Tupperware Microwave products - Rock N Serve, Crystal Wave, Heat N Serve
Not all Tupperware products are microwave friendly. Only those in the recommended Tupperware Microwave range – Rock N Serve, Crystal Wave and Heat N Serve are guaranteed for use up till 180 degrees Celcius. Even most of these are only used for heating and not cooking. (You may use the Tupperwave Stack Cooker for cooking though…I will blog about that later). The normal maximum time for heating should be 2 minutes at the ‘High’ setting. That should be enough to heat up most food even from your freezer. However if it is still not warm enough, stir the food first to even out the heat before reheating using the microwave.
However you should avoid using these reheatable Tupperware microwave products in ovens, stove and grills. It is only approved for microwave use.
So what if you still decide to heat your food in Tupperware containers that are not microwave friendly? For starters, you will notice that your seals will start to warp, after awhile they will not fit properly on their bases and now you no longer have an airtight container for which Tupperware is famous for:(
Also, current research shows that chemicals from plastics in products not meant to be used in the microwave can leach into the food that you are heating. You may not notice anything since these chemicals are odorless and not visible to the naked eye. However they have been known to have carcinogenic (cancer-causing) properties. You wouldn’t want to eat or even let your children eat food that has been contaminated now would you?
Food with high sugar or fat content in Tupperware microwave products also should not be reheated with the microwave as they can cause damage to your Tupperware containers. Natural food colourants found in vegetables such as tomato or chilli also can cause staining with overheating. That’s why sometimes when you store sphagetti sauce, especially the tomato based ones, you will notice that your container has become red. You may mix sodium bicarbonate with water until it becomes a paste. Then rub these paste onto your stained Tupperware containers. With a little bit of luck, these stains (if they haven’t been there for too long)do come off (x fingers!)!
Also if you noticed that all these Microwavable Tupperware have little cute legs on the bottom of the containers so that the heat from the microwave distributes evenly. Ingenious I think!
