Not all leftovers need to be crispy.

Microwaves work pretty well for saucy Chinese food, for example. (The alternate method is usually steaming, which is even soggier.)

How do you air fry soup, stew, chili, etc.?

You use a pot on a stove. It’s faster than microwaving.

No way is it faster. I can heat a bowl of soup up in 1 minute in the microwave. The pot is barely heated up after 1 minute in the stove, much less the contents.

And it makes another pot to clean.

But the warmth in the food heated on a burner is nicer than the warmth generated by the microwave (more even, cools slowly).

Maybe we slow down and expect our lunch to take 10 minutes to heat and 5 minutes to clean up?

Why?

Maybe it depends on the equipment. My stove can heat soup much faster than my microwave. Not to mention in the microwave you have to constantly stir to make sure it’s not still cold in the middle, because a microwave doesn’t heat evenly.

My guess is that it is a difference in volume. While a microwave is very efficient at exciting water in food, the range top is putting out a _lot_ of heat based on a 220V (in US) electric source or natural gas source.