Have you ever noticed that when you reheat food in the microwave, it turns out… kind of gross?

French fries, pizza, and anything breaded (like chicken strips) all end up soggy. In fact, they somehow manage to be soggy and stale at the same time.

I’ve wasted a lot of food because of this. But, I’ve made a recent discovery that’s changed everything. I’ve developed a secret method of microwaving, and I’ve decided to share my secret with you. I call it the Meier Microwaving Method.

You see, it all has to do with surface moisture. When you microwave something like breading or french fries, the moisture is allowed to soak the food. Contrast this with cooking in an oven, where the heat assaults the surface moisture, cooking it away. This yields nice, crisp food, with a rich, oven-baked flavor.

What is the solution, you ask? How to achieve oven-like results with the speed of a microwave?

Use an oven.

I’m not joking. Here’s the method:

1. Turn your oven on to a pretty hot temperature (I shoot for around 400 - 450).
2. Put the food in the microwave just as you normally would to reheat it, but adjust the time so that the microwave will stop before it’s all the way done. Think warm but not hot. If it’s hot enough to eat, you’ve gone too far. (If you’re at all like me, your experience with microwave timings is vast.)
3. Then, put the food in the oven. I use a baking sheet, and I cover it in aluminum foil so that I don’t have to wash it every time. After all, why use the microwave at all if we wanted to do work?
4. The food should only take a maximum of 4-5 minutes in the oven. If it’s taking longer, increase the microwave time or the oven temperature.
5. Take it out and eat it. Yum!

That little extra time in a hot oven gives the food back its firmness. In the case of bread, you do end up with something a little bit like toast. But the flavor is greatly enhanced, and the sogginess that has ruined so many of my bachelor-prepared meals is gone!

Let me know if this changes your life.