My energy bill will still quadruple even if I put a jumper on?

[verdantverdure]

AIBU to think that even if I participate in this weird new “wear warm clothes in wintertime” trend, shut doors, buy draught excluders, buy Oodies, buy thermal curtains, and buy a £300 air fryer my energy bill will still quadruple.

Especially as most people wete already doing all or some of that.

Nothing short of turning the heating off is going to make much difference is it?

(Although of course I'm trying.)

After all, the money saving expert himself, Martin Lewis, says this isn’t something individuals can fix on their own , and it would be pretty arrogant to think I know better than him.

The "Put a jumper on" advice doesn't help British businesses at all does it?

What do you think?

I'll still get billed for it though so it won't be happening. Thankfully I'm on a fixed tariff (and yes, I do know I have to pay for what I use) so this winter won't hit too hard.

We've had a new radiator fitted in the living room as the original one is behind the dining table and sofa (no other way to rearrange the furniture) so it was wasting heat. We could turn it up to 23 or 24 and the room was still cold. Fingers crossed we'll be hearing the room rather than the furniture now! There really isn't a lot else we can do.

I did not know this, but I hope the people on the relevant benefits do.

The first few air fryers I looked at didn't seem aimed at families so I searched and found one that would do 6 portions it said, but it was £300. I don't think they are for me. I got the impression that they were a substitute for an oven but I don't think I can do lasagne or shepherd pie etc in them.

I'm looking into getting an Air Fryer, I have been thinking about it for a while but only now looking properly. I'm thinking of this one, which is bigger and I have enough Nectar points to get it.

www.argos.co.uk/product/8963857?clickSR=slp:term:instant%20air:5:415:1

verd There is an app that goes with it called Instant Pot, may be worth a download to look for recipes, there is definitely a shepherd's pie one as I have already found it, though haven't actually looked in detail at it.

Aldi apparently have a couple in their middle aisle at the moment, the one is a fryer and pressure cooker and is less than £100.

Trying to save energy can work out expensive though it seems.

Thinking allowed here: I often use my fan oven, according to my smart meter I use 1.3kwh cooking when I do, at 52p/kwh assuming four times a week that works out at £140 a year. Assuming air fryer halves my cost (not sure where I got that idea from) I'd save £70 a year.

I think it would have to be a very cheap one to be worth it.

aloud.

Bloody brain, always malfunctioning.

That’s not really what they’re best for (although I suppose you could do those things in them). I have a halogen oven, and I use it when I want to cook things that cook quickly, like say pork chops or oven chips. It’s almost like an oven+grill (but it doesn’t burn things like the grill would) or a couple of baked potatoes. It uses less energy in part because it’s smaller, so it’s best used when the whole oven would be a waste, or you want things a bit caramelised or crispy (I think you can bake in it, it’s just not it’s primary feature) but things do cook quicker as well. I think the air fryer is similar. They cook quickly, so play to their strengths. Things like sausages are much quicker in it.

in fairness the only things that didn’t cook well enough were pizza and Yorkshire pudding. They need bottom heat and the halogen heats from the top.

I got the impression that they were a substitute for an oven but I don't think I can do lasagne or shepherd pie etc in them.

Yes, I think that's right although I don't know about larger air fryers but they're generally too small or the wrong shape for those foods, also pizza. It's also quite hard to get things like that out of the top loading design.

Ours is just about as small and cheap as you can get (under £50 from Costco) and I just managed to get a 2 person M&S lasagne in it yesterday with a flatbread thing balanced on top for the last few minutes.

It was cheaper than the oven as it was on a shorter time than the instructions at a lower temperature, and the power rating is half the oven anyway.

But I often do things like marinaded chicken or paneer in there, roast vegetables, wedges, all sorts. I think they might be a bigger saver for 1 to 2 person households or if you have people cooking separately.

Another advantage is that they turn off the heat at the end of the set time so you don't have to check things straight away, to avoid things burning or wasting energy.

Ours has a 6 minute bacon setting which is useful for far more than bacon, like reheating a slice of pizza.

You just put it in, press the bacon button and wander off. After 6 minutes it beeps and turns the heat off so your food stays warm but doesn't need checking immediately like an oven would.

