Productivity experts will tell you, the best way to make a change is to set things up so that you are forced to do it. Having trouble saving money? Set up a portion of your paycheck to be direct deposited into your savings account. Can't resist buying stuff with your credit cards? Freeze them into a block of ice.
Want to eat healthy? Get rid of your microwave.
About 95% of what most people do with a microwave is cook frozen dinners, frozen pizzas, Hot Pockets, and other mass market, ultra-bad-for-you junk food masquerading as a meal. (What Michael Pollan calls "edible food-like substances.")
Getting rid of the microwave basically forces you to cook everything from scratch, and isn't that what you have been promising yourself you would start doing? Several Chowhound users who ditched their microwaves swear they would never go back.
This radical idea goes contrary to everything we known and hold dear about how the kitchen works. But on the up side, it will also free up a bunch of space in your kitchen. Even a small microwave has a surprisingly big footprint if it's taking up counter space. As much as I love my microwave, my kitchen is tiny, and I would love to have that space back.
Of course, microwaves can also be a valuable asset in your War Against Junk Food. I like to bake up an entire mega-pack of chicken breasts once a week, then heat them up in the microwave for lunch throughout the week. And lord knows there is plenty of junk food that does not require heating in the microwave, so it's hardly a cure-all.
Still, this is an interesting idea I had not heard before. Humanity got along just fine for hundreds of thousands of years before the microwave oven came along… I wonder if I could do the same?
Image courtesy Flickr/ewen and donabel
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