Do you actually use your Slow/Pressure Cooker or Air Fryer?

[DrPhilYourGuts]

Yes, I am easily led, but I keep seeing how fabulously energy saving these kitchen gadgets are. Many seem to have rave reviews, but are they actually worth having?

I've seen you can get combination 'multi' cookers, which are all three but not sure if these are jack of all trades and masters of none.

If you have one, do you recommend? DH seems to think they can only make 'slop', but some have bake and roast functions so surely not only wet food?

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MNHQ

I use my slow cooker at least once a week. I do need to expand my options though.

I use slow cooker about once a week, do roasts and stew type dishes in it.
I posted this on another thread about air fryers.
They are simply an alternative to an oven. Smaller and therefore more economical to use. Should be called a mini oven really. Not hugely faster and different to a pressure cooker or slow cooker.
I was very sceptical and bought a small cheap lidl one for £30. I love it so much I plan to give it to DS23 and buy myself a bigger one.
My big oven used to be on daily and is now only used about once every couple of weeks.

Thanks for all the advice, I think I'm probably going to go ahead with getting a pressure cooker that has a slowcook option, can do rice etc. Might try a mini air fryer for a bit of fun in the future but I don't think it's going to suit much of our meals.

Unfortunately I didn't realise the Ninjas mainly have ceramic coated bowls which I do not like so will explore other brands.

Am going to go and look at a few this week to guage scale, might need to go for a large one.

I love my pressure cooker. I live in quite a hot country and I would hate to have my oven on for hours. We also have an airfryer, but very rarely use it....but I've seen so many videos recently I'm more inspired

Actually, air fryer question for you all: As I said, love a traybake/roast dish. Often do something like marinated chicken thighs or fish with some veg and a bit of sauce in one tray. If the air fryer is a mini oven, would I be alright doing this in the air fryer?

@CirreltheSquirrel yes that’s my worry - If I don’t buy one I’ll just use my oven as I’ve always done and we get along just fine that way tbh, plus we are fortunate that for now, at least, we can afford the fuel cost rising so I’m not actually worried about it paying for itself in fuel savings, but it still seems silly to spend money to ‘save it’. IF it would make my life much better/save me lots of time and effort almost daily, and eventually save me money compared to using our oven then I’d seriously consider it. However I do think DH is probably right that it really doesn’t make sense financially for the time being.

I'm new to the air fryer gang, but have always used my slow cooker. This winter though will use it more!

We have a Ninja foodi 9in1 thingy, use it most days. It has a pressure cook and slow cook mode as well as the air fryer. I like it for slow cooking as you can use it to sauté the meat etc first without using a different pan.

I used my slow cooker on Sunday to make the beef and ale bit of a beef and ale pie! As the weather gets colder my DC who come home at the weekends will be getting lots of casseroles rather than roasts for sunday lunch.

I had use of my house guests air fryer for 6 months and over that time did burgers, sausages, bacon, chicken, fish and lots of little potatoes and chips in it. I loved it - it was an older version Tefal Acti Fry and I liked the paddle/stirrer attachment. It was great for bacon and sausages as they would normally have been cooked in the oven (less splatter and smoke filled house!). Trying to decide on what brand to get for myself.

My slow cooker is on at the moment cooking Chinese style beef. Bloody lovely it smells too.

I have a duo crisp. I was very sceptical about it being as good as people say.
The pressure cook function is very good for stews etc. Very easy to use and not nearly as scary as the ones you use on the hob!
I have an instant pot duo crisp. I make a lot of chicken stock. I roast the bones, add water, pressure cook for a couple of hours and it turns out better than overnight in the slow cooker.

I pressure cook a whole chicken for about 10 minutes then roast/air fry for 30-40 mins. Turns out nice. Also have just roasted a whole chicken and it turns out better than it does in the oven. I don’t know why that is but my dh and ds told me this and they were more sceptical than me about it just being a fad and gimmicky.
The air fryer basket is small and a bit annoying but it’s ok for a meal for one.
I love being able to sauté to seal the meat then pressure cook then sauté again with quick cook vegetables all in the same pot.

In hindsight I should have bought the instant pot and a separate larger air fryer as it would have better suited our needs.

I have an instant pot duo crisp which is multi function.

I use the pressure cooker constantly and have used my hob rarely since I had it. It makes amazing risotto, potatoes, and I cooked a chicken in it by pressure cooking for 20 minutes and then roasting on the roast function with air frier lid for 20 minutes. Came out beautifully moist and far nicer than in the oven.

And it has an advanced timer so it would be possible to prep the meal in the morning, set the timer for the evening and still have it pressure cook your dinner without having to have the slow cooker on all day.

Slow cookers can be very hit and miss in terms of the flavours and consistency of food etc.

I use the air frier for things like sausages etc but an air frier is really only useful if you never use the hob as it’s essentially a tiny oven. So if you eat baked everything.

You don't need to brown meat for the slow cooker, that's the whole point, you can just chuck everything in raw.

However I have started browning recently so that I can pour off the ridiculous amounts of water that are injected into the meat - I can't see any way around this and it's really annoying. Does the saute function on a pressure cooker allow for this?

Slow cooker is used a lot in the winter.

Air fryer is used most days

I didn’t like the flavour of things cooked in the slow cooker so gave it away long ago.

For those who have air fryers - how are they different from the much cheaper mini ovens that you see in Robert Dyas and the like? Or the little halogen ovens?

Use the air fryer instead of the oven now.

Use the slow cooker in winter mostly

I've been on most of the AirFryer threads because I use our multi cooker (14in1) most days. I'm a sucker for new gadgets (that languish at the back of the cooker) but it has surprised me how useful it is. I have a separate slow cooker that is now redundant.

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How does anyone make a decent crispy outside fluffy inside roast potato in the air fryer?

if I could master this I’d use ours more as my autistic DD eats roasties most nights but doing them in the ninja never gets that real crunch to the outside and the middles and up sort of chewy, like reheated from cold ones. Homemade chips are crap in it too.

It does mean I can heat up two croissants in 5 minutes though instead of using the oven in the mornings (again it’s a staple ‘accepted’ food for DD)

I've got a joint of gammon in my slow cooker as we speak

I use my slow cooker at least once a week. Sometimes 2/3 times.

I don't have a pressure cooker or air fryer.

I use my slow cooker at least once a week during Autumn, Winter and Spring. I wouldn't want to be without it.

I use my instant pot and air fryer all the time and would replace them the next day if they stopped working

Would anyone have a link to the Which guide to air fryers please ?
I don't live in the UK so a log of their information is irrelevant to me.
If I did live in the UK I would buy a subscription though.