One of the messiest jobs in the world is cooking and if you are a Mom or a Dad you can totally relate. My kids love the microwave and I am so happy we have it as well as the food gets done quite quickly especially when their stomachs are growling. The microwave is one of the most versatile cooking appliances I have in the kitchen, in fact I believe I use it more than I use my stove on some days.
That said, the cleanup of the carousel, the doors, the handle, all can take time not to forget to mention that great spatter in the microwave walls and ceiling.
Additionally, I have a child with severe food allergies, and using anything that has been used on nuts, fish, etc. can create the need for the Epi Pen and a trip to the hospital so my Paper Plate Hack is perfect for those with food allergies that want to keep those reactions to a minimum.
This is how I lavishly live food allergies, travel, cooking, and food preparation out loud with a Paper Plate Hack that is most helpful and converts the traditional Paper Plate into a workhorse. Are you ready to be a moisture-wicking, spatter stopper, that does not let cross contamination occur?
Paper Plate Hack
I don’t work with the fancy wax-covered paper plates, those are not the ones I am talking about. Rather I use the good, old-fashioned paper plate that is too wimpy to be just one layer but awesome stacked or the way I am about to show you!
I think when I found my first cover in the dollar tree for my microwave I was sailing around the world happy! Long since those days, I have searched for alternative ways to cover food for the cooking and warm-up process. First, those covers from the Dollar Tree are not even made with good plastics, so each time you use them they are breaking down and putting horrible chemicals into your food.
As for Wax Paper you can have it, I can’t stand how it looks, feels or works in a microwave, so that is not an option. Ceramic plates break-down over time and they began to get heated and so hot to touch as they can only take so many rounds in a microwave. These Paper Plate Hacks replace the need for all those things in your life and keeps it simple: Paper.
The Moist Factor – Paper Plate Hack
Have you ever warmed up pizza on a ceramic plate? Underneath the pizza amasses moisture and it translates to the crust and well, there goes that yummy pizza with a good crust.
What you get when you warm it up in a microwave on a ceramic plate is warm cheese and sauce and a bottom that tastes like it ran through the water fountain, ooey and gooey. NO thanks! My kids had complained quite frequently that when they would warm their pizza up the bottom was always soggy and of course a regular stone plate or ceramic plate is the reason that the bottom comes out moist.
My First Paper Plate Hack is to replace those traditional dishes with two thin paper plates stacked together and of course put the pizza on the plate. What results in this Paper Plate Hack, a moisture wicking set of plates that keeps the pizza warmed up just right without that soggy bottom crust! YUM.
The Paper Plate Hack for Spatter
We were away, traveling as we often are, and the kids wanted bacon and I was also cooking bacon for a dish I had to make for dinner. I had nothing to cover the bacon that was about to be microwaved with.
My one coffee filter hack that I shared with you was not going to work because the filters were too small to cover the full dish, so while it is a great hack it is better for bowls. My solution….Drum Roll Please, not eyelid rolls, lol……. A paper plate covering the plate.
Spatter meets my hack. This Paper Plate Hack for spatter works awesome. The plate not only keeps moisture away from dampening the food because the paper sucks it up, but it also covers the full diameter of most plates entering the microwave. The best part is yet to come.
Have you ever used wax paper, it gets moist and gross when you go to toss it out it drips water. If you use plastic permanent covers they need washed(oh yeah), this Paper Plate Hack is easy because you just toss it out, no moisture dripping, nothing to clean and the microwave is ready for the next person. This is perfect with bacon, take a look at what we did while we were traveling, it makes it so easy to clean up and there is no mess in the microwave!
Paper Plate Hack For Food Allergies
I might also add that this is perfect for the household who has a person that has severe food allergies as we do. The Paper Plate Hack is great because we are not stopping to wash the plastic lid that covers the food, or if someone would forget and the lid has touched food that my son can’t eat then we are really in trouble.
Lessen the need to worry about cross-contamination in the microwave. A word of caution: look for spill-overs on plates, and make sure that no one has touched the door of the microwave with foods or allergens that you are allergic too, in order to avoid a tactile allergen attack. We keep a cloth by the microwave(Wipes) and the kids wipe down after each use. Alternatively they let my son cook his food first and then MOM gets to wipe down the microwave at the end(lol).
Hackers Welcome
Each of these hacks works well, alleviates the need for those ceramic dishes, the stone plates and all the horrible plastics we place in the microwave that break down with each use.
Keep your food safer, the toxins out, and the workload so much easier as you use the Paper Plate Hack for Food Allergies, Spatter and to rid moisture from those crusty foods that we love! Lavishly live food out loud and enjoy the microwave as it should be.
