To think that a lot of cost saving suggestions are a false economy and actually aren’t that cost saving at all?

[GhostFromTheOtherSide]

So increasingly there are suggestions as to how to save energy.

Buy an electric throw/electric blanket/microwave/slow cooker/air friar.

And then people will tell you that these cost almost nothing to run.

Except they often cost £££ to buy, and if you settle for cheap you’re settling for a false economy.

Electric blankets/throws are notoriously unreliable and have a tendency to break.

Air friars are small so if you want to cook whole meals in them you need something like a double drawer ninja which costs a fortune.

So while you will be saving money on the energy, you’re actually going to be spending it on the measures to save on the energy.

Obviously if you already have these items then the cost has already gone.

But if you don’t then surely people should be thinking twice about whether to rush out and spend money they potentially don’t have on items which are going to cost them anyway?

Also, as @PonyTime says, the cost of an electric dryer isn’t worth it. I accept this applies to me due to the amount of drying I (don’t) do and might be different if someone has to tumble dry two loads a day. I can’t line dry as I am in a flat but I already own a dehumidifier and while it might not be as good as a heated airer, all I have to consider is the cost of running it since I already own it.

YABU about air fryers, I don’t eat junk food due to allergies but I use it daily for roasted veg, chicken, veggie sausages etc.

YANBU about the cost/saving/practicalities of some ideas.

I sewed cheap blankets from primark inside my curtains. Ugly AF from the garden but great at keeping the heat in.

I do agree with a lot of the things mentioned on here; however I do just want to say that you can buy thermal linings for curtains so you don't have to buy new thermal curtains. They are very easy to attach to existing curtains. Being thermal they also keep the heat out in summer and act as a blackout lining as well. Cost depends on size and there is an initial outlay ( the ones in my dd's room cost £20) but it isn't the £100's people seem to think. Hopefully this helps someone.

Usually I'd agree but with the unprecedented and eye watering rises coming up, actually buying a £44 oodie or an air fryer will probably be fairly quickly offset. To the poster who said people using air fryer must just eat junk, people say they don't use their oven not that they don't use a hob/steamer/microwave. Most healthy foods wouldn't be done in the oven anyway.

Anything you can do in an oven you can do in an air fryer so no more junk food than what you cook in an oven! We do chicken, salmon, vegetables, everything we would have used our air fryer for before. We use it cos it's much faster and cooks stuff more evenly although the energy savings are a bonus. Ours makes enough for us all as it's 8 litre double drawer. I haven't used the oven since we got it!

But do agree that some of these tips aren't really any sort of saving. I keep seeing people talking about solar or wind up lanterns but LED lightbulbs cost literally pennies to run. There's no need to sit in the dark or buy candles - you aren't saving any money doing so. Same with boiling a whole kettle and keeping it in a flask v just boiling what you need each time - it uses the same energy either way.

One bonkers tip I saw on FB was to use a power bank to charge your phone 'as you get four charges out of it!' But you have to use four charges' worth of energy to charge it in the first place (and charging a phone takes negligible power anyway) so you don't save anything unless you are charging it somewhere else.

Fajitas in air fryer is just how you would make it normal way. Just put the chicken and seasoning in and cook it, and do any veg in there too.

@Decafflatteplease exact same way I would in a pan, chopped chicken breast, onion mushrooms and peppers - make the Cajun spices and mix with a spoon of olive oil, cost the chicken. Then I do the chicken for 5 mins at 180 to seal then add the chopped vegetables, shake. Reduce to 160 degrees and leave for 15 mins shake once or twice, while I do the sauces (salsa and guacamole) and grated cheese.

fold the wraps into quarters and wrap in foil and put in for 2 mins at the end to warm them through, serve from the foil on the table with the filling all in a bowl. Serves the 4 of us fine (granted we are 2 adults and 2 littles)

Possibly not kind to mention but I have been giggling trying to imagine an Air Friar!! May be a typo - one of the funniest I have seen!

A PP hit the nail on the head.

The people that can afford the initial outlay of XYZ aren't the people who are going to be most affected by the increase in CoL.

