Air fryer v oven

Spoonie_Turtle

Deleted_User said:

As for salmon, a couple of mins in a pan is all it needs, I'd never oven-cook a salmon steak, it would just ruin it.

You've been doing it wrong in the oven then   I've always found salmon to take much longer than a couple of minutes in the pan, and it often sticks even in supposedly non-stick pans - though I guess maybe you could say I'm doing it wrong in the pan, in that case!  For the oven (while other stuff is in there) or on its own in the air fryer, wrapped in foil is the way to go.  Lovely and juicy and keeps all the seasonings if you choose to add them (I'm a garlic fiend and love me some dill, so those go on it for me).

ariarnia

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Deleted_User said:

As for salmon, a couple of mins in a pan is all it needs, I'd never oven-cook a salmon steak, it would just ruin it.

You've been doing it wrong in the oven then   I've always found salmon to take much longer than a couple of minutes in the pan, and it often sticks even in supposedly non-stick pans.  For the oven (while other stuff is in there) or on its own in the air fryer, wrapped in foil is the way to go.  Lovely and juicy and keeps all the seasonings if you choose to add them (I'm a garlic fiend and love me some dill, so those go on it for me).

last week we had salmon and the OH did a gorgeous sticky ginger soy sauce/glaize that we had with sticky rice and salad. 

i think this was the recipe (its the one in our bookmarks!) https://iheartumami.com/soy-ginger-glazed-salmon/  

sammyjammy

Deleted_User said:

ariarnia said:

Deleted_User said:

ariarnia said:

Deleted_User said:

Then I'm seeing people putting hob-based dishes in it such as a Spanish omelette in the air fryer which is almost certainly more costly and less efficient than using a gas hob and the traditional method.

.. that's a lifestyle choice. using an air fryer isnt only about saving money. its about it fitting what you want to cook better than the alternative. if i want to cook only a few sausages or warm a role then it will definitely be quicker and cheaper in the air fryer than the big oven. 

Yes fair enough, I'm not knocking an air fryer as a lifestyle choice, just trying to get to the bottom of whether it actually saves any money as that is what the OP asked and this forum is called "money saving".

So far I conclude it doesn't save money but suits certain lifestyles and I'm awaiting data that says it saves money.

Granted I can see for a single person that warms one roll or cooks 3 sausages then it probably works out to be really convenient and possibly cheaper but alas no data yet.

youve already said it does save money compared to a big oven at 15p a meal for whatever it was you worked out. other people on the forum have done there own calculations and said it saves about half the cost. but it will always depend on what you are cooking and how you are cooking that if you dont have an air fryer. one potato in an oven vs in the microwave vs in the air fryer vs part cooked in the microwave then in oven or air fryer. all very different results. so it HAS to be down to lifestyle. 

and i also think its a bit rich that you talk about the cost of the air fryer but not how most ovens take a lot more kitchen space and cost a lot more than most air fryers

Yes but that 15p saving per meal for a £150 air fryer means that it takes 1000 cooking cycles just to break even - so using it 5 days per week means it takes 4 years just to break even. By the end of year 5, you have saved £39.

Most people already have an oven in the kitchen. If you don't have one already, then you can buy a fan-assisted one for £150-£200 anyway so it isn't a big difference in cost and you have enough space to do an Xmas roast for example.

For most kitchens, the work surface space needed for an air fryer is more of a premium than the below-the-counter cupboards that an oven occupies and the air fryer will half-fill a similar-sized cupboard anyway when stored.

Why do you keep assuming they cost so much.  Mine, which is for a single person, two max was in the sale and cost me £35, I have had it three years, it works as good as the day I first used it and compared to a huge oven its a no brainer.

mmmmikey

sammyjammy said:

Why do you keep assuming they cost so much.  Mine, which is for a single person, two max was in the sale and cost me £35, I have had it three years, it works as good as the day I first used it and compared to a huge oven its a no brainer.

Hi - all this discussion has been making me hungry so just about to write a letter to Santa

Is yours one of the smaller 2l air fryers? Is it big enough or do you wish you had something bigger?

Same question for anyone else - what capacity is your air fryer and how well does it meed your needs?

Thanks

ariarnia

ours is this one but we got it before they were so popular and from the warehouse so it only cost about £60 i think? maybe 80 but some where around there. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N8QY3YH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

we specifically wanted on that could cook a whole chicken and this was the cheapest one to let us do that. but we dont do that often. most often its used for the protein that were having. so it'll do 4 chicken legs (drums and thighs) if i tesalate. i think i said above its squareish with 8 inch sides so gives a max cooking space of about 64 inches. if you are creative (like putting in a rack or standing has browns up on there edge around the outside!) then you can squeeze in a bit more but need to be careful about the air flow or stopping half way through to turn things. really i'd say think about the biggest thing you cook you feel silly putting the oven on for and start looking around there. 

