To buy an air fryer instead of a new oven?

[Alanisadick]

You may remember my previous thread about how my dick cat, Alan, and his equally useless sister had caused a mouse infestation in the kitchen.

The good news is that KM (kitchen mouse) is dead. Alan took great pleasure in murdering it on my bedroom carpet a few nights ago, before immediately jumping onto my bed for a snuggle (thankfully leaving the mouse on the carpet), like a proper little psycho. The reason I know that it was KM and not some other random rodent, is because there were clear signs of a struggle in the kitchen when I went down. And since then I haven’t heard a mouse or seen any evidence of one in the kitchen, so I’m hoping KM was a Lone Ranger.

The bad news is that during KM’s glorious reign in the kitchen, it must have gnawed through whatever makes the bottom oven work, because now it doesn’t. So now I have a top oven, which is a lot smaller, and that’s it. That’s sad for the DC because they do like a roast dinner, and I haven’t been able to cook one for months.

I’m wondering if I could manage with an air fryer and the small top oven? I don’t know much about them, even though I used to own one. My DM bought me one a few years back, but I never really understood what I could do with it, so it sat on the worktop until one day a large jar of mushrooms crashed down from the top of the fridge and completely smashed the lid, so I binned it. Would I be able to cook a roast (for 3/4 people depending on whether we have a guest) with just the air fryer and small top oven?

Funds are limited so am I better investing in a new oven or joining the air fryer movement?

Well. I havent used my oven since I got a Ninja. Maybe not cook a whole chicken cause the heater is too close to the top of the bird but you can portion the bird up.
It's about 20 degrees hotter then even a fan oven, doesn't need preheating and is deffo quicker. I'd say go for it.

I'm with Sarahzb, I haven't used my oven (apart from DS cooking a pizza) since I bought an air fryer a few weeks ago.

You have solved a mystery for me!!!!!
experimenting with mine the chicken was burnt on top even though I was only cooking at 180 for much less time.

Am going to try pizza today as will be coming back from a cold sport -will cut it up to fit but what temp time recommended?

Heheheheheh

I frazzled my pizza. Much less than you think. You can always lift the lid and look

If you’re going to get one, get one with dual drawers. No point otherwise!

Can do a medium chicken in one drawer, roast potatoes in the other and synch them to finish at the same time. 3 minutes before the end of cooking time, chuck in frozen Yorkshire puddings. Veg gets done on the hob. 50 minutes for chicken in air fryer rather than 1 hour 45 minutes in oven. Less mess to clean than when done in oven. And best chicken ever, way more moist and succulent.

best advice at 3am -Mumsnet at its best 😁😁
just saw another thread where OP was reminiscing about ‘the good old days of 1950’ couldn’t have got this then!!! Thanks @Sarahzb 😁😁

Well if you can find one. I’ve got the Ninja duo on order but have just been told it will probably be around 4 month wait.

Get your oven checked out. It could be unsafe/fire hazard.

KM probably gnawed through an electric wire. Get an electrician in to repair it and your oven will work.

I've just done this as main oven convection broke so am reliant on smaller grill oven. Too early to report on success or otherwise. I got a Ninja 14-in-1 not a Duo, so going to have to see if it works out without two drawers.

The advantage of the 14-in-1 is versatility as you'd expect and I was persuaded this is more useful than 2 drawers, mainly because I will continue to use my slow cooker a lot (eg casserole or ham in slow cooker, sizzle up potato wedges in airfryer, and veg on hob).

What persuaded me to go this route was:

• family of 4, DH and I often eat later than the kids due to clubs/long working hours. We tend to eat in the kitchen so if I don't perfectly time everything, kids are used to one essential part of the meal arriving on the plate several minutes late.

I have done only one roast in it so far: 1.5kg took 50 mins and plenty of space to spare whilst cooking so next time will try a bigger one. While chicken rested, I blasted the stuffing balls and Aunt Bessies (another time I'll do home-made Yorkshire puds but cheated this time due to nerves about getting everything to work). We always have boiled potatoes and steamed veg on the hob anyway. We don't really wat roast potatoes but I think with practice I think I could do stuffing and roasties ahead of time and then just blast them to get up at the end? Going to research this. The HUGE downside was the chicken obviously doesnt let off as much liquid in an airfryer so I had to fall back to mostly-instant gravy. But there are other recipes where you use the combi-steam function to cook the chicken then sizzle it at the end which look promising.

Am cooking Christmas dinner for 8 this year so I'm wondering how that's going to work out. Might be tricky!

Get an electrician to fix it, it will be cheaper. I’ve not had an oven for 4 years. Have used a mix of microwave, slow cooker and air fryer in that time. Am about to get a new kitchen and am getting an oven solely due to feeling societal expectation that there should be an oven especially if I sell the house in the next few years. My mum has been aghast at my lack of oven.

Sorry but it's never just one mouse.

Get an electrician to fix it but also get an air fryer if funds allow!

I’ve got a ninja 400 dual. I can (and have done 3 times) cook a medium chicken in one side and have done roasties in the other side.

I’ve not used my oven since I got it.

Slow cooker to cook a while chicken, top oven for Yorkshire puds and air dryer for roast potatoes. Thers s only 3 of us so only have a one drawer air fryer

I think the trouble is an air fryer big enough to do a roast in will likely be expensive. It could be cheaper to buy a new oven or get the old one repaired.

I have a smallish one. Next time will get a bigger one or two drawers. I agree re chicken burning at the top but last time I got a small one and flattened it a bit so was ok. Teenager uses it loads. I buy fresh pizza and slice it and then freeze and he can just put a couple slices in the air fryer. Cook it low to start with so top does not burn. I hardly used oven too now. I get liners for it too for most things except things that you need the fat to drain off like large chicken and some meats. Steak is so nice in it.

Sorry hit send too soon. You cooked cook the chicken and then just wrap in foil and put roasts in etc.

have bought a sacrificial pizza to slice and experiment with 😁
Pizza slice at 180 3 mins - top good but bottom soggy
then tried pre heating to 200 2 mins and bottom crispy top burnt
continuing to play with it..

JangolinaPitt. Have you tried the greaseproof liners help with getting bottom crisp.

Thanks for the responses. I did attempt to get an electrician to fix it but because it’s a gas oven electricians aren’t allowed to go near it. But I know it’s an electrical issue so I’m not sure what a plumber could do? Got a feeling I’d pay a plumber who would say I need an electrician who would say they can’t touch it because it’s gas…

Also how do you know how long to cook things in an air fryer? Obviously on packet instructions it just gives times for oven/grill etc, is there some kind of formula to work it out?

Also wouldn’t need to do the whole roast in the air fryer! I still have the small top oven so could do chicken in there, potatoes in the air fryer. My roasts aren’t very exciting, the only other things I cook in the oven are cauliflower cheese, pigs in blankets and some vegetarian sausages (for me). Potatoes would take the whole of the small oven though as I do a massive tray of them, dd1 is a potato fiend and she likes to have them to snack on for a couple of days.