Dear Lifehacker, I've decided I want to get healthier and shed some excess weight. I'm pretty time-poor, so I'll be mainly relying on diet microwave dinners from the supermarket (Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, McCain Healthy Choice, etc.) My question is: will these products actually help me lose weight? And are they considered healthy?

A fried allium is the perfect finishing touch. Whether on top of a medium-rare steak, a creamy potato soup, or a gooey bowl of macaroni and cheese (or like, a salad or something), fried onions, leeks, garlic and the like provide crispy texture and salty, umami-rich, slightly pungent flavour. In short, they are desirable. They also just got a bit more convenient, thanks to this microwave method from Cook's Illustrated.

We might forget occasionally how powerful microwaves are. Not only can they heat food quickly, but they're useful for a variety of other tasks. This graphic shows you several examples of both.

Some folks relieve stress by baking sourdough bread or elaborate layer cakes; good for them. When I'm sad and stressed, I need the shortest, hardest-to-mess-up path to a lot of chocolate I can find. For me, that path always leads to cocoa brownies.

Do you ever have those moments when you just need a warm chocolate chip cookie, but don't feel like making several dozen? I know I do, which is why I am happy to have found this 2-minute cookie recipe from Epicurious.

It's nice to have a well-stocked home bar, complete with all of the accessories and accouterments, but if you don't want a bunch of syrups crowding your fridge, you can make just the amount you need using your microwave.

Do you really want potato chips, but all you have are potatoes? I totally feel you. Sure, you could preheat your oven and start baking (or put on pants and go to the store and buy a bag), but what if I told you that you could have delicious homemade potato chips in just a few minutes using your microwave? Dreams do come true.

Sometimes, you just don't have time to grab a decent lunch. The next time you're stuck in the office, bring these ingredients along for a hearty meal in a mug.

The words "mulled wine" most likely conjure up images of big pots, slowly simmering with vino and spices. That's all good, but the holidays can be hectic, and you may not have time to babysit a bubbling pot. To infuse wine with aromatics without ever turning on your stove, you'll need to enlist your microwave.

Eating well when you're extremely busy can be challenging, but turning to fast food or highly-processed convenience meals -- or worse, not eating at all -- only compounds the problem. Embracing a few of the shortcuts below can help keep you fed and nourished while cutting down on time and effort.

Baked or mashed sweet potatoes are lovely, but what if you're short on time and have only one sweet potato lying around the kitchen? Turn it into chips! This recipe by Allrecipes shows you how to use the microwave to make some sweet sweet potato chips in no time.

I like to microwave oats for a quick meal, but I used to get so frustrated when my microwave made my oats overflow like a Year 3 science experiment. Then I discovered a life-changing way to prevent a mushy mess in the microwave: All I had to do was switch the power setting.

Muesli bars ("flapjacks" if you're British) make a great, chewy, on-the-go breakfast or snack, and these fruit-packed babies can be made in mere minutes using the microwave.

Have a craving for a sweet, marshmallow-y, buttery breakfast like they regularly scarf in the US? You can make a treat for one in mere minutes with just a cup of rice bubbles, a pat of butter and a few marshmallows.

A deliciously light and citrusy lemon cake doesn't have to take a ton of time in a hot oven to bake. This lemon cake takes about four minutes, and you can make the whole thing using nothing but your microwave. It's about as simple as it gets.

Is there any dessert that is not improved by the addition of homemade caramel sauce? I think not, but making your own from scratch may conjure up images of boiling sugar and candy thermometers. Luckily, there is an easier way. You just need a microwave.

Your microwave can be just as good at cooking as your stove, but it takes getting familiar with your power settings. You have to adjust it according to what you're cooking, and that means knowing your wattage. If you're not sure what your microwave's wattage is, boil a cup of water to find out.

Leftover spaghetti or Alfredo may seem like an easy work lunch idea, but microwaving it in a Tupperware container doesn't always yield the tastiest results. Luckily, just adding in a bit of water can make a huge difference.

You can use your microwave to cook a lot of things, and crispy fried potatoes is no exception. Before you put the potatoes in the pan, your microwave is perfect for par-cooking the potatoes, so you don't have to over-fry the outside to a crisp just to cook the insides.