? Safe Microwave Plastics?

borosilicate is the non trademark name for "Pyrex" glass. don't know that I've seen cookware advertised as such, but just FYI

I love my antique Corelle, it's so versatile ... it stays at home though

No wonder I had such a hard time finding it - it's "Corelle". Think that's the answer, Corelle and/or Pyrex (no longer Pyrex, just plain old glass now) containers. Local Walmart and Bed-Bath-Beyond only carry the tableware. Guess we'll have to include it in the 'big city semi-annual shopping list'.

Microwave "safe" just means that the plastic will not melt from the actual RF from the Microwave and are made from "food safe plastic".

Pitting is normal when using plastic in a microwave, comes from the uneven heating of the food and cannot be helped.

Foods with high fat/grease content tend to cause more pitting than foods with lower fat content. Foods with tomato sauce bases tends to add extra insult by leaving a orange stain behind that is impossible to remove.

With plastic containers you just need to replace them when the pitting gets excessive and is hard to get clean.

As far as chemicals leaching, yeah, I am sure plastic does leach some but like I mentioned, the plastic must be food safe which means what does leach is supposed to be non toxic and at very low levels.

If plastic leaching is of a major concern then like others have mentioned, change to items made from Pyrex Glass. Corel dishware is made from Pyrex glass, is durable and light weight. Very low cost and easy to find and works great in a microwave..

As always, with any glassware, make sure there is no gold or silver decorations embedded in the patterns or around the edges of the plates and bowls.. Should be pretty safe with Corel, but other manufacturers you might still find some with fancy gold or silver accents.

Switch to Corel and Pyrex.

Corel containers.

Microwave safe doesn't mean the plastic is indestructible. It just means the container won't be excited by the microwaves themselves.

dcmac214 wrote:
Thinking we "need" some microwave-safe plastic cookware like omelet makers.

I couldn't live without my microwave BUT......

I don't think it really is good for many "from scratch" items, like scrambled eggs and omelets in particular. I just don't like the resulting texture.

I probably will never use my oven but I think that the stove-top burner and "real" cookware is best for many things. As was said, plastic isn't really good for things that need to get really HOT to cook.

(Personally I get frozen meals and canned goods and almost never actually cook anything from scratch. Last year I even decided that lugging around a grill wasn't really worth the trouble.)

Look for a symbol that looks like a microwave - it can be anywhere on the dish/plate/etc. often on the bottom.
Here are some examples.
Microwave safe symbols

Best to use glass or ceramic if you're concerned. Even microwave safe plastics can leach chemicals if they get hot enough. And as you noted, plastic containers don't hold up well anyway.