From the Brian Mills Spring/Summer 1983 mail order catalogue - priced from just under £200 to just under £450, microwave ovens were not cheap by early 1980s standards. "High speed cooking" proclaims Brian Mills. It really did seem a tremendous novelty back in those days.
"Prepare food in a matter of minutes" - this Brian Mills Spring/Summer 1983 mail order catalogue page points out the benefits of the Phillips compact microwave oven.
Arriving in a kitchen near you in the 1980s would probably have been a microwave oven. These wonderful contraptions had actually existed since the 1960s, but it was all a matter of cost, often prohibitive with new technological arrivals. So, microwave ovens remained the preserve of those with dosh-to-spare until the 1980s. I never even saw one!
But then, in the early 1980s, ping!, a cafe in my local city centre suddenly installed a microwave. Panic! "Microwaves use radiation! They'll kill you!" some of us heathens cried.
And many of us believed it.
In the mid-'80s, microwave ovens were becoming cheap enough and common enough for my mother to actually consider buying one from a mail order catalogue. I was fascinated to see an episode of failed mid-'80s soap Albion Market the other day, featuring two of the female characters discussing the miracle of microwaves.
I first encountered one (in my workplace) in 1987 and was still a little suspicious of them. Did they leak? Did they ruin your fertility? Did they slowly cook you from inside? What a twit!
By the end of the decade, I was growing used to microwave ovens and my dear old mum had one installed at home and absolutely swore by it!
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Kill you? Nah, they helped you get dinner more quickly so you didn't have to miss that new Aussie soap, Home And Away...
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Mind you, some thought that was a fate worse than death...
The guests are clearly absolutely delighted at the wondrously quick jacket potatoes in this ad from Cosmopolitan magazine, July 1983. The '80s went a bundle on fancy baked spuds. See here for some F-Plan Diet recipes.Una Stubbs gets very excited about the miracle of microwaves in this 1985 TV ad for the Toshiba Deltawave.
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8 comments:
My Sharps Microwave was purchased as a Christmas present for me in 1984 - not my choice of present - I was horrified at the price at the time and did not really want one. I have rarely used it for actual cooking - some sponges more like puddings - gravy custard - the most use has been for warming up dinner for the late arrivals, everyday. It finally blew up yesterday RIP 06/11/11
Believe it or not, I'm just thinking about buying my very first microwave!
I have a toshiba 1983 model. Still used every day.happy 30th birthday to it!
I have a 1985 Saisho from Curry's - still in regualr use, still works fine. Only some of my hifi has lasted longer/still been relevant. :)
haha yes I've been "dailying" a free 80s Swan since 2017, still works in 2020. It seems to be a lower wattage one, around 500-600w. You get used to how much to increase the cooking time by from the times for 800-850w given on food packaging.
I bought a Magic Chef in 1989 and it is still used several times daily.
What wattage is this microwave? I found an eighties cookbook but it doesn’t say what wattage for the recipes. Would love to use the recipes! Thanks!
So sorry, we have no idea!
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