9 Things You Didn’t Know Your Microwave Oven Could Do

It may be hard to believe but the microwave oven has been around since the year 1947! That’s the year that the first one was available commercially, although at the time it was extremely expensive, retailing for about $5,000. It was also a bit large for most homes, standing over 5 feet tall and weighing about 750 pounds. Things sure have changed over the years, and these days you can walk in to Walmart and carry a microwave oven out the door for less than $50. Before their invention, a microwave oven would have probably seemed like a miracle. A meal that once took hours to cook can be prepared in a microwave oven in a fraction of the time. The vast majority of the time they are used to prepare food, but microwave ovens have a number of other uses that you may not be aware of. You might be surprised to find out how many other tricks the microwave has up its sleeve and chances are good that at least a few of them will come in handy for you some day.


1. Gardening

Some people enjoy growing their vegetables and other plants from seeds which they start indoors. In order to make sure soil is sterile and does not contain damaging bacteria or other micro organisms that can cause problems for seedlings, you can stick soil in the microwave oven to sterilize it. It’s best to use plastic containers and put a thin layer of soil in them and then microwave them for about 90 seconds for each 2 pounds of soil.