Is your heating ON or OFF?

Effician

tooldle said:

Quite a few examples on other threads of people buying alternate gadgets for cooking despite feeling said gadgets are expensive. I can see the overall cooking cost might be lower, but not convinced that laying out a good lump of cash is necessarily the wisest move to save a few pounds. Longer terms yes, but payback is not necessarily going to happen in one winter.

When the electric variable rate rises to a predicted 66p/kwh in Jan from the now seemingly cheap current rate of 27p/kwh  the payback period maybe not too long.

tooldle

Effician said:

tooldle said:

Quite a few examples on other threads of people buying alternate gadgets for cooking despite feeling said gadgets are expensive. I can see the overall cooking cost might be lower, but not convinced that laying out a good lump of cash is necessarily the wisest move to save a few pounds. Longer terms yes, but payback is not necessarily going to happen in one winter.

When the electric variable rate rises to a predicted 66p/kwh in Jan from the now seemingly cheap current rate of 27p/kwh  the payback period maybe not too long.

Yes,quite obviously so. 
My point is in trying to demonstrate the balance between expenditure and any resultant savings. If the individual is presently paying £5 per day for their energy, shelling out £100 to save pennies per day on cooking is not a particularly effective weapon. 

Effician

tooldle said:

Effician said:

tooldle said:

Quite a few examples on other threads of people buying alternate gadgets for cooking despite feeling said gadgets are expensive. I can see the overall cooking cost might be lower, but not convinced that laying out a good lump of cash is necessarily the wisest move to save a few pounds. Longer terms yes, but payback is not necessarily going to happen in one winter.

When the electric variable rate rises to a predicted 66p/kwh in Jan from the now seemingly cheap current rate of 27p/kwh  the payback period maybe not too long.

Yes,quite obviously so. 
My point is in trying to demonstrate the balance between expenditure and any resultant savings. If the individual is presently paying £5 per day for their energy, shelling out £100 to save pennies per day on cooking is not a particularly effective weapon. 

Fortunately we take a longer term view & rarely look at purchases as a short term fix, over the last few years we have acquired or implemented many cost saving measures to the point that purchases are funded by the savings generated from earlier buys.

This winter i'm almost embarrassed to say ( given how hard it will be for many ) will be our cheapest ever for energy & even with our (just fixed for 14months)  much higher rate electric we'll be paying under £50/ month, (without taking into account the Gov't handout)

The savings we'll be making this winter will fund something else next year to help cut our usage & costs further but i don't know what it will be just yet.

For us the many attempts of saving pennies per day has really added up.

tooldle

Good to see your cumulative efforts are working, but this is a long term strategy and clearly panic buying an air fryer did not deliver all these savings. Good to hear. These are the scenarios people can really benefit from hearing.

Effician

tooldle said:

Good to see your cumulative efforts are working, but this is a long term strategy and clearly panic buying an air fryer did not deliver all these savings. Good to hear. These are the scenarios people can really benefit from hearing.

Took me quite some time to buy an air fryer as our cooking devices are already cheapish to run ,we needed a kick to vary our diet ( same old same old after too many lockdowns & thinking what to make).

The good thing about Fad gadgets like air fryers is there's always plenty to choose from second hand that have hardly ,if ever used for cheap So cheap that i bought 2 different styles as they both have their strengths . ps, neither of them make great chips & not always the cheapest cooking option,

I suppose an added bonus with them being smallish & portable you could move it to the room you're living in over winter to provide a bit of extra heat whilst cooking. ( desperately trying to bring this back on topic )

Longwalker

Effician said:

tooldle said:

Good to see your cumulative efforts are working, but this is a long term strategy and clearly panic buying an air fryer did not deliver all these savings. Good to hear. These are the scenarios people can really benefit from hearing.

Took me quite some time to buy an air fryer as our cooking devices are already cheapish to run ,we needed a kick to vary our diet ( same old same old after too many lockdowns & thinking what to make).

The good thing about Fad gadgets like air fryers is there's always plenty to choose from second hand that have hardly ,if ever used for cheap So cheap that i bought 2 different styles as they both have their strengths . ps, neither of them make great chips & not always the cheapest cooking option,

I suppose an added bonus with them being smallish & portable you could move it to the room you're living in over winter to provide a bit of extra heat whilst cooking. ( desperately trying to bring this back on topic )

As you know from the other thread, I have just bought my air fryer, at a cost I do admit, one that was considered and put on the interest free so Im not having to cut back anywhere else

Three weeks tomorrow and our diet has improved considerably, Ive even gone back to baking a bit.

I think, if Ive worked it out correctly, the air fryer if on full blast , both drawers for an hour, costs the same as my oven. Only I can cook a complete meal in 30 mins, no way using full power

I baked a 2 tin cake yesterday - 30 mins . For that to have been in my oven we were looking an hour

A full roast dinner in 50 mins - thats the chicken, the roasties, carrots and parsnips in an hour - 33p

How has our diet improved? Because there are three adults here, each with different preferences. So I would go the easy route and cook the most bland boring food so that the fussiest poorest eater got to have something. I would often take one look and go make a sandwich and the OH would moan but eat anything cos he had been doing a hard day. Now because its so quick, I can cook individually. If one would just manage a bit of fish when the other needs a hearty pie - its fine, its no hassle, not a pile of dishes , no juggling oven space or having to put the big oven on. In the past three weeks I have had a dinner everyday, something that was becoming as rare as hens teeth, and seeing as I also work 4 days a week, with just a sandwich during the day, I tend to get tired and being under par due to not eating sufficiently 

Is the air fryer going to pay its way this winter? No. but I expect it to within a year, less units, less food waste, less hot water and less of an urge of saying Im not cooking, get a take out 

suelizab

has anyone put the heating on yet?  it's 19 here today and yesterday. I cant see to warm up . was thinking of putting it on for an hour .

elsien

I’ve had the extra pair of socks on today. Cold outside but not so bad inside. Not thinking about putting it on yet. 

suelizab

ive put a long sleeved thermal vest on and a sweatshirt . its been colder indoors than outside . maybe its my age .

Cherryfudge

We're on holiday and the place we're staying has a ground source heat pump - so warm I keep opening windows and doors to cool it down! However, the building has thick stone walls which I suspect help it to retain heat.

I brought a fleece blanket with us just in case and haven't needed it yet.