# Microwave ovens - Yours?



## Raine (May 10, 2005)

Do you have a microwave in your van, which one, and how do you rate it,
weight, size,name - cost! any info pse :roll:


----------



## Malc (May 9, 2005)

Hi Raine,
We have a MW in our van, mains only. Its more to do with what fits the tambour door locker than anything else though. 750w bought from a local electrical store about £75 and mostly used as a breadbin!
Malc


----------



## 88933 (May 10, 2005)

*Microwave Ovens*

Hi Raine, we bought a microwave oven earlier this year from the local Tesco, cost £24.99 Power 700 watts fits just nicely on the cupboard over the fridge and still leaves us room for the electric kettle and other odds and ends.

Only use it when drawing no other power, usefull for hotting up the cornish pasties and helping with other mealtime things,was somewhat wary about using a microwave at first, but it does seem that quite a few motorhomers use them rated at about 700 watts power, there have been other discussions about this as I was concerned about it tripping the hook up power out, but it seems a 1000watt appliance will draw roughly 4 amps, and most sites are now rated at 16 amps I believe.

Would`nt be without ours now, find it very usefull, hope this helps.

Mike and Pearl


----------



## Scotjimland (May 23, 2005)

Panasonic, 
All singing, dancing .. came with the RV .. could roast an ox in it , waste of space and weight in my opinion ... I certainly wouldn't buy one 
as Malc says , good bread bin .. :roll:


----------



## RobinHood (May 19, 2005)

Previous 'van (a Benimar) came with a 12v unit as standard.

Couldn't see us using it (the one at home only gets limited use) so had it deleted during build and saved a few pesetas.

Never regretted it, and the space it freed up was most useful for food storage.


----------



## SidT (May 9, 2005)

Hi Raine. The was a Samsung built in to the van when we bought it, Can be switched from 750W down to 450w at the turn of a knob.
When on electric I throw a mug half milk/half water in to heat up whilst dressing. wouldn't be without it. We find it very useful.
Cheers Sid


----------



## 88962 (May 10, 2005)

> Panasonic,
> All singing, dancing .. came with the RV .. could roast an ox in it , waste of space and weight in my opinion ... I certainly wouldn't buy one
> as Malc says , good bread bin ..


Hi Raine, Like Scotjimland we have a Panosonic, it is a microwavwe and grill. Grill takes forever and dries toast out before it toasts it - bought a cheap toaster. Can't remember the last time we used the microwave, even though we don't have an oven, and would certainly not buy one again.


----------



## Raine (May 10, 2005)

:lol: Thanks peeps, much apprecialted. I actually use my microwave quite a lot, (it does everything-grill.........defrost.......yawn-but only use the microwave bit, heating up dinners and such) so we will use one in the van..( I have seen the tesco and asda ones, pity they don't give a weight, argos do roughly from 11k to 13 or more. I did wonder about the - different power settings. We thought the one we saw at Loudhams to be a 'proper' m/h one, but it wasn't, so have been looking at a 700 w how much was your samsung? Thanks again for help and info! :lol:


----------



## SidT (May 9, 2005)

Hi Raine. If you were asking me about the Samsung I am afraid i don't know as it came with the van.
Cheers Sid


----------



## Raine (May 10, 2005)

Cheers Sidt, i will look it up on google! :roll:


----------



## oldun (Nov 10, 2005)

We have a MW with an grill and this is very useful. It can be used to freshen soggy day old French bread, make super baked potatoes and even cook and browns small chicken. Far better than an ordinary MW.

Talking about waste of space and weight brings me onto the full oven cooker. These are a total waste. If you look around second hand caravans and MHs you will see that 9 out of 10 of us never use them, and I mean never.

The reasons are, for me, simple. The MW ways far less and produces less heat inside the van for a much shorter period.

Those of us who like a full roast dinner very day with 7 or 8 vegetables and who invite 7 or 8 people to dinner will find the oven more useful.

When in the MH we eat very well but stick to a more simple range of meals than when at home


----------



## Scotjimland (May 23, 2005)

djchapple said:


> If you look around second hand caravans and MHs you will see that 9 out of 10 of us never use them, and I mean never.


