Which one are you?

I want a microwave that has a database of every possible food type that tells it the optimal programming for everything, supported by sensors measuring weight, humidity, maybe even an infrared camera inside, if those can survive microwaves.
Until I have that: 100% until stuff starts to steam/bubble/boil, take it out, bite into it, regret not putting it in for longer, eat mostly cold leftovers.
- The Antique Microwave Oven that's Better than Yours
  
  You can see a technology connection a mile away
  
  I just remembered that this video is where I got the idea from and came to edit my comment to link it! It should be possible to build something like that in 2025, no? Why is every microwave I see in stores the exact same microwave my parents bought 30 years ago but in black?
- TrueCookPlus
  
  Interesting, I can see why it failed though. TCP's ideal situation is that you buy a microwaveable item with a TCP code on the box, pop it in your TCP enabled microwave, punch in the code and done. But those items will still need instructions for people without TCP microwaves, so those aren't really my problem anyway. I want to know how long I should microwave my leftover pasta (plastic container, 300g, from the fridge). TCP would have me... go to a website and look up the right code in a table? I could probably find the right settings for a regular microwave in much the same way and that way I might actually learn something useful instead of an opaque 4-digit code.
- That would cost like $1500
- Theres absolutely no reason an infared camera couldnt survive a microwave. All you would need is for the camera body to be outside, and to have a mesh blocking the sensor. You wouldnt be able to go through the door if the door is glass(not that ive ever seen a glass microwave door) because glass blocks infared, not sure about plastic. either way though, you could just cut a hole, remove the plastic, and then replace the mesh. Youd have to do some software work to ensure the camera is not picking up the heat from the mesh.

.00001% - twice as long at half power, oh look the centre isn't still frozen
- So based.
  My microwave sucks in that the "one touch start" feature always uses full power. To microwave on 50% power, you have to first touch set timer. Then input the time in full. Then touch power. Then input 5. Then press start.
  To work around this I made one of the programmable functions microwave at 50% for one minute. There is a handy +30s so I can just press that button if I need to extend it.
- Cheap microwaves have hot spots instead of even distribution of the microwaves inside the chamber. They use turntables to mask this issue, but the best option is to buy a high end microwave with even distribution. They will heat the food more evenly, and the lack of a turntable makes cleaning much easier

deep microwave lore here

I don't use the microwave. Also I didn't know there were different heat settings.
- The power setting makes the microwave cycle between ON and OFF at the given ratio. So at 50% power the microwave will only be heating for half of the cook time.
  
  Best my microwave can do is 650 W, 800 W, 1000 W?
  
  Modern LG microwaves have a variable power inverter so it’s not PWM. I would imagine they’re not the only ones.
- Same

Double time half power gang. It's so much better. I can wait an extra 90 sec for it to be evenly heated.

Cooking in the microwave is wild to me. I'm Mexican and we treat it as a reheating machine with a clock and a bunch of buttons that do nothing.

Too complicated. Put it on the never buy again list.

Microwave for 5 minutes at 70%, no mixing or flipping just fire and forget. Go play Slay the Spire while you wait.
- 40% (900W microwave) at 4m30s is my default go-to for pretty much everything.
  Except reheating my frozen lasagna. That's 20% for 22minutes
- I go 9 min at 50%

Never over 50% power. I'm always shocked by how many people don't know how to use a microwave. I usually worked a long time on my food, I don't want to ruin it through lazy reheating.
- Full 900w every time, because that's what the package asks for. Except when it asks for 1000w.
- What do you mean, never? Do you never heat water, coffee, tea, ...? Or just larger quantities where more power is no problem even for longer durations? This is not a fundamental thing, the optimum is different not just based on type, amount and distribution of food, additionally things like time constraints, container or cleaning matter.
  
  Never for reheating leftovers, anyway, which is 99% of what I use a microwave for. I have a kettle for other stuff. Overly high heat is gonna turn your proteins into rubber and exaggerate the "flaming hot on the outside, still cold in the middle" effect. There's also lots of other stuff like arranging things to avoid dead spots, making use of coverings to trap steam, not throwing your vegetables that will take a minute to warm up in at the beginning with the big hunk of pasta that's gonna need several minutes to heat through, etc.
  But yeah if you're reheating your food on >50% power you are almost definitely making it turn out worse than it would be on lower power.
- The difference in heating is negligible, but the time saved sure isn't. Always at 100%
- That is why I do most reheating on the stove, in the oven or on the contact grill (depends on what it is).
  
