A Lesson on Metal in the Microwave

Soap Buckets

As I have said before I am new to the world of homemade soaps and cosmetics. At this job I am learning something new everyday, it really is an exciting experience. I learned a little something the other day that I thought I must share with you guys!

You can put buckets with metal handles in the microwave.

Let’s rewind to back when I was a little rascal. Once upon a time I had some left over bread sticks wrapped up in aluminum foil. In an attempt to reheat them I put them in the microwave with the foil still intact. As soon as I pressed start the sparks started flying and I swear I saw flames. So of course, me being the drama queen that I am, I’m over here screaming, “Dad! Hurry! Quick! It’s on fire!” He comes bursting in the room ready to rock and roll, looks at the microwave then back at me and then opens the microwave. Just like that the chaos is over, and I’m like oh, now I feel stupid.

Because of this I have been frightened of anything involving metal and a microwave. This was up until a few weeks ago when I got a little science lesson on microwaves. So I’m going to break it down and get a little sciencey for you. Metal actually reflects microwaves, which is why the inside of your microwave is made out of metal. It is this way to keep microwaves from spreading through out the room. What really gets the sparks going is small, pointed or wrinkled foil. As long as you are using a flat, unwrinkled piece of foil or a smooth metal you will be just fine! Using a flat piece of foil in the microwave underneath your food can actually make it more crispy by reflecting additional energy against the bottom of the food.

The reason I wanted to share this with everyone is because I love reusing our buckets here at work for some of my projects for the blog. I was skeptical about putting a whole bucket in the microwave because of the metal handle but I got a little lesson on metal and microwaves. Like I said I learn something new everyday!