[lynn P.]

I wanted to start a thread on microwave safety so others can learn from an incident that happened earlier today. My 14 yr old daughter is at the age where she makes her own lunch sometimes. I wasn't aware she was trying to heat an already boiled egg (no shell) in a small dish. Normally we never cook anything in the microwave...just reheat leftovers sometimes. She heated it for 30 seconds...took it out, holding it at chest level and it literally exploded everywhere, including her face...eyes. She ran to the sink and washed her eyes out, because small pieces went in and around her eyes. There was even egg on the ceiling and it made an exploding sound. She has red eyelids and a superficial burn on her neck. The whole incident shook her up.

While I'm on the subject, I wanted to mention we never used plastic wrap or microwave in plastic containers, to avoid leaching of chemicals. Also have to be very careful to use microwave safe glass when heating liquids. If you heat a cup of water for coffee or tea and then try to add the tea, sugar or coffee - the liquid may boil over and burn you. There's a chance fires could start from overheating popcorn. Here's some additional tips:

http://sneakykitchen.com/Ten_command...ave_safety.htm

http://websterwebwriting.wordpress.c...the-microwave/

[eskielover]

Glad your daughter wasn't seriously burned with the exploding egg. Microwaves can be tricky with different foods.

Thank you for sharing some of that information.....it helps to know before you do anything rather than learning the hard way.

I'll never forget my first experience with a microwave at work when I was first out of college & at my first programming job in at a very plush company in West Wood California. I had been married for 3 years, but we didn't have enough money to buy a microwave back in 1978. Microwaves had just taken off as kitchen appliances back in 1975,,,,& we were definitely not the first on the block to have one.

I was in a hurry to leave for work, so I decided to throw 2 pieces of bread together & put a few slices of cheese in the middle & make myself a nice warm grilled cheese sandwich in the lunchroom microwave at work. I had been in a hurry, so that was all I threw in my lunch sack to eat. I went into the lunch room......got out my sandwich, scratched my head for a few seconds & pondered on how long I should warm the bread & cheese to make it like a nice grilled cheese sandwich. I thought about how long it usually took me to toast the bread & then get the cheese to melt......hmmmmmm, 5 minutes sounds like enough time. I stuck it in, turned it on & sat there waiting with stomach growling for my yummy grilled cheese sandwich. Opened the door when the microwave shut off.....took out the sandwich & it was hard as a rock......there was absolutely NOTHING I could do to it to make it edible.....needless to say, my stomach was growling for the rest of the day because I had no money & didn't have the time to go out to eat at any of the wonderful restaurants that surrounded that UCLA, West Wood area. I commented later to someone about how strange it was that it cooked my sandwich so hard in that short of time. They looked at me as if I were NUTS......letting me know that even 1 minute would have been quite a long time to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

Another interesting thing I found out about the microwave oven is that it doesn't work when the outside temperature surrounding it gets around 40F. I had been keeping the heat in my house very low because I couldn't afford to pay the electric bill & just wanted to keep the pipes from freezing. I thought how wonderful, I can use the microwave & will make myself a fast dinner so I could get back upstairs where I was keeping the house warm. I could not get the microwave to heat my food. I was getting all prepared for having to buy a new microwave.....doing the research & everything....in the mean time, the weather warmed up & for some reason, I tried heating something one more time in the microwave & it started working again & has worked continually since then for a few years except when it got really cold in the kitchen again. That was when it dawned on me that the surrounding temperature of the microwave has everything to do with it's ability to cook effeciently.....or cook at all.

I love to do poached eggs in the microwave, but am very careful with the microwave dish I use for it. Mostly I just use it for warming up already cooked food or making frozen vegies......I used to use it for warning water for my tea, but got started using my coffee maker for just heating the water without coffee. I just bought a new unit called the sunbeam Hot Pot Express that I can warm everything in from soup to water to milk......I was looking for something like that to keep upstairs with me so I didn't have to constantly go downstairs to get a warm glass of something to drink. It heats the water faster than the microwave & has a low setting to keep it warm.

Had been thinking about getting a little microwave for upstairs.....but this little hot pot is much more efficient.

UGH......the burnt popcorn.....I was forever doing that until I finally figured out just how long was the perfect time for the kettle corn I fell in love eating......hated the burnt flavor....but it's so good when it's perfect....found for that popcorn......3 minutes usually pops most of the corn & gets it right before it burns.

Like you, I am very careful about not using plastic wrap....I put a paper towel over the top of everything to keep it from splattering....but not plastic wrap or cook in plastic. Think there is a certain kind of plastic containers that are free of the chemical.....but not sure I want to take the chance.

[turquoise4]

Whoa, I'm glad your daughter wasn't hurt badly...an exploding egg, Yikes!

[Seshat]

Originally Posted by turquoise4

Whoa, I'm glad your daughter wasn't hurt badly...an exploding egg, Yikes!

Ditto! We've had a couple of microwave accidents at home and even though nobody was hurt it is too shocking. I even remember the one that happened when I was a little kid. Thanks for the links. I'll pass the info along.

[MyFathersGirl]

I'm glad your daughter is okay. One thing I did was forget about the silver lining on a china plate until I started seeing the sparks. It was quite a light show but I just stopped the microwave and waited a couple minutes before I took it out. I didn't do it but my cousins also had some exploding food in the microwave. They didn't have any microwave popcorn so they tried to put regular popcorn in a ziploc baggie and pop it that way. It didn't quite work out that way.

[Umbral_Seraph]

Ouch! I've had plenty of food explode on me after I took it out of the microwave (often cheese), but never anything that bad.

OMG lynn very scary so glad that your daughter is ok.

[Sabrina]

Yes, eggs and microwaves don't go together. Glad your daughter is okay.

[Fresia]

I am so sorry to hear your daughter got burned. I hope she is doing ok. Coincidentally my sis-in-law was just telling me how much easier it is to cook eggs in the microwave and will warn her. Thanks so much for the information and hope she heals soon.

[gma45]

Oh Lynn, So glad your daughter is alright, it could have been much worse. Microwaves can be dangerous.