QrizB

Deleted_User said:

ariarnia said

QrizB said:

The_Green_Hornet said:

I wonder who is going to get the last word in on this thread.
Can you cook popcorn in an air fryer as I am running out

I dunno but we've got a popcorn maker - maybe we need a separate thread on those

do they actually work well then?

I've got one that looks like that, but I need a very big bowl because the popcorn shoots out of the spout at the speed of sound and bounces all over the room.

Mine is a different model but yes, it does work and yes, you need a big bowl.

Mine cooks the corn kernels using hot air (maybe a bit like an air fryer in that regard!). Hot air blows up through the kernels.  When they pop the kernels get bigger and are swept out of the machine and into the bowl by the flow of air.

We don't eat anything like enough popcorn for it to count as a money saving gadget (although, having said that, we've owned it a decade or more so maybe it has paid for itself by now).

Spoonie_Turtle

Ours I think is 4l (doesn't appear to be still on sale, different sizes are).  It doesn't really do whole dinners for a family of 4, it does servings for 2.  We tried a smaller 2l one first to see if the concept was any good, great for one person or maybe half a meal for 2 (e.g. potato wedges to go with something else) but we needed one bigger for regular use. 

This 4l was a decent compromise - big enough to be helpful for family dinners but not too big to use for a hot lunch or something only two of us are having at the time.

Chrysalis

Deleted_User said:

Chrysalis said:

flopsy1973 said:

Hi 
Not sure if this has been asked before are air fryer really cheaper to use considering they need to be on constantly versus a fan oven which will switch on and off depending on temp thermostat is set to? 
Are they really lot quicker than ovens ? 

The smaller the cooking space the easier it is to heat.

So basically the bigger the oven, the smaller the air fryer, the bigger the gain.

And what is this so-called gain that nobody has quantified in this thread yet?

I'm genuinely interested because I've done some estimates in this thread and others and it takes years to pay back the cost of the air fryer.

I estimated it might save about 15p per meal in another thread, somebody on here is popping 13p paper liners in with each meal - just can't get my head around the money saving.

Then I'm seeing people putting hob-based dishes in it such as a Spanish omelette in the air fryer which is almost certainly more costly and less efficient than using a gas hob and the traditional method.

As for another claim that they cooked breakfast for 7 people in an air fryer, then please tell me how you fit that all in an air fryer?

How long is a piece of string?

How often do you use the oven?
Average cooking time?
Amount of food cooked?
Model of oven?
Model of airfryer?
Size of oven?

This is why you will get no definitive answer, there is some sites which guestimate, but wont be an absolute answer.

Also consider not everything can be cooked in an airfryer, might be too big or wrong type of food.

Then of course you have the unit cost variable, so the tariff you on, if you have time of usage tariff, do you even pay for energy? etc. etc.

matelodave

Its a different way of cooking stuff, it might save you money, it might save you time and for some people it will do both.

Essentially, it's a small table top fan over but with a significantly more powerful fan than a conventional oven. It has a smaller volume than a conventional oven and usually cooks stuff a bit quicker than a conventional oven.

 It doesn't actually "fry" in the sense of immersing food in boiling oil but relies on really hot air to do the cooking which can reduce the amount of fat or oil used so it's considered healthier than conventional frying.

They are good for cooking smaller portions, so ideal for singletons or even couples who can avoid using a large oven for small amounts of food - for instance, if we want to cook 4 bread rolls, its quicker and cheaper to do it in an air fryer than it is in a big oven. same with meat etc. Its also significantly easier to clean than a conventional over.

We haven't used our big oven or grill since we got ours and we are convinced that the saving in energy and time is worth it for us, in much the same way as using the microwave oven for certain foods is quicker and cheaper than using the hob for some stuff.

Niv

wittynamegoeshere said:

Can someone define what an "air fryer" actually is?  I've seen adverts for the Tefal Actifry years ago, this has a stirrer that slowly turns everything.  So you can chuck in some spuds and a bit of oil and it will all get stirred while it cooks so won't burn and ends up like a lighter version of fried.  I get this, it all makes sense, it's a new thing that hasn't existed before and will make lower fat food.

But by the sounds of it, most of them now don't have a stirrer so are just a box with a heater and fan recirculating hot air.  That isn't anything new, it's been around for decades and it's called a fan oven.

Table top small ovens have also been around for decades.  The door's on the front instead of the top but it's a box that gets hot that you can put things in.

Is this whole trend just marketing, getting people to buy something that's been around for years that many already have?

Yep, you answered your own question. Air fryers are not fryers they are mini ovens. It is a bit of marketing to rename them air fryers.