Introduction: In this article, Katie Rebecca Merkley describes our ancestors learning to use three kitchen appliances for the first time: Pressure Cookers, Microwave Ovens, and Slow-Cookers, and also provides some recipes. Katie specializes in U.S. research for family history, enjoys writing and researching, and is developing curricula for teaching children genealogy. She has a website: krgarnergenealogy.com

Modern cooking is quicker and easier than in our ancestors’ days, thanks to the invention of kitchen appliances. Our ancestors had to get water from the well and chop up firewood. They were limited to whatever food grew that time of year, and had to milk cows and gather eggs.

When kitchen appliances were invented, people may have wondered how to use them. Companies manufacturing the new appliances had to let housewives know how these machines would simplify household duties; otherwise, they might not sell. The newspapers provided a remedy for both advertising and sharing recipes.

I tested out a few of these recipes on my husband, as discussed later. Before exploring the recipes found in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, here is some history of three common kitchen appliances.

Here is a visual timeline of cooking appliance innovations. (1)

Pressure Cooker, Microwave Oven, Slow-Cooker (Crock-Pot)

The pressure cooker, originally called a steam digester, was invented in France in 1679. However, the modern pressure cooker wasn’t invented until the 1930s. The microwave was invented in 1945. A scientist testing a magnetron for radar technology accidentally discovered its cooking power. The slow cooker was patented in 1940. Pressure cookers became common in the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1971, Rival purchased the slow-cooker design, rebranded it as the Crock-Pot, and successfully marketed it to households in America. (2)

Pressure Cooker

The pressure cooker recipe I tried was from a 1946 newspaper: steaks for two. The instructions were to flour and brown the steaks, add chopped vegetables and water, then pressure-cook them. It was supposed to produce steaks, vegetables, and gravy. I must have put in too much water because I g

Of course, the newspapers also had advertisements for pressure cookers, like the one seen below. This one also advertised pressure cooker recipe books.

Microwave Oven

In 1973, General Electric and Pillsbury held a microwave recipe contest. This was all over the newspapers in 1972 and 1973. The article below describes microwaves as “the greatest thing in food preparation since the discovery of fire,” especially for housewives who hate to cook. The article goes on to describe the upcoming contest.

The contest in question was the 24th annual Pillsbury/General Electric Bake-off. This was the first year a microwave category had been added. The year’s Bake-off theme was “Bake It Easy,” which was perfect for a microwave category.

This article says the Microwave “offers new convenience to the homemaker.” The article predicts a lowering of microwave prices, making them more accessible. “Our whole concept of food preparation and food packaging may change dramatically.”

The prediction that microwaves would dramatically change food preparation and packaging has proven true. Grocery stores now sell frozen microwaveable foods. This was my husband’s diet in his bachelor days. He likes my cooking better.

I did find a microwave recipe in the newspapers but did not cook it. The recipe is much more involved than anyone accustomed to microwave cooking is used to. This is a recipe I’d rather bake in the oven than in the microwave. I sent it to my former roommate, who loved cooking in the microwave, and she said it had too many ingredients. I sent it to an aunt on my husband’s side because my mother-in-law said she liked cooking in the microwave. I never heard back. The recipe is below, so you can decide if you’d like to cook it in the microwave.

Slow-Cooker or Crock-Pot

I found a slow cooker recipe for pizza beans. It took long enough to cook that I had to prepare it around the time I was preparing breakfast. I didn’t find that to be particularly convenient on most days, especially because I’d forget until it was too late to get the beans going for that night. I had to set a reminder on my phone.

If an evening meeting reduced my time for dinner, it made sense to do the food prep in the morning rather than the evening. The time in my life when crock-pot dinners made the most sense was when my church congregation met late enough in the afternoon to get out at dinnertime. Since I came home from church wanting to eat dinner right away, a crockpot was the only way to have a nice Sunday dinner.

Below is the recipe for pizza beans, which tasted better than I expected.

These cooking appliances make cooking easier today than it was in our ancestors’ day. Some people don’t like to cook; some never have time; some feel incompetent in the kitchen. The use of kitchen appliances allows these people to feed themselves and their families.

To find recipes your ancestors may have used when kitchen appliances were the latest technology, search in GenealogyBank.

Create a free account at GenealogyBank for 7 days to start your journey and discover the stories your ancestors left behind.

Note on the header image: mixing bowl and cooking utensils.

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(1) Timeline of cooking appliance innovations, timeline, Open AI, ChatGPT, ChatGPT 5.2 image generator (https://chatgpt.com/c/69542fec-4c4c-832b-9d28-0c783210c468: generated 30 December 2025), from the prompt “please generate a visual for this timeline”; Pasted in a timeline of inventions of the Microwave, Pressure Cooker, and Crock-Pot; timeline data was generated by Perplexity.
(2) Report on inventions of pressure cooker, microwave, and crock-pot, report and timeline, Perplexity, Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai/search/when-was-the-pressure-cooker-i-VjLmGZ3OSgC0II9hS6jewg: generated 30 December 2025).