Microwave cooking is a kind of cooking that relies entirely on one appliance: the microwave. This kind of cooking is sometimes considered to be a form of convenience cooking as microwaves often cook and heat food faster than ovens. This kind of cooking is also very useful for people who live in small spaces and may not have a stove or oven. Microwave cooking is especially useful for college students who need to do occasional cooking in their dorm rooms and only have a microwave to work with.
Microwave cooking can also be very useful for people who are temporarily living in a hotel or hotel suite as well as people who are having their kitchens remodeled. During travel for work or when a kitchen is under construction, it can be both expensive and unhealthy to eat every meal at restaurants or fast food chains. In these instances, microwave cooking can create a way to continue to cook one's own food, even when kitchen space and cooking appliances are limited.
Some people think of microwaves simply as appliances that are used to re-heat leftovers or the occasional cup of coffee and a no muss, no fuss appliance for making popcorn. There are many people who have found that they can create lots of their favorite dishes simply using a microwave. Microwave cooking can be used to steam vegetables, make hot cereal, cook eggs for breakfast, even casseroles.
There are entire websites and books dedicated to microwave cooking. These sites and books include tips on how to get the most out of one's microwave and have a healthy, varied diet eating meals that were cooked only using this one appliance. Although there are many delicious dishes that can be made in a microwave oven, this appliance cannot replace the oven for foods like baked bread and muffins or a roasted turkey.
There are some people who assert that microwaved food can lead to illness. Many of these people believe that microwaves chemically change the makeup of foods, which can be cause the foods to be unhealthy for human consumption. Despite these assertions, many electronics companies are approved to sell microwaves and continue to come out with new models every year. The purported health risks of microwave cooking are usually countered with research that proves that microwaves do not contain enough energy to actually change the makeup of food.