Prep Solutions by Progressive Microwavable Plates - Set of 4

I recently got a set of 4 and have used them for several days. They are ok for day to day home use, especially if microwaving. Perhaps the biggest flaw I find is that they cant hold too much weight and have a flimsy feel to it. If there is a a decent size serving on the plate, it becomes necessary to hold the plate from the bottom instead of the side - holding it from the side bends considerably (I fear it may even crack, though this has not happened so far). I would have given it a 4 or a 5 star if they were sturdier. Dec 21, 2009 update: Its been ten months, and the plates are still going strong after going through hundreds of dishwasher and microwave cycles. Overall, a great value for the money. March 4, 2012 update: The plates are still fully functional. Small and very minor cracks show despite several hundred dish washing cycles. One of the plates is mildly warped. On the whole they have far exceeded my expectations. Updating my rating to *****

I got these for a bachelor friend. He's clueless about microwave dishes. I have a set of these plates myself, and they are really good to cook things on in a microwave. No danger of cracking. Depending on what you are working with, a light spraying with cooking oil helps to clean easy and for the food to come out well. I have found it is not a good idea to put these in the dishwasher, as heat can make them a bit warpy. Some additional hot water can help to re-flatten. So, just hand wash, and all is well. One thing NOT TO DO: do NOT put a bag of microwave popcorn on top of one of these. The PLATES are fine, but some microwaves have a newer technology that will absolutely SCORCH bags of popcorn, and generate enough heat to be dangerous. Putting an innocent plate under the bag, to try to stop the scorching, resulted in MELTING A HOLE in the middle of the poor plate. (I kept the holey-plate and the melted puddle-plastic to show to people.) I was shocked that my new microwave would do this to bags of popcorn. Really amazing. So, the microwave, not the plate, at fault. These plates do great with regular food, just not bags that have a METAL FOIL area to pop popcorn.

I've got over a dozen of these plates and have used them for more than 15 years. I first got them to eliminate paper plates and those flimsy rattan holders, which break after a while. These turned out to be just what the bachelor ordered. They are light weight, reasonably sturdy, go in the microwave, are unbreakable, and go in the dishwasher (I always use "no heat drying"). They quickly became my go-to everyday plate. Even after I got married they are still in daily use. We find we reach for these most of the time when we want an informal snack/meal, for food prep, etc. I have never had one flex enough for the food to fall off and have yet to break one. A little common sense goes a long way here. If you have a lot on the plate use two hands. Are they perfect? No. They do scratch when you use a sharp or serrated knife and will warp if you microwave something greasy for very long. Even cooking bacon on one for 3 minutes distorts the plate. (But read the instructions ... it says not to do this.) The two sets we just bought are to replace some that have been abused over the years. And when we have abused these beyond usefulness, we will buy more.

I have very sharp knives & I like to keep them that way. For special occasions, I have fancy wooden plates. For everyday, I use these. They are great for microwaving food that doesn't have too much fat content or that I'm not trying to get super-hot. The plates say "do not cook oils, butter, or high fat foods" on the back. I do microwave chicken-wings and the like, but I'm careful not to get them too hot. If I want super-hot, I get out a ceramic plate. The plates are soft. Knives cut them. I like this for my knives, but after a while the plates look bad. When this happens, I dig deep, find another $5, and buy 4 more plates. Think of them as personal cutting boards. If you want unbreakable cutting boards for the table, these are the ticket. If you are hoping for heirloom quality plates for $5, look elsewhere. One reviewer had a plate break after microwaving. I'll bet dollars to donuts that they had microwaved high-fat food. Anyway, the plates are great for my use and I decided to write this review while buying my third set. I might buy two sets and hide one for when the first set wears out, so I don't have to spend the time to find them again. Amazon has a lot of plates.

I did not like this product. I use the microwave a lot for breakfast tv dinners. A number of them use reflective plates to cook part of the breakfast. The instructions on the tv dinner tell you to put part of the breakfast on the reflective plates and then put the reflective plate and the rest of the breakfast on a microwave plate and put it in the microwave. Well I tried this using one of these plates and the relective plate melted part of the plate. I guess the instructions on these plates tell you not to put reflective plates on them, but if that is the case and I cannot use them with these dinners then they are of no use to me.

These plates do tend to hold stains--especially from tomato sauce. They do get roughed up if you use a knife to cut something on them and they warp slightly over time. However, these were exactly what I was looking for and bought a second set of 4 just because my kids use them for everything and are the first used plates we have regardless of whether or not we use them in the microwave.

I bought four of these plates in 2019 and decided to get more because they are so useful when I'm preparing food that I quickly use them all. These are not plates I would serve food on, but they are wonderful for meal prep: inexpensive, lightweight, and microwave and dishwasher safe.

These microwavable plates bend like they're made of rubber. They work fine for cooking in a microwave. But you would not serve guests on these. They're like a kid's unbreakable plate. I use them as an enduring replacement for paper plates. That's what I used to do my microwave cooking on. So I'm OK with these, but they're not top of the line. For that you're going to pay a lot more. Update: after using one of the plates about ten times it stained. I had warmed some frozen vegetables on it for 60 seconds. Afterwards, I used an scrubbing cleanser on it but the stain remains.