We don’t have a microwave.

Those five words usually result in mouths agape followed by questions to the effect of: “How do you live without a microwave?”

This is what I say:

Lisa, Forrest and I just don’t need it. No, we don’t believe microwave radiation is harmful. It’s just that we have a toaster oven and like it. The thing does the work of a microwave oven and more, so why have both? Honestly, the microwave just takes up more counter space to do the same things.

The leading function of both is reheating food, right? A microwave will reheat a meal in two, three or four minutes. The toaster oven on the bake setting will reheat a meal in 10 or 12 minutes. We are never so hungry that we cannot wait another five to eight minutes before we chow down. And it reheats the food more evenly, so there aren’t parts that burn your tongue and parts that remain out-of-the-package cold.

Our Oster toaster oven has four settings: toast, broil, bake and heat.

Have you ever fixed breakfast for the family or for guests? You are making sausage in the range oven, scrambling eggs in a skillet and suddenly you remember you need some toast. It’s nice to throw in four pieces in the toaster oven all at once, then get back to those eggs, which don’t like being neglected.

Oh wait, one kid doesn’t like toast. He wants a hash brown patty instead. You throw it in the toaster oven. Our kid even likes toaster pancakes.

Sometimes I make pasta with pesto, and I like to have toasted and chopped pine nuts in the dish. I could toast them in the big oven, but why heat up all that space for nuts spread thin on a single plate? Instead, I just slide the plate of nuts in the toaster oven, and nine minutes later they are toasted and ready to be chopped. It makes me sometimes wonder how people without toaster ovens ever get along. They can’t toast pine nuts in a microwave oven or in a bread toaster.

The broil setting is nice for cooking bratwurst, chicken and other meats in less time than the standard oven. Plus, the toaster oven came with a little broiler pan, which is easy to clean.

The bake setting gets used most often. Reheating leftovers, like I said, is the main function. We could use the heat setting, which is heat without convection, but the bake setting is faster and more even.

We can bake a pizza. (Yes, pizzas fit!) We can bake cookies, muffins and other things on a small scale. We can melt cheese on soup and other dishes. We can bake side dishes while the main oven is occupied on something else. I imagine if we ever have to play host at Thanksgiving, the toaster oven would be good for stuffing while the big oven is baking the turkey.

And think about corn dogs. What sounds like it would taste better, a corn dog fresh out of the microwave or the toaster oven? Easy answer.

We use the heat setting often to keep something warm while we are fixing something else on the stove. For instance, when make pancakes, the toaster oven keeps the already-cooked ones warm while we finish the others. This way, we can eat together.

And I suppose that because the food industry makes so many microwave meals, not having one forces us to actually — gasp! — prepare our meals. This means we probably are eating more whole foods and less processed foods.

Sure, toaster ovens don’t make popcorn, so that’s why we have an air popper. It makes great popcorn, and Lisa and I have more control over the amount of salt and butter we like in our snack. Microwave popcorn always seems over-salted.

Though some cheap microwaves will cost less than some expensive toaster ovens, on the whole, toaster ovens cost less than microwaves. The Oster toaster oven we have cost about $70. I should note that toaster ovens require more electricity for the same job as a microwave. However, I imagine there are energy savings from not having to turn on the traditional oven as frequently.

Honestly, Lisa and I never really put this much thought into toaster oven versus microwave oven. We simply bought a toaster oven after our microwave broke during our move to Albert Lea more than five years ago. And we really haven’t missed it.

Tribune Managing Editor Tim Engstrom’s column appears every other Tuesday.