Air fryer v oven

ariarnia

flopsy1973 said:

So after asking the question originally and  all this debate no hard facts and conflicting information  if the air fryer is cheaper to use than oven. I would be buying the cheaper ones or is it better to batch cook and fill the main oven when on ? 

i think we can (probably at least mostly ) all agree it depends on what suits you. if you have time and space to batch cook and can batch cook food that you'd like to eat (not put things in the freezer and never take them out again like ive been known to do) then filling the oven to capacity is probably the most efficient option for time and energy. if you know you arent going to eat from your freezer (maybe you are going to forget to defrost things or not fancy them) then batch cooking might not be for you and you might do better with an air fryer and cooking each night vs putting the oven on each night for one meal. 

but an added complication is if what your batch cooking is things like home made rolls or pastry or individual 'dry' portions of things then it might be the most efficient and nicest way to do it is to batch cook in the big oven but reheat in an air fryer (because reheating some things in the microwave just makes them soggy and reheating one thing in the oven kinda defeats the point of batch cooking). especially if thats a cheap 40 ish quid model or one you got second hand. 

make sense?

ariarnia

The_Green_Hornet said:

Astria said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

If people want to believe that half-cooking their food is fine and get offended at any non-believers from outside of the cult suggesting otherwise then carry on, it makes no difference to me.

We aren't getting offended, but you don't seem to understand that smaller space to heat = less time to cook.

If you cooked the recommended time in an air fryer compared to a normal oven you would always end up with either burnt food or food so dry it's inedible (ie, overcooked).

I must admit I'm struggling with this smaller space to heat = less time to cook statement. I would expect a smaller space to heat would mean it would use less energy to cook but not time unless you mean initial warm up time.

What am I missing?

Oh is saying i got it a bit wrong with the explanation above that we were told. he says what matters is the fan. its closer to the food (because of the smaller space) and higher powered (again compared to the space). meaning its the hot air moving over the food not the space that speeds things up. and thats what makes it cook faster. again no idea if thats right or not but thats the explication were were given and it makes sense if you think about why fan ovens cook faster than normal ovens at the same temp. 

The_Green_Hornet

ariarnia said:

The_Green_Hornet said:

Astria said:

wittynamegoeshere said:

If people want to believe that half-cooking their food is fine and get offended at any non-believers from outside of the cult suggesting otherwise then carry on, it makes no difference to me.

We aren't getting offended, but you don't seem to understand that smaller space to heat = less time to cook.

If you cooked the recommended time in an air fryer compared to a normal oven you would always end up with either burnt food or food so dry it's inedible (ie, overcooked).

I must admit I'm struggling with this smaller space to heat = less time to cook statement. I would expect a smaller space to heat would mean it would use less energy to cook but not time unless you mean initial warm up time.

What am I missing?

Oh is saying i got it a bit wrong with the explanation above that we were told. he says what matters is the fan. its closer to the food (because of the smaller space) and higher powered (again compared to the space). meaning its the hot air moving over the food not the space that speeds things up. and thats what makes it cook faster. again no idea if thats right or not but thats the explication were were given and it makes sense if you think about why fan ovens cook faster than normal ovens at the same temp. 

A fan oven will cook food at a lower temperature than a conventional oven but both will take the same time to achieve the desired end result.

For example, if you look at the cooking instructions for Sainsbury's Chunky Cod Fish Fingers the cooking time is the same at 25 minutes but the oven temperature is different at 200c for a conventional oven and 180c for a fan oven.



I assume an air fryer is just a smaller version of a fan oven but the principal is the same. The only way it can cook something quicker is if the temperature is set higher than recommended.

ariarnia

i've never cooked those so no idea and i dont have a fan oven and dont use a normal oven but when we're looking at recipie ideas online i see quite a few that say to cut both the time and temp. could be that its things that cook for longer like roasts? like this

 
https://service.hoover.co.uk/advice-centre/the-oven-is-burning-the-food/151-use-lower-temperatures-when-cooking-with-fan-ovens/

all i can really go on is that we regularly cook meat as joints and portions in the air fryer and using a meat thermometer its normally completely cooked quicker than whatever the recipe were were 'following' said for an oven (at the temp recommended by the recipe. not dropping it down to fan temp but sometimes putting some foil on top to stop it burning if needed). 

rothesy

I had a quick look at the rating plates on my main oven - 2300w and the air fryer 1300w.  So surely 1300w is cheaper to run than 2300w?  THE END.