That said, I am seriously considering find the money for a heated throw / blanket, where is the thread on this?? (I can't find it)

I think that air friars have a place for some foods, but people who say they never use their oven and only ever use an air friar clearly only ever eat junk food

really? You can cook just about anything in an air fryer from cheese on toast to baked potatoes. You can do a full chicken in one if you have a big one. I use mine mainly for meat which I eat with salad or vegetables. We don’t do many carbs in our house due to both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Is that junk?

We have the Corsori one it's been amazing we've made meatballs, koftas spring rolls sausage rolls quiche onion rings (all from scratch) plus jacket pots salt and pepper chips plus muffins and these cookies www.supergoldenbakes.com/air-fryer-cookies/ that are delicious and like Ben’s cookies 🍪

thestarsdontshine I'm looking at that one

I think that air friars have a place for some foods, but people who say they never use their oven and only ever use an air friar clearly only ever eat junk food.

An air-fryer is essentially a small fan oven - you can cook almost anything in it that you'd normally use the oven for, as long as it fits.

I read suggestions on how to save money from actually poor people, not middle-class mums who are playing at this.
Moneysavingexpert forums are far better for people who need real practical advice.

@antelopevalley bit presumptuous to assume that everyone on here is a middle class poor-person fetishist “playing” at saving money. You don’t know anything about other people’s lives.

I got a 17 L air frier for 35£. Hope it will pay off!

I’m at the tail end of an Australian winter here that’s been surprisingly cold and I swear by my Oodie and heated throw. Especially as DH and I seem to have totally different internal temperatures so at this precise moment he is wearing shorts and t shirt and I’m in a jumper underneath the heated throw. But the heated throw has meant that we’ve barely had the heating on apart from the warm up a little in the mornings and kept it on at 15 when the nights were getting down to 6.
The Oodie is wonderful though, so cosy and lovely. Both kids and I wear them around the house and when the kids did “pyjama day” at school I reckon 80% were wearing one. Even the deputy head said he wished he’d come up with the idea of them!

I think the same about batch cooking which is often recommended
Yes per portion its better value but you need
-enough money to bulk buy ingredients

• enough space to store said ingredients
• various "store cupboard" ingredients
• suitable pans etc and fuel to cook the food in the first instance
• various containers to store the food In portions
• storage space in a fridge or freezer

And growing your own veg is also not super economical either

Oh and we’re not poor, but equally I don’t want to waste money on energy that just disappears into thin air.

I agree. I think often things only return over a very long period, which is fine if you can afford to wait for the return but if you are low income your concern is immediate costs.

Buying in bulk is one of those things that infuriate me because it's just another way that rich people get to stay rich - they have the money for the outlay up front. They have the space to store all the bulk buying. And so they genuinely do save 30% or whatever it is on many many items that the rest of us simply can't.

I know a woman who is always extolling the virtues of her meat box man. It really is MASSIVELY cheaper. So I looked into it - he only sells a minimum of a full box at a time - which I think is something like 5kg. So 5kg of chicken breasts or steak or whatever. I can't afford that, even at an excellent £/kg price, nor can I store it (unless I wanted to eat only chicken breasts for the next 2 months). Similarly, she buys all drinks in bulk but has an entire bloody STORAGE room in her mansion house. I can just about fit 6 cans of coke, 6 beers and 6 fruit shoots in my fridge and we have no additional storage space.

I agree with you op. I'm sure a heated throw is nice but really sitting with any blanket or duvet over you keeps you warm. I've didn't have central heating as a kid and as an adult we've done up a couple of old houses and lived in them over winter with no heating. It's not horrendous. Even if your curtains aren't thermal, closing them at dusk traps heat in. Wearing socks in bed, having an extra blanket etc all help.

Is this one of those situations where you can really benefit from a lower fat/oil usage? Because I'm getting an air fryer partly to cook things like chicken nuggets/breasts/chips/sausages for fussy DD and partly to potential reduce the amount of fat I use by cooking on the stove top. So your example is interesting to me - I do fajitas on the stove usually - but i involves a decent amount of oil to ensure they brown/cook nicely. I'm assuming you largely skip the oil or just add a tiny bit?

You only need a small amount of oil to air fry.

Crocheted granny square blankets. No electricity needed.