DIY Microwave Cheeseburgers on Demand

If you ever find yourself eyeing up those packs of microwave burgers in the shop, longing to grab one and run off home to serve yourself with a hot microwave burger or cheeseburger within just 2-3 minutes then STOP!

I’ve found a much cheaper and tastier way to achieve a better result!

I’ve tried a packet of those burgers before, which are found in the chiller cabinet.  What you get is a sesame seed bun, a flat/cooked burger, a cheese slice and a sachet of ketchup.  Even when on special offer you’ll not find one under £1, but you can get a much tastier result, cheaper!

All you need is a bread roll (pretty obvious), which you can buy (and freeze) at any time.  You’ll also need cheese – you can either use a block of cheese or cheese slices – did you know you can freeze cheese?  You’ll also need some ketchup, either your usual bottle, or a sachet saved from your last pub lunch!  That just leaves the burger…… and here’s the answer.

Lidl Frikadellen are big, fat, burgers, ready-cooked, just needing to be heated up.  AND, they freeze!  I did a review of Lidl Frikadellen a little while ago and I just love them: Lidl Frikadellen Review. I first started eating these two years ago and am now exploring new ways to turn them into tasty food fastest.

To Make Your DIY Microwave Cheeseburger: 

1. The bread roll and the cheese need to be defrosted already – you can do this simply by taking them out of the freezer the night before (or first thing in the morning if you’re taking this to work as your packed lunch).
2. The Frikadellen can be reheated either from frozen, or straight from the pack.  Place it into a microwave dish, covered, then microwave it for just 1 minute, then leave it aside to rest for 2 minutes.  In the photo I use my microwave noodle bowls and soup mug to do this, just because I find those handy. If your Frikadellen was frozen, then just turn it over and microwave for a further 1 minute and leave it to sit for 1 minute. (My microwave is 800 watts).
3. Assemble your burger, with a cheese slice, optional fried onions (I use dried onions) and the ketchup!
4. Serve

I could’ve used a bigger burger bun on reflection, but that was the bread roll I had to hand and I had under-estimated the sheer size of the Frikadellen (a pork burger).

Menu Cost: £0.50

A bread roll, in a multipack, will cost you from £0.04 upwards, this one cost me £0.05.

Frikadellens come in a pack of 5, at a current cost of £1.75 (£1.40 when on offer) – so that’s £0.35 each.

The cost of the cheese and the ketchup is no more than, say, £0.10.

Total cost is therefore no more than £0.50 if everything’s been bought at full price.

Ideal Packed Lunch!

If you work in an office where there’s a microwave, then you can easily put your cheese into your bread roll before you leave home (and squirt ketchup in there if you’ve no sachet, or handy pot).  The burger can be popped into a freezer bag or even the container you’ll be reheating it in!   Much cheaper than popping into McD’s or similar at lunchtime! More filling – and you can even add an optional salad to your burger if you wish.

As these are sold in a pack of five – you could even buy a pack on a Sunday and know you’ve got a week’s work lunches sorted, buy some great bread rolls and grab your favourite sauce of chutney and that’s one less thing to stress about this week!  For £2.50-3 you’ll have got an entire week’s worth of hot/tasty and filling meals to grab.