Can we start using the oven for Sunday baking again?

Barneysmom

Hi, as its been so long since I used my gas oven because it's been so expensive and I've got no idea how much it costs - so I've decided that when the gas (and electricity) prices go down in April I'm going to start using my oven again on a Sunday. 
I'll fill it up as I always used to, with a small joint of meat and roasters, a two-serving rice pudding, a sponge (or chocolate or ginger) cake for during the week, and a loaf of bread.
 I should be able to get a small quiche done too if I can get all the prep done beforehand. 
 I'm curious to know if I have the gas oven on for 90 minutes whether it save me money as I won't be buying shop-bought that's loaded with preservatives.
I think doing it this way will work out cheaper than using the air fryer multiple times too.
Now I need to find cheap bread flour. 

Florenceem

I don't have an air fryer or mini oven so have carried on using my range cooker.

thriftwizard

I've also carried on using my range, though to be fair it has two ovens & the taller, narrower oven is fairly economical to run. Also, I'm feeding anything from 3-8 people at weekends, and my whole grocery strategy depends on leftovers from the Sunday roast and other weekend meals! The oven is usually pretty full, with a roast, a veggie option, spuds & other veg (e.g. squash, beetroot, parsnips) and most weeks a pudding too - crumble, clafoutis, rice pud, stewed fruit or similar. I do have an air-fryer but it only gets used during the week, when there are only 3 of us some of the time; I'd struggle to cook enough in it for more of us. Our fuel bills have remained reasonable since they came back down a bit last spring; pretty much comparable with my friend up the road, who also cooks from scratch but just for the two of them. 
I think what stands out to me is that you'd be much better off in health terms if you're cooking from scratch & know what's in everything. I don't know whether it would save you money but it might just save your health, long term. I also know that when I've been overly busy & resorted to ready-made meals, it's cost us a lot more financially, but that's partly because there are just more of us!

PipneyJane

@Barneysmom I only use one type of flour:  chapatti flour aka Atta flour.  It’s a bread flour and, if you have the storage containers, is good value for money at 30p-50p a kilo.  However, it usually only comes in 10kg sacks.

To make self-raising flour:  add a teaspoon of baking powder to each cup of flour.  (I usually use a cup measure to measure out my flour, so that makes the calculations easier.)

HTH

- Pip

Barneysmom

Thank you - I should've said, I've always cooked from scratch and it's been a bit of a juggle to cook meals without the oven, although the slow cooker has been a great friend now that winter's just about over I won't be using it so much. 

DullGreyGuy

Barneysmom said:

Hi, as its been so long since I used my gas oven because it's been so expensive and I've got no idea how much it costs  

How can you know it's expensive if you've no idea how much it costs? 

Barneysmom said:

 I'm curious to know if I have the gas oven on for 90 minutes whether it save me money as I won't be buying shop-bought that's loaded with preservatives.
I think doing it this way will work out cheaper than using the air fryer multiple times too.

Never had a gas oven but google claims they use an average of 0.9kw/hr so about 9p to run 90 minutes

MattMattMattUK

Barneysmom said:

Hi, as its been so long since I used my gas oven because it's been so expensive and I've got no idea how much it costs - so I've decided that when the gas (and electricity) prices go down in April I'm going to start using my oven again on a Sunday. 
I'll fill it up as I always used to, with a small joint of meat and roasters, a two-serving rice pudding, a sponge (or chocolate or ginger) cake for during the week, and a loaf of bread.
 I should be able to get a small quiche done too if I can get all the prep done beforehand. 
 I'm curious to know if I have the gas oven on for 90 minutes whether it save me money as I won't be buying shop-bought that's loaded with preservatives.
I think doing it this way will work out cheaper than using the air fryer multiple times too.
Now I need to find cheap bread flour. 

You would have certainly been saving money by making your own even when energy costs were at their highest, even more so in winter when the heat used is not lost, but goes towards general heating. As Dull says above, the cost of running an oven is not that high, certainly well below the additional cost of buying pre-made/processed food. 

The cost of using an air fryer is marginally lower than using the oven, I worked out that if I bought an air-fryer and used it four days a week I would break even around 2.5-3 years, the savings are not as big as some try to make out. 

bouicca21

i finally succumbed to buying an air fryer and multi oven during the Black Friday sale.  Even at a bargain price it will take a long time to justify the capital cost through day to day savings on electricity, especially as I have two small ovens rather than one big one. 

But like all gadgets it has its uses.  With the air fryer I can have sweet potato wedges any time I fancy them without having to think of other stuff to fill the oven.  Ditto baking a cake or a loaf of bread - with the bonus that I can steam bake the bread which is better than the oven.

I am pretty sure that running a full size oven is more expensive than running an air fryer for the same length of time but if you are filling it up then the cost is split between all the items which must be more cost effective than doing bits and pieces sequentially in an air fryer.  It’s also a lot less faff.

Rosa_Damascena

I grew up in a home with a gas cooker and it was great for cakes etc. It didn't occur to me to get one when I refit my kitchen because the one and half electric ovens were still in very good order (and looked new).I have been avoiding using even the smaller one and ended up buying a combi microwave to save on using a whole oven for the sake of baking a cake.

Florafauna

If the oven is filled, I'd say go for it. You could even pop some scones in at the end as well. You are cooking multiple items and the health benefits of scratch cooking are great. Plus less faff than refilling the air fryer I'd imagine 

Matty246

My electric is 4 times the cost of my gas so I would use the gas oven unless the air fryer takes a quarter of the time for the same amount of food.