My daughter was given a set of these (all made with the "correct" materials). I warned her about them but she said she was assured by giver that they were safe. First time she used them she had a fire in her microwave. Fortunately it did not spread beyond microwave. Hmmmm....Mother knows best!

I have a microwave that sparks when I put frozen bread in it. Microwaves are weird. I just nuke potatoes plain, no covering. Then you can wrap them in a damp towel when they come out and you get the same effect.

I've heard too many stories of these catching on fire so won't use them or make them as gifts.

Thank you for mentioning this and warning others. I don't have an explanation, but appreciate you bringing it up as I don't remember ever hearing of this before.

I have made and given close to a hundred of these potato bags. Have only had one instance where it caught fire and that was me checking to see if the thread would make a difference (the problem happened because I put the bag in there empty - think that made the difference). Yep, I had used cotton covered poly thread and as I was standing right there I caught it just as it started to smoke. I love my potato bag, have even continued to use the one that the seam burned. Some people don't realize that a lot of cotton thread is really cotton covered poly. You have to make absolutely sure that everything is cotton. My microwave is one of the high powered ones.

I consider this to be the same warning with the bowl cozies that are so handy. Some say they have no problem heating something in the microwave with those in place. I don't chance it. I put the heated bowl in the cozy when taking it out. Hint: these work nicely for keeping a cold bowl of ice cream from your fingers, too!

Remember you are not supposed to use them for longer than 3 minutes.

Excellent thread. Especially this year the microwave bowls seem to be the hot item. I had the same problem with the POTATOE bags.

I've never used or made one but to me it's just one of those things you need to find a place for in your kitchen. I have enough stuff already that I can't find lol

I share your confusion. When I was a teenager we were given a brand-new digital microwave and Dad & I had a great time catching stuff on fire inside our giant old dial-style one. It's really not that hard to get stuff to burn in there...

I like the IDEA of a potato bag, but I just don't trust it enough to endanger my microwave's safety, or the safety of the microwaves of my loved ones.