If I double the amount of food in a microwave, logic tells me that I should double the cooking time. But is logic correct or should I only increase the time by 50% or whatever.
I need to know by lunchtime today and haven't the time to experiment!
Probably double except for very small quantities. Your best bet is to probe it with a meat thermometer until it is actually hot.
To be honest it very much depends on the stuff being microwaved and how even the cooking is. Normally there has to be a stand time for larger portions as the microwaves do not get to the centre, being attentuated by the stuff. Thus in this case the heat has to propagate through the stuff and hence the internal heat is not directly from the microwave. Of course sometimes if you, say want to cook small puddings, then having more than one in there seems to take less time than if it was one big one. So actually, though its not convenient, it very much depends on the make up of the stuff you are heating and of course whether it has to all reach a certain temperature to be safe to eat. One reason I tend to tick to pre cooked items these days, and merely warm them up. In some circumstances, such as for instance sponge cakes you can end up with a rock hard centre due to the mix being fairly transparent to the microwaves and the heat is concentrated into the part that is in the same place even when its rotating. I bet you wished you had not asked, but sadly there is no one answer to this one. Brian
If you're just heating something up then yes, usually. But not always. Maybe mention what you're cooking.
NT
With pre-cooked packaged food such as curries from the supermarket the instructions just tell you to add the times together.
Better if all the packs in at the same time have the same "single pack" time or it doesn't work logically.
With several packs there is a cross over point where it is quicker to do the whole lot in the oven.
Cheers
Dave R
That's very logical but it never works for me. Maybe one type of food absorbs more of the microwaves than the other and gets unexpectedly hotter.
I have to cook one thing in then microwave and then another afterwards which is so annoying that I'm getting a second microwave to cook things at the same time and choose how long for each one.
+1.
What are you cooking?
Many thanks to all for the suggestions. In the end I multiplied up the times, and subtracted a little to be on the safe side. Worked out OK. Thanks again.
Nothing sophisticated: salmon steaks, frozen peas, frozen sweet corn, but three times my usual quantities. All worked out OK; nobody died!
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