Cooking without an oven - best air fryer?

[Burnout101]

Our oven just decided to completely break down so we can't bake or grill anything, but the rings still work at least. We're renters so can't just call someone out ourselves and we're self isolating so tbh I'd rather no-one came so am resigned to living without it for a bit.

Trouble is we have dc's who mainly live off frozen processed stuff (and veg etc of course) so we need to be able to cook frozen stuff, especially as we've got a freezer full! I could order an air fryer off Amazon to hopefully help us manage, anyone know of a good but cheap one?

Sorry, by cheap I mean up to about £130 max (£150 if it's truly amazing)

We've had a couple - the ones with net baskets like the Philips Airfryer don't last well, ours went horribly manky after a short space of time as it's so hard to clean them well. We've got a Tefal actifry now with the big bowl and it's much easier to clean. My DD's use it all the time for french fries and home made wedges. It's also great for quick roasties.

I would recommend getting a toaster oven or a combi microwave - both in budget

Or a halogen oven. They seem way more consistent than my combi microwave in oven mode.

Thanks, you learn something every day - I genuinely didn't know toaster ovens were a real thing, thought it was something the Americans called a combi microwave . Yep, definitely think one of those or a halogen oven would be better (have been put off combi microwaves after hearing bad reviews about how well they work).

You can also buy mini tabletop oven / grills.

Tefal actifry is fantastic for anything that isn’t coated in breadcrumbs or batter. I had three or four with baskets after our first Tefal gave up the ghost and none were much cop so we went back to Tefal, but only really use it for home made chips.

We never use the paddle in our Actifry, that way things don't get broken up. We just shake it every so often!

Actifry is brilliant. Couldn't live without ours.

I bought a tefal actifry last week after our oven broke. £99 from argos. We've used it nearly every since! DD11 is not at school, I'm WFH and she can use it herself. We even made jacket potatoes n they came out fine.

I would suggest a halogen oven instead. You can cook a joint of meat in it, as well as frozen chips and amazing roasties.

I’ve got the Aldi halogen oven. I’ve got nothing to compare it with, but I think it’s amazing! Cooked lovely crispy food, especially chicken. Plus you can put the main glass bowl in the dishwasher.

Andrew James halogen oven! Amazing. I only use my oven for Christmas Day!

We have a halogen oven (get a big one with an extending ring) and an actifry. I'd rather lose the actifry than the halogen oven.

Oh, now I'm torn between a halogen oven and the toaster oven

Actifry!

Halogen oven , does everything . I got given a Ninja Foodi ( the large one) at Christmas and it’s back in it’s box as it really wasn’t as versatile as my halogen for example you cannot fit a GF pizza in it and the beeping noise it made when it came on upset my normally very sensible dog .

Tefal actifry but also buy the extra wire mesh tray (called a snacking tray) and the guard for the top.
Mesh tray means you can cook food thats likely to fall apart e.g. breaded food and the guard stops food falling down the sides/staying on the top and not cooking properly

Air fryers take forever you can get table top oven for about £40 from args
we have one like this used it for caravan www.argos.co.uk/product/9381098

Burnout 101
I know this post is a few months old, but would you tell me what you decided to buy please? The oven/grill in our rented property is a p.i.t.a. so I was going to buy a halogen oven, but for some reason they're all out of stock or no longer available. A mini oven would take up too much space so I've been looking at an air fryer oven which looks like the bees knees.