When microwaving, is 3 min at power level 10 the same as 10 min at power level 3?

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[TreasonousBastard]

1. No...

or it could be.

Depends on the microwave and what you're heating.

Lower power levels usually mean the thing cycles on and off, but level 3 doesn't necessarily mean it's cycling off 30% of the time. And, just like baking something for an hour at 300 compared to a half hour at 600, the qualities of the food change. Sometimes drastically, sometimes not so much.

[pinboy3niner]

2. I usually set on 'stun' and go higher only when necessary

Oh, wait...that's phasers. Microwaves may be a little different...

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3. lol...

that sig line's great

[antiquie]

4. In case of series-ness...

Familiarize Yourself with Your Microwave's Power Settings to Make Microwave Cooking a Joy

A general rule of thumb: the lowest power settings, 500 watts and under, turn your oven into a makeshift dehydrator... At higher settings, 500 to 800 watts, the device can fry and steam. And if you simply want to heat something quickly, use the highest setting possible, as you do for tea and coffee.P

Some microwaves might have special settings for fry and steam, but not all do. Of course, most microwaves don't give you the ease of actually showing you the wattage and instead let you choose a level (1-10 or so). Thankfully, it's not that hard to figure out what wattage that means. First, find your microwave's wattage. It's usually on the inside the door or displayed proudly on the front of the unit. Then you need to do some math


If you want to steam something at 800 watts and have a 1,000-watt microwave, set the power level to 80 percent, or 8. (Level 9 is 90 percent, and so on. Some microwaves also have shortcut buttons like "medium" and "medium high" that correspond to specific percentages.)

For an 1,100-watt microwave, the math is a bit trickier: 800 watts is about 73 percent of the top output, so you may have to round down and set the power level to 7. (By the way, adjusting the level does not actually change the wattage. It simply means the microwave will pulse on and off at its fixed wattage until the desired level is reached.)