Editor's note: Welcome Jess M., to the Food Lush family! We're thrilled to have her join us and if you'd like to get to know Jess better, follow her on Twitter.
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by Jess M.
Recently we decided to get rid of our microwave. It was big and bulky, took up a lot of counter space, and we didn’t feel like we used it all that much. Sure, we reheated leftovers or melted a little bit of butter, but overall I felt like most things we used it for could be done another way.
So, we bought a toaster oven. (The Oster TSSTTVMNDG Digital Large Capacity Toaster Oven) We have three kids and so actually a lot of meal prep involves heating up frozen kid foods: corn dogs, nuggets, french fries, pizza. With the toaster oven, these things are ready quicker than they are when you cook them in the regular oven and you don’t have to heat up the whole kitchen just for a single corn dog.
There are some “accessory” items that really help with our conversion to toaster oven life:
- I bought a set of small Pyrex dishes for food storage. We still use the plastic ones, but if it’s something I know we’ll reheat in the toaster oven, like macaroni, I can go ahead and store it in a smallish Pyrex dish.
- We have a quarter sheet pan that came in a set with some half sheet pans and it is the perfect size to fit in the toaster oven.
- Food Service Foil Sheets. My husband laughed at these when he saw me bring them home from a Costco trip, but they are so convenient. They are just the right size for my quarter sheet pan so I don’t have to tear/cut/waste regular sized foil. And they keep the pan clean so I don’t have to scrape off cooked-on cheese every time we have a snack.
Have you lived without a microwave? How do you melt your butter?
(Photos from: Amazon)



