To not have an air fryer?

[wildfellhall]

I'm not convinced I need one but everyone seems to be so passionate about how great they are.

Are people just using them like a little oven do they don't have to heat the whole oven every time they want to cook something?

I can't work out what I am missing.

I haven't had a microwave for over 25 years, and don't even have a proper oven/hob combo. I have a mini oven on the worktop and a induction hob for 2 pans. I took the oven and hob out and put a worktop down instead.

I bought an air fryer because I was using the mini oven to cook small amounts so I can do most things for two of us in the air fryer in half the time.

I use the mini oven now to cook bread, pizza, and the odd quiche or if I'm doing 6 pasties in one go.

Otherwise pretty much everything else is done in the air fryer.

After work when I need to get food done quickly it’s incredible. I’m so pleased with mine.

For us it's hard to say as at about the same time we got an air fryer we also replaced our very old fridge freezer with a new energy efficient one.

However, it stands to reason that something with a much lower power rating that's on for a shorter amount of time will save electricity. As for how much will depend on how often you use it, but it's entirely possible that an air fryer could pay for itself in a few months at most.

They're also much cheaper to buy. When we redid our kitchen around 7 years ago, we got two built in ovens so could oven and grill at the same time and to provide more capacity eg at Christmas.

These days we'd never need two ovens so could replace a £400 oven with a £50-100 air fryer. For anyone who only ever cooks for 1-2 people they could probably manage entirely without a full oven at all, which would have great advantage to people in smaller homes, just starting out etc.

I'm very impressed by these descriptions of how people use them.

We are mixed house of meat and veggie people so the washing up of any meat cooking dishes is grim.

Are they easy to wash up?

Heating cold pasties, warming bread rolls and croissants, cooking bacon and sausages, jacket potatoes, roasted salmon, fish, scampi, wedges, roasted vegetables...just for starters. They are incredibly useful. I don't eat fried food either or cook pasta in mine and it's still used daily.

We sold ours as food was better and tastier cooked in our standard oven.
We have a new oven with separate cooking zones and programmes. It’s very efficient and doesn’t need preheating. It’s built in at eye level and doesn’t take up counter space.

Our Ninja air fryer was massive and ugly. The drawers were a pain to clean and theoretically not dishwasher proof.
We didn’t notice any difference in the electric bill either

We haven’t got one but we do have a fancy combination microwave that does pretty much the same thing. We aren’t oven centric with our cooking so I don’t think I’m missing anything.

So the typical cost of a electric oven per hour is about 85p an air fryer is typically around 19-21p an hour (depends on the power of the model). But because its shorter to cook a meal in the air fryer then the oven and no preheating there is additional savings there too.

Best comparison is on a roast chicken in my air fryer it takes 35 mins including the potatoes so energy cost about 40p. In the oven its about 1 hour 20 plus 20 minutes heating time so £1.41.

We have found our energy consumption drop and saving about £25 a month on our electricity so about £100 a quarter.
But we used to use our oven a lot!

We have a small air fryer. Very good for quick lunch for 1 or 2

I like that it's so quick. I can heat a vegetable burrito in 5 mins

I felt the same as you, op. Many friends horrified that I didn’t have one. Unfortunately our oven packed in recently. We’re due to replace our kitchen within the next 6 months so don’t really want to buy a new oven just now. I bought an air fryer to tide us over and, I have to say, I’m massively underwhelmed by it. We’ve used it once. I just don’t get the hype.

I’m on the fence too, all my friends and family have them and think they are great but we don’t have children and don’t eat freezer food like chicken nuggets and fish fingers, also I don’t like potato wedges (which according to my friends is one of the best things about them ) I mainly make one pot foods, risotto and French/Italian based foods plus roasts and steak with sauces so I’m not sure if you can do all that in one, I do have a slow cooker though which I love and couldn’t be without so maybe if you can cook all the above in one I could borrow a family members to try it out ??

I'd be underwhelmed as well if it was just sat there like an ornament.

Get some cheese toasties on the go!

You can have mine , OP. We bought it after reading the endless enthusiasm…..we’ve used it twice ( and I’m trying to give it away.)

We have had a Panasonic combi microwave since they came out about forty years ago ( not the same one, obviously) and we couldn’t see any advantages in the air fryer. It’s actually slower than Gaston the combi, and everything cooks in the same way, whereas I can grill, roast, bake and microwave on different settings in the same fixture.

( I don’t think the frying is as good as thé deep fat fryer, either, really).

I don't understand what they'd do that my oven and microwave can't do. My microwave has an oven setting.

But I also don't understand people who rave about slow cookers.

I don't really understand the fuss. My mum says she hardly uses the oven now, but it means she's got this whacking great big air fryer on the side and then the oven taking up another chunk of space and not being used. I've never had an issue with pre-heating the oven, or chips taking 25 mins instead of 15. Nothing against them! I just personally don't see the need.

I don't get it either, my oven takes about 3 mins to get to temperature. And it's already there and built in. An air fryer might be a nice extra, but I will only consider one when they start to sell integrated versions. I like a clear worktop, we have a boiling water tap to remove the need for a kettle, and the world's smallest toaster which sits in a drawer when not needed.

Finally bought one last week.

We didn’t really see the attraction but then like sheep, gave in.

We’re very impressed. We managed to cook a piece of pork in it and the crackling was the best, and in less than an hour.

Sausages and bacon cooked really quickly, carrots, parsnips and onions tasted great.

I have made a giant cookie in mine once , I have a teenager so lots of chicken strips , cooked frozen kebab meat in it the other day .

nothing you cook in it can’t be cooked in the oven but it is convenient .i do use paper liners too makes washing up a breeze

I think that if you already have a small oven on the form of a combi microwave then they are pretty much pointless. All they are is a small fan oven after all.

and no frying is as good as a deep fat fryer!

Best thing, it didn’t heat up the kitchen like using the oven does.

I think it depends how you cook/eat. We looked at getting one but couldn't see how it would be helpful for us (we made the same assessment for slow cookers, which lots of people also love!).

We don't put the oven on just to heat up some chips. If the oven is on, it tends to be filled up. I can't see how cooking as we do translates well to an air fryer and we would value the space on the worktop more than the very occasional convenience.

I was totally unenthusiastic but got one for my child who has sn as they are easier to learn how to use. I’m a fairly good cook and think what put me off was the “fryer” in the name, because that’s not really something I’d find useful. How wrong could I be! Fantastic little gadget. Just a really hot shoe box of an oven with a timer. Brilliant for sausages and roast veg, brilliant to drop the roast potatoes in to boost the crispness while you make gravy, brilliant for teenagers fishfinger habit, brilliant for toasting nuts ….I’d buy another if it broke.

I love my airfryer. It's a tiny little £30 one and is great for quick lunches. I don't see the point in the massive expensive ones, might as well just use the oven.

The one we have has a drawer and crisp plate you can just bung in the dishwasher. Super easy. Many of them do, you just have to check carefully, read the descriptions etc.

Sounds like me. I have actually used one frequently over the last few months recently when staying with someone and I am underwhelmed. However, If I had previously used the oven a lot and didn’t have a combination microwave I would probably feel differently.