How very very true, at one time they were seldom fitted in european vans, I think our cousins tend to eat alfresco and dine out more than we do.. in saying that we do use ours in the winter, I'm not a die hard BBQ chef .. :lol:


----------



## autostratus (May 9, 2005)

djchapple said:


> Those of us who like a full roast dinner very day with 7 or 8 vegetables and who invite 7 or 8 people to dinner will find the oven more useful.


A pretty sweeping statement.
We don't like a full roast dinner every day and have never had more than 2 to dinner on the odd occasion but have been known to do a roast and Yorkshire pudding on the odd Sunday in the middle of France. We also found it invaluable on a winter trip to Spain.


djchapple said:


> When in the MH we eat very well but stick to a more simple range of meals than when at home


I thought you had only just got your motorhome. Did you not have an oven in your caravan?
The lack of an oven is one of the things that has put us off continental mhs in the past. Having had the experience of a couple of caravans without an oven 20+ years ago I am now a confirmed oven fan. Every caravan and both motorhomes since have had ovens.
I would have thought that if the British caravan/motorhome manufacturers didn't think that the British market wanted ovens they would manufacture without and give the oven as an optional extra.
What would I do without my oven roasted vegetables in olive oil?


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Like djchapple we tend to use shortcuts to make meals in the van -bought sauces and packet mixes etc. It amazes me how many of these assume a microwave is handy. We bought 2 of those lush M&S Belgian chocolate puddings with the liquid chocolate centre at the Leigh Delamere service station a week ago, assuming they would need a few minutes steaming on the hob. The alternative to microwaving them was about 25 minutes in a hot oven ( can't remember exact timing). 

I think I'd use a MW in the van even though it barely earns it's keep at home. I wouldn't be without the oven though.

G


----------



## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

Got no room for a Microwave but we have a fair size oven in our Lunar Champ A520 - complete with rottisserie (which we havent used yet) but food cooked in Th'oven tastes just yummie [ all praise to Sylvia] she does the cooking - I do the washing up :lol:


----------



## Raine (May 10, 2005)

thanks for all the info! very interesting. We use our oven, and wouldn't like our van to be without one, still looking for a microwave tho, still enjoying the search! :lol:


----------



## 88838 (May 9, 2005)

Grizzly said:


> We bought 2 of those lush M&S Belgian chocolate puddings with the liquid chocolate centre at the Leigh Delamere service station a week ago, assuming they would need a few minutes steaming on the hob. The alternative to microwaving them was about 25 minutes in a hot oven ( can't remember exact timing).
> 
> G


they are soooooo addictive, anyone know if you can cook them in the magic skillet? now, creme brulee - just need a flame thrower - much easier :firestarter:

8)


----------



## oldun (Nov 10, 2005)

Hi Autostratus. 

You caught me out there. I have had a caravan for just 40 years and I should have said "when in our caravan" (not motorhome)


----------



## teensvan (May 9, 2005)

Hi.

We took the oven out of our 748 as it was difficult for ann to use . Bought an 750 watt stainless steel microwave from asda £39.99. This fitted straight into the gas oven housing, trimmed it off with some stainless steel strips from work, and it looks very good. We would not be without it.

steve & ann ---teensvan.


----------



## Raine (May 10, 2005)

:lol: Cheers for all your comments! We now have a new addition to the new van, a matsui £25.00 microwave from Curries (or was it comet?) £ 9.99 replacement cover for three years, 5 power settings, and fits where its supposed to! We are nearly fit to go! Thunderbirds are FAB!


----------



## oldun (Nov 10, 2005)

What about this one?

http://www.pickwick-direct.co.uk/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=75&strPageHistory=cat


----------



## 96783 (Nov 23, 2005)

The discussion on MWs rages on for we all have our different reasons for having/not having one. My better/nicer half has arthritis and a failing spinal fusion and the MW is the only way she/I can heat up her "beany bags" to use overnight. Wouldn't be without it.

As with the regular oven she initially said that she wouldn't have one, smacked too much of work and cooking which we went away to get away from. Now we wouldn't be without either. My only concern is how big an inverter do I need to run a 700W microwave when not on hook up?


----------

