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Lockedputting aluminum trays in the microwave?

posted on June 22, 2009 at 02:16PM Inappropriate?

My elderly parent receives "meals on wheels" and the meals come in aluminum containers with cardboard inserts on top.  The directions with these meals state that it is okay to put these, as they ar,e into the microwave for reheating!   Is this new?  When did it change?  I thought NO metal could go into a microwave?  Thank you!

replies: 4 latest post: July 01, 2009 at 11:12AM by emich09
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posted on June 22, 2009 at 06:31PM
 

Metal has almost always been okay in the microwave. Metal causing microwaves to explode like one did in the movie Gremlins, for instance, is largely an urban myth. Very early models had problems with metal because it would reflect the waves back at the magnetron and cause it to overheat - which would then cause the magnetron to fail, and need a major repair or to be replaced. That problem was addressed very early on, and any modern microwave should have no problem with metal objects inside them. In fact, several new models out there have metal turntables right from the factory.

A force of habit passed down through a few generations of cooks though does seem to make most people avoid metal in their microwaves, because they may have heard a story about grandma's old clunky Tappan releasing a quick puff of smoke and failing immediately after having metal inside it. While i suppose that is entirely possible in a first generation microwave, it has since been addressed.

Long story short, yes - it is perfectly safe to put metal in a modern microwave.

posted on June 22, 2009 at 09:07PM
 

I remember years ago we had an Amana Radarange, which was a 1977 model I think. I was re-heating a Wendy's burger and it was still in the wrapper which at that time had an aluminum coating. The wrapper burst into flames and my burger was ruined! That old Amana lasted 20 years--I killed it  when I replaced the light bulb with the wrong type and shorted out the socket. Modern microwaves are more tolerant of metal as long as you have an equal or greater mass of food in there to counteract the metal. Don't try sticking a plain old metal fork in there by itself unless you want a light show.

posted on June 23, 2009 at 10:56PM
 

If the item is engineered for microwave use, as it apparently is, great! Newer microwaves even come with a metal rack or two for multi-level cooking... just follow the directions in the owner's manual!

posted on July 01, 2009 at 11:12AM
 

That is all true but if you keep that metal rack in over the years without dual level cooking you will have a nice sparkshow as it will start eating the enamel around the porcelin clips that support the rack. It takes a while but some of my customers had to learn the hard way. Nothing a little sandpaper and some white out won't fix though just have to knock out the porcelin tabs. Unfortunatley in most owners manuals it will say that it is specificcally designed to do only dual level cooking ie. something on the rack and something on the bottom at the same time. Most times I suggest to always leave the rack out and let it gather dust somewhere, as from my perspective it caused more problems than the convienience.

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