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A microwave makes it a lot easier to eat real good cheap food. Many people believe that microwaves alter food in some vaguely unhealthful way, possibly taking literally the euphemism "nuke it" for microwave cookery. These people are, not to put too fine a point on it, wrong.
Hey, if you don't like it, don't use it. But the microwave has many uses beyond heating leftovers or coffee. My favorites include making polenta and risotto, which require labor-intensive constant stirring on the stovetop, and cooking squash for things like quesadillas.
You can find microwave ovens at garage sales for practically nothing. Bigger ones are generally more powerful, but the deciding factor is usually if the thing will fit on the kitchen counter somewhere. If you're worried about the microwaves leaking out of an old door, just stand at least three feet away while it's running.
The best guide for micro-cookery is Barbara Kafka's classic cookbook Microwave Gourmet. It includes lots of recipes, but even more useful are the alphabetized how-to-cook listings. Just look up whatever you want to nuke and find out whether it should be peeled, wrapped, or best cooked in some more conventional manner.