Usability of Microwave Meals

As an occasional eater of microwavable meals, I’ve noticed that they are becoming more and more difficult to use. It’s not that eating them is more difficult; that’s the same process it’s always been: use fork to cut and pick up food, lift fork to mouth, chew, swallow repeat. What’s more difficult is the preparation of the food.

First is the package. It seems the trend among food vendors is to place the cooking instructions on one of the side panels of the box, rather than on the back. This makes it difficult to read the directions, since you must find a way to balance the box on its end in order to read it hands free.

And the directions themselves are becoming more complicated. In order to cook the previously frozen meal that I’m currently eating, I had to peal back a corner of the cover, remove one of the items, cut a slit in the cover over another item and microwave for 3 minutes. Then I was instructed to peel back the rest of the cover, spoon the sauce over the food, replace the item I removed in step 1, replace the cover, and microwave at half power for four minutes. Finally, I was supposed to let the food stand for one minute before eating.

The maker of this product doesn’t seem to realize that I purchased a frozen meal because I didn’t want the hassle of following a recipe.