Yes, I think that's right although I don't know about larger air fryers but they're generally too small or the wrong shape for those foods

Why does it matter what shape your shepherd’s pie or lasagne is?

Without derailing can anyone recommend a airfryer recipe book? I have ninja 2 drawer but struggling to get a good recipe book

Well of course it doesn't but the reality is that people cooking these items for a family tend to use a vessel with at least one dimension larger than the internals of most air fryers.

Disclaimer, I know ours is small and you can get larger ones but at some point you probably might as well just use the oven you already have.

Why do you need a special recipe book?

Don't you just use the same recipes as you would for the oven and just be careful with the temperature and timings until you know how it behaves.

I read somewhere that it will cost 88p to do 2 slices of toast??? I have just cooked a full breakfast using grill microwave toaster and hob and the total of electricity (including background electricity for fridge, freezer etc.) was 11p. I know the price of electricity is rising so will be more later in year but not 88p for two slices of toast. I think there is a lot of scaremongering going on at the moment. I survived living in a house that only had a coal fire in one room. (sometimes we didnt even have coal for that and ended up burning anything we could find. This was in the 50s) We wore jumpers and thick clothes (not t shirts) in the winter. I didnt die of hypothermia despite the bedrooms being really freezing cold, with ice on the inside of the windows.

I read somewhere that it will cost 88p to do 2 slices of toast

Well that's wrong.

A toaster is 1000 watts. So it would cost 52p an hour to run a toaster.

How do these people like their toast?

I didnt die of hypothermia despite the bedrooms being really freezing cold, with ice on the inside of the windows

Yes, that's definitely wrong.

Just because someone wrote it, doesn't make it so.

We wore jumpers and thick clothes (not t shirts) in the winter. I didnt die of hypothermia despite the bedrooms being really freezing cold, with ice on the inside of the windows.

As someone on twitter pointed out, people like this are about to find out difference between young and strong immunity system and immunity system of an older person...

Also, it's 2022, if this is to thrive for... God help you all

I can remember my DM being so pleased when us DC had houses with central heating as we could then use the whole house all year round instead of being basically restricted to one room for the winter.

To be fair nowadays (DC are adults) we don't tend to have heat on in the bedrooms, but I do heat and ventilate the bathrooms as I don't want the house to get damp.

The main agenda I think is to restrict people's usage in order to achieve climate targets, the prices might drop a bit but they are never going back to what we were paying. And none of the price per barrel should have much impact on standing charges but they've gone up as well. Businesses are going to wall all over. The ones that survived lock down are now faced with this. Life is going to look very different when the pubs/restaurants/take-aways/libraries etc are shut as well as workplaces and restrictions/costs of travel to get anywhere.

We should have done something about energy in this country years ago, to be self sufficient. But political parties squabbled and and no one took decisions. Hence we’re in this mess.
Stable door, horse bolted.

there is no good valid reason why the UK should not be self sufficient in energy
we have oil and gas in the North sea, oil in Shetland, coal in many places, there is abundant wind and enough sun for some solar, we have nuclear that could be renewed and replaced, we have hydroelectric power in Scotland and there is enough energy from tidal power for the whole country

It is lack of forward planning, we should stop importing things we can be self sufficient in and not offload our problems to the third world like recycling and waste and then pinching their nurses doctors engineers and teachers they desparately need themselves instead of training enough ourselves , the whole thing from soical care to climate energy etc is a shambles because all political parties refuse to think further ahead than next election so sensible energy transport social care plans never really happen

The main agenda I think is to restrict people's usage in order to achieve climate targets, the prices might drop a bit but they are never going back to what we were paying. And none of the price per barrel should have much impact on standing charges but they've gone up as well.
Standing charges seem backwards if that is the aim. Should scrap them and introduce levels of pricing, first x kwh for a lower price (plus extra if elderly or disabled). Stop the rich from wasting energy on their hot tubs.

There would be more incentive to cut usage without standing charges

Agreed, but if the best time to make our country energy independent was yesterday, then the second best time is today.

We have all the resources to be self sufficient, as listed a few posts above.
The can was kicked down the road continuously by successive governments.