You'll hear a lot of advice about cooking in the microwave, and some of it's even contradictory. If you're confused about microwave cooking, don't worry. Many other people aren't sure about this fast and easy food preparation method, either. Here are a few tips to help you cook in the microwave with success.

Use the right plastics. Plastics serve many purposes in our kitchens, but not all of them take heat well. Some will melt and deform in the microwave. Others will leach harmful toxins into your food. That means it's important to heat in plastics that are meant to be used in the microwave. Don't be tempted to microwave butter tubs and similar packages, and only heat pre packaged foods that have microwaved instructions. If the food doesn't come with instructions, get rid of the packaging before you heat it.

Cook small pieces. Food should be cut into pieces of uniform size and evenly spread in the dish you're cooking with. While you're cooking, you may need to turn them or rotate them. Foods that are unevenly sized should be placed with the thick parts towards the outside of the container, since outer areas cook faster than inner ones in a microwave.

Foods like vegetables that have a skin, shell, or other exterior coating should be pierced before cooking. Otherwise, steam may build up inside and cause an explosive reaction. Also, always cook in a slightly larger dish than you'd use for a conventional oven. Round or oval containers cook more evenly in a microwave, while square or rectangular containers tend to heat up too much in the corners.

When cooking from a microwave recipe, start by cooking for the time at the shorter end of the range given. You can always cook food longer, but overcooked food is ruined. Microwaves without a turntable must be stopped periodically so that you can rotate the food. Remember that dishes inside the microwave will be very hot, so use an oven mitt.

If you cover a food in a conventional oven, use a lid in the microwave so that moisture will be retained and cooking will occur evenly. Leave all lids slightly open so that pressure won't build up inside the container, and lift lids carefully when you remove food. Turn the opening away from you when you do this to prevent yourself from being burned. If food needs to be salted, do this after cooking it. That's because salt can cause microwaved foods to dry out.

If you're baking, consider softening sticks of butter by heating them for thirty seconds on half power. If heating sour cream or heavy cream, use lower power settings to prevent curdling. If your brown sugar has gotten hard, slice an apple or put a piece of bread into a loosely covered container with the sugar. Heat for about thirty seconds to add moisture into your sugar. If you want to make bread crumbs, just microwave cubed bread until it gets stale. You can then crush the bread inside a plastic bag for easy cleanup.

If you're using frozen meat, individual pieces can be separated by defrosting for thirty seconds to a minute. If you'd like to continue cooking your meat int he microwave, it should be evenly arranged in a dish after you separate it. Microwave hamburger in a plastic colander set on top of another dish to drain off fat.