[Deleted User]

rothesy said:

I had a quick look at the rating plates on my main oven - 2300w and the air fryer 1300w.  So surely 1300w is cheaper to run than 2300w?  THE END.

It's not that simple. Said it in detail earlier in the thread.

A 2300w oven doesn't use that power all throughout the cooking cycle, the element will be off for about 50% of the time once it reaches temperature.

A 1300w air fryer will keep the heating element on for longer periods.

Also spending say £150 on an airfryer to save 15p per meal takes years to break even.

Still awaiting data on this from an air fryer user. So far the only data is food burned on the outside and probably undercooked on the inside.

rothesy

[Deleted User] said:

rothesy said:

I had a quick look at the rating plates on my main oven - 2300w and the air fryer 1300w.  So surely 1300w is cheaper to run than 2300w?  THE END.

It's not that simple. Said it in detail earlier in the thread.

A 2300w oven doesn't use that power all throughout the cooking cycle, the element will be off for about 50% of the time once it reaches temperature.

A 1300w air fryer will keep the heating element on for longer periods.

Also spending say £150 on an airfryer to save 15p per meal takes years to break even.

Still awaiting data on this from an air fryer user. So far the only data is food burned on the outside and probably undercooked on the inside.

Mines switches on and off too (the bulb)  it does nothing any different to what the main oven does but  costs less to run as I pointed out on page 1 of the question.

[Deleted User]

rothesy said:

Deleted_User said:

rothesy said:

I had a quick look at the rating plates on my main oven - 2300w and the air fryer 1300w.  So surely 1300w is cheaper to run than 2300w?  THE END.

It's not that simple. Said it in detail earlier in the thread.

A 2300w oven doesn't use that power all throughout the cooking cycle, the element will be off for about 50% of the time once it reaches temperature.

A 1300w air fryer will keep the heating element on for longer periods.

Also spending say £150 on an airfryer to save 15p per meal takes years to break even.

Still awaiting data on this from an air fryer user. So far the only data is food burned on the outside and probably undercooked on the inside.

Mines switches on and off too (the bulb)  it does nothing any different to what the main oven does but  costs less to run as I pointed out on page 1 of the question.

Got any data in £ or p to demonstrate that?

You said a third which fits with my 15p saving per cook estimate, and for your Ninja will take 1,000 cook cycles to break even (3+ years)

rothesy

I mentioned already, my usage went down by £5 each month.  That is when I was paying 15p per KWh.

ariarnia

Deleted_User said:

ariarnia said:

Deleted_User said:

Then I saw this being described as edible and served on a plate to eat 

i dont think a supermarket pizza could ever be described as much better than edible even in the best of conditions (which is why we normally home make them). we dont throw away food in this house if its edible. and it was. there's nothing wrong with a bit of well toasted cheese and bbq sauce. cooking a new thing in a new way is always trial and error until you work out the timings (which are definately NOT cooking the pizza for the 22 mins stated on the box). unless your so ridged in your thinking that you beleve cooking anything differently from the way you normally have it is ruining it. 

so you can judge my picture all you like. all you are doing is making it perfectly clear that though you keep asking for evidence you have already made your mind up. repeatedly calling people who are only sharing there experiences part of a cult and jumping to conclusions rather than asking questions when something seems odd to you makes that very clear. 

Ok, here's a question:

Why didn't you take it out of the oven when it was cooked instead of waiting until it was cremated?

Do you think 7 mins for a frozen product that recommends 22 mins will result in it being cooked properly inside?

as i have said before. when i am cooking a new thing in the air fryer i start at half the recommended time. then open the draw and check it and give it more time until its done. so i started at 10 mins. opened the draw and thats what it looked like. thats why for the second one i started at 7 mins. if i were making another one i might try dropping the temp and cooking it for 8 mins to start and going from there. that is what trial and error means. 

as for if its cooked. i'm a little worried that explaining how you can tell if a pizza is cooked or not might mean you accuse me of 'schooling' you again. is it enough to say that i've cooked a lot of pizza from frozen (tho i admit not many supermarket ones) so if the top is golden and bubbling the base is golden and crispy the inside is hot/not doughy and steam comes out from the middle when its cut open then i'm happy that its cooked?

if you had a pizza in the oven that looked like that would you say it was cooked or leave it in for the rest of the time because the packet said so?