  Obviously not always an option to use an oven/stove if you are e.g. bringing a packed lunch into a typical office. It's certainly a better option for some things (you will never get "crispy" from a microwave, period) but microwave still produces acceptable results for many things, particularly if you are willing to put some thought and care into how you use it.
- Only time I use the power level selector is for poached eggs. If I'm reheating something where I actually care about how it turns out I'll usually use the oven 😂

When reheating food on a plate, I just put protein first for 30-60s, then add carbs (rice, pasta, or potato) and heat it all together for more 30-60s or until it's steaming. Always full power.

Neither. I'm 2m30s or 80% for reheating a meal.
- Same. Calm, long heating for the most even results. When you know what makes microwaves work, it just makes sense. But it all depends on what type of results you're looking to get, and what type of thing you're heating. 🤷‍♂️

Lower power basically does this automatically. Do extra time on lower power and it's way better with no additional effort required
- Interesting bit of trivia. Microwaves don't actually have "high" or "low" settings. The magnetron, the microwave's core component, only has two states - on and off. It can't power the magnetron at 10% power level.
  Instead, the "power" settings just control how often the magnetron is activated. So maybe at full power it's on 100% of the time. At medium it's 10 seconds on, 10 second off. At low it's 3 seconds on, 10 seconds off. That kind of thing. The "power" setting is just a glorified timer.
  
  You're not qualified for this topic. You're only allowed to share trivia about trees and erections
  
  Unless you have a modern microwave with an inverter, which will power the magnetron constantly with varying levels of power.
  
  Yep, that's what I meant by doing it automatically.

The dumb "nuke it on full for 90 seconds" one. No thought put into it, I just know it will be edible by my standards.
- Most microwavable food is already edible because it is a dumb idea to use a microwave for much more than reheating food, because it requires time and microwaves consume a ton of power for the heat they provide. The advantage of microwaves is that they have very little heatup time which makes it good for short blasts.
  
  "Palatable" would have been a better choice of words. I'm generally not very picky.

Learn to use the functions. Life changing. “Just nuke it” is for children and Neanderthals ✌🏻😌

Yep ,90 secs at 100% does it for most things in mine
- I don't use the microwave that often, but doesn't that result in explosion all the time?
  And don't we use Watt for that instead of percent?
  
  Mine is only 1000w so I dunno if things pop in higher powered ones. Only things that rupture at 90 secs in mine are cheap chicken franks

Everything tells me it's meant for an 1100 watt microwave, but my microwave is 1250 watts, so by setting it to 90% power, it's almost perfect.

The guy on the left except I don't even know the amount of time since my microwave was built in the mid-80s and takes longer to cook food (not sure if underpowered when it was built or some sort of degradation took place, it just came with the house).

5 minutes at 30% in an inverter microwave.

I always go six minutes. Fight me.

I've gotten down air frying my frozen microwave breakfast sandwiches down to a science. They never felt right in the microwave no matter what I tried.
Preheat to 350° F, set to 6 minutes, turn on turn reminder.
Separate the bun, sausage, egg, and cheese while you wait for pre heat to be done. Set then in the fridge.
Once preheated, put the sausage on a bun and egg on a bun in the basket and put it in the air fryer. Leave the cheese in the fridge for now.
After 3 minutes the turn reminder will go off. The sausage and egg are cool enough to touch base handed still. Flip the sausage. Flip the egg too, but put the cheese under the egg as well.
When it's done it's hotter so you might need to use something to grab it instead of using a your bare hands.
Perfection.
When I've tried just nuking it in full for X seconds in the microwave there is always something frozen in the middle.

Obligatory netshaq post about the reheat function https://youtu.be/dpf3bxQVLu8
- Love it

Double time, half power. Everything just tastes better, it's heated more evenly and less dried out/mushy
The amazing thing is I can't get people to try it... Every time I mention it people look at me like I'm crazy to suggest they wait an extra 3 minutes for their food
- 80% of people probably have no idea that microwaves have power settings

just use cover

I wish I had an inverter microwave. That’s the one I am.

Guy on left, but for 5 minutes instead

If the instructions give me any nonsense I just do the math and use the power level function.
I bought a microwave to make my life easier, I'll be damned if I'm gonna flip food over because someone doesn't understand how to write instructions involving the power level button

Kinda depends on what I'm making, but usually full nuke with a flip or stir partway through.

There is no use for a microwave because I have good cooking tools and skill.
- No-one brought up your cooking skills, though now I’m wondering why you’re instantly so defensive about them.
- So reheating something takes at least 30 minutes for your oven to warm up?
  You must work on your time management skills.