biggest factors in our house were:
1. Making sure to take meat out of the freezer well in advance. I often find myself taking out enough meat for 2 or 3 meals. That way I only have to remember once every two or three days. I also make sure that we never run out of eggs. If I forget to thaw meat for supper, we eat eggs.
2. Eliminating leftovers. I have become very careful about not having leftovers. Of course we still have leftovers occasionally, but I try to pay close attention to my family's eating habits so as not to make too much steak, or rice, or broccoli, or whatever. When in doubt, I make less than we need. After all, we live in North America so it is highly unlikely that we actually need as much as we think we do. And if the we find ourselves unsatisfied with the amount of food for dinner, we can always grab an apple, or some other whole fruit to finish off the meal.

With those two uses eliminated, we were recently down to 2 regular uses for our microwave. Tea, and wheat bags. Anyone who knows me, knows how important these things are to me. My emotional sanity relies heavily on my morning and evening cup of orange pekoe with Manitoba honey and cream. This is my twice daily escape from stress, my moment of "Me time".  Wheat bags are also seriously important, because I just can't sleep if I'm not warm. I can always take a bath, but I definitely prefer to just heat up a wheat bag.

So, I hung on to the convenience of these two microwave uses for a long time, but from now on I'll be making single cups of tea(or reheating in a pot), and using a hot water bottle(or heating a wheat bag in the oven). The changes will be a little hard to get used to, but I think I can do it.

As a bonus, I just may have found one of the only suitable spots for a plant in my kitchen!