The cost of living... what can we do?

Everyone seems to be buying air fryers at the moment.

There are lots of articles in the media about how cheap they are to run, but having looked into them, I can't see how you'd feed a family of four if the whole meal was done in one.

I must admit I'd considered it, but I have an electric steamer, George Foreman grill, slow cooker, microwave, mini oven and an electric wok. Between those I can cook anything I want, usually only using one or two of the gadgets for any meal.

The George and the wok both cook very fast, so although they run at over a kW, the short cooking time makes them both convenient and cheap to run. The oven only runs at 1500 watts because it's small, equating to about 50p an hour, but it only really gets used about twice a week for our weekend fish fingers.

The electric wok gets most use. I can do an entire meal for four of us in that. I do pasta dishes and fried rice, and occasionally fish and chips. The fried rice calls for the steamer too, to cook the rice before it gets fried with eggs and whatever else is going in it, but the fish and chips is a one pan job. Cut the chips quite chunky and cook them first, then when they're in the chip basket with some kitchen towel covering them, they'll stay hot for the short time it takes to fry some freshly battered fish pieces.

All in all, I've decided not to jump on the air fryer bandwagon. I can do everything perfectly fine with the appliances we have, and I have enough of a learning curve to get even more diverse uses out of them.

 

We just mix it with cold water. Saves it from sticking to the pan.

 

I've had an air fryer for about 5 years now and find it quite dandy. The actifry brand. And yes, @Fat Controller @Jocko I can't use my sunoven seven days a week but on sunny days it's a cheap alternate.

 

But you are east of a huge landmass. We are east of a huge ocean. Our sunny days are few and far between despite the summer past.

 

Unless you get community service. Then you get to pick up litter. If you're lucky, some of that litter will be discarded half eaten Gregg's sausage rolls that the pigeons failed to spot. Happy days.

 

Oh goodness, I by no means meant that it replaces traditional grid powered cooking apparatus. Just a way to, help cut costs sometimes.

I may be in the middle of a large land mass but Ian did send lots of clouds and rain to us and then we've got the nasty stuff coming up the Ohio valley to compete with the north winds. There is a reason why my zone is 5b and not 8A!

That said, the initial investment for a sunoven was pricey so not really a big cost saver for most but I bought mine during a time of plenty.

I've just saved myself a lot of money by baking my potting soil and amending it after it cools down. I have an outdoor wood oven and lots of wood from tree trimming over the years.

 

I feel a rocket stove coming on.