Leftovers are one of the great pleasures of living in the modern era. Thanks to the magic of fridges and microwaves, everything from homemade casseroles to can taste even better the next day — or even the next week. But there's nothing worse than a cold-in-the-middle meal thanks to a bad round in the microwave (although the , it's usually the most convenient, and leftovers are all about convenience).
Luckily, there's a way to ensure you'll never experience the tragedy of cold-in-the-middle leftovers again, and it's super simple: Just arrange your food in a donut shape on a plate before heating. Like so many ingenious food hacks, this microwaving tip comes to us from TikTok. Creators there say that spreading leftovers out in a ring shape on the plate ensures even heating and no cold bits.
It makes sense — the donut shape maximizes surface area, and if there is no middle, how can the middle be cold? More hot tips for microwaving leftovers Of course, the ring hack only works for dishes that can be easily spread out on a plate, like pasta and rice. But here's a microwaving tip that will work for your soup and pizza too: Place the dish on the outside of the microwave turntable, rather than in the middle. This hack works because microwaves have high and low-intensity areas, which can create cold spots.
If the food is placed on the outside of the microwave tray, it will get exposed to more parts of the microwave as it does little laps, and thus it will heat more evenly. Another .
