What should we include in MSE's new Cost of Living survival guide?

Frith

https://contact.org.uk/about-contact/news-and-views/cost-of-living-crisis-6-things-all-families-with-disabled-children-can-do-now/

shykins

@ZsaZsa My husband (who is knowledgeable on wattage stuff🤦‍♀️) tells me the airfyer uses approx 35% less energy than my normal oven and it also warms up faster and cooks quicker.   So by my reckoning that has to be cheaper

yes I can fit potatoes in with it but prob not veg as well but it would depend on the size of your chicken, we tend to do veggie  on the hob or microwave

peewhyeff

basketcase said:

A couple of things occur to me:

1)  Pointing people to where to get User Manuals for things like Halogen Ovens, Airfryers etc.  (And/or general instructions on what they do and how to use them)

It's no use advising someone to "get an airfryer" if the person's never used one - and 2nd hand ones often don't have the manual with them.

For instance.......LIDL.  Have published user manuals for their products on their website for many years. It's true what you said about 2nd hand items. In the past I was given a soup maker, a bread maker, and a cupcake maker and had no idea how to use them.

RAS

ZsaZsa said:

I’d love to know the actual savings of using actifry/instantpot/ ninja/ remoska and the like compared to cooking on the hob/ oven. 

I’ve tried to research it but can’t find a lot of evidence one way or the other- just multiple bloggers telling me that it is cheaper if I buy whichever gizmo they’re promoting. They’re often deemed to be cheaper but I wonder if they genuinely are. 

I can see the benefit perhaps if cooking for one or two people. We’re a family of 4 and I can fill the oven cooking for us, but with a gadget I don’t know how I’d cook all the elements of one meal in one appliance. (Other than bunging a stew type meal in a slow cooker which I do frequently). 

This isn’t a criticism, just a genuine curiosity over which is best.

Tried to extract some figures; A remoska is rated at 580w, twice as much as a large slow cooker at 290w. But you'd have the slow cooker on much longer, and could make slightly more food.

Ovens are rated 2kw-2.4kw but up to 5kw. However a lot of sites quote an average of 870w in use; no indication of the original source. That may be because they can operate at different temperatures. 

I suspect it's horse for courses; if you are a small household a small remoska and smaller slow cooker are good options, particularly if you're in rented with a large oven.

In a larger household, a well used session in a oven which is switched off 10 minutes before at the end and uses residual heat may be more effective.

But all kit costs money that other people just won't have to make the swap. I was bought my remoska by a very kind rellie after admiring theirs.

ZsaZsa

shykins said:

@ZsaZsa My husband (who is knowledgeable on wattage stuff🤦‍♀️) tells me the airfyer uses approx 35% less energy than my normal oven and it also warms up faster and cooks quicker.   So by my reckoning that has to be cheaper

yes I can fit potatoes in with it but prob not veg as well but it would depend on the size of your chicken, we tend to do veggie  on the hob or microwave

Thank you (and Mr. shykins), that’s the sort of info I was hoping for 😃😃

newlywed

It’s not just the cost of kit, it’s the space to store it all!

ZsaZsa

RAS said:

ZsaZsa said:

I’d love to know the actual savings of using actifry/instantpot/ ninja/ remoska and the like compared to cooking on the hob/ oven. 

I’ve tried to research it but can’t find a lot of evidence one way or the other- just multiple bloggers telling me that it is cheaper if I buy whichever gizmo they’re promoting. They’re often deemed to be cheaper but I wonder if they genuinely are. 

I can see the benefit perhaps if cooking for one or two people. We’re a family of 4 and I can fill the oven cooking for us, but with a gadget I don’t know how I’d cook all the elements of one meal in one appliance. (Other than bunging a stew type meal in a slow cooker which I do frequently). 

This isn’t a criticism, just a genuine curiosity over which is best.

Tried to extract some figures; A remoska is rated at 580w, twice as much as a large slow cooker at 290w. But you'd have the slow cooker on much longer, and could make slightly more food.

Ovens are rated 2kw-2.4kw but up to 5kw. However a lot of sites quote an average of 870w in use; no indication of the original source. That may be because they can operate at different temperatures. 

I suspect it's horse for courses; if you are a small household a small remoska and smaller slow cooker are good options, particularly if you're in rented with a large oven.

In a larger household, a well used session in a oven which is switched off 10 minutes before at the end and uses residual heat may be more effective.

But all kit costs money that other people just won't have to make the swap. I was bought my remoska by a very kind rellie after admiring theirs.

Thank you, that’s really useful. I was keeping an eye out for a Remoska on marketplace/ charity shop as so many people rave about them, but the more I looked into them the more confused I was about whether it was actually worth it- especially considering the cost of buying one in the first place along with space to store it. I already have an electric combined pressure cooker/ slow cooker, and a soup maker (which probably isn’t money saving running it as appliance, but makes it so easy to use up odds and ends it definitely reduces our food waste) I’m not sure I can justify another appliance.

maman

Agree that advice on gadgets would be useful. I was gifted an electric steamer, some years ago, but found it a faff getting it out and washing up all the bits. I do have a steamer that sits on top of a saucepan but usually cook carrots and potatoes in one pan anyway. What else could I steam over this veg to cut down on hob use? 🤔

RAS

brassicas? fish/smoked fish. Kedgeree means cooking rice in the pan and popping a plate on top with the fish.

London_1

I lov emy £12 Wilkos ordinary steamer I do things like spuds or carrots on the bottom tier and green stuff on the next one up. Only have the two tiers to wash up and they don't take a minute to do. I hade a chicken kiev in my remoska and new potatoes carrots and broccoli inmy steamer for dinner tonight. A good slice of mince pie whizz to warm in the microwave and a dollop of cold custard to top for dinner tonight cooked start to finish is under 20 minutes.Kieve was taken from the freezer this morning to defrost in the fridge