Will an air fryer help my elderly mum ?

[ooooohnoooooo]

Posting here for traffic (sorry)

My mum is mid 80s and lives alone, miles away. She's pretty independent and likes decent food but is increasingly struggling and using ready meals and stuff we batch cook for her. She's getting more clumsy too. I'm worried for her cooking safety.

Her oven is dangerous and low down - it has a massive heavy shelf that tips up and she can't bend easily.

I'm thinking of getting her a simple air fryer. I don't have one, so know nothing, have googled but still confused

Can anyone advise plse of a model that is

• easy to use (dials instead of electronic display?)
• easy to clean or dishwasher safe
• that can fit a ready meal - and that you can get it out safely when hot. I've seen videos where people create a silver foil sling thing but can't imagine she'd manage that faff.

Thanks vipers (especially the air frying ones 😬).

Any other hints or tips to help keep my mum happy and safe at home are also welcome.

Elderly parents, such a worry 😔

I got this one for my elderly DM. Thought shelves would be better than a drawer for ready meals. Also has simple dials rather than digital controls. She has managed really well with it (and doesn’t really do technology)

Something like this is a great solution
www.robertdyas.co.uk/daewoo-12l-electric-oven?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=17724362627&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAACf0mw0PPrFhIdtmXdZabkLOP5lM8&gclid=CjwKCAjw_4S3BhAAEiwA_64YhhAZVsa3mgQm-ACI8HZ8KlqUFbVTkFRw-p-Fv2C8hDOBrO4PU_ou8xoCCXwQAvD_BwE

You can now buy microwave and air fryer combos which sound a good idea. You can cook very simple things in air fryer such as a piece of chicken or fish with potatoes rather than always having ready meals.
I've never heard before that oven ready meals are less salty than microwave ones.

Check the ninja 12-1 models. They are great and time saving. She can do everything at once then.

I think a lot if the ready stuff she has is oven only - like Charlie Bingham fish pie, which she serves with fresh veg.

These need an oven not a microwave.

CBS are fine in an airfryer, as are all other ready meals.

If you can cook it or heat it up in an oven, you can cook it or heat it in an airfryer.

I just cook for myself. I rarely use my oven now - everything goes in the airfryer - except veg. I boil veg.

They are easy to use and easy to clean - can go in the dishwasher. Also much cheaper to use as no pre-heating the oven, and you're heating a much smaller space.

And you don't get that soggy pastry thing you get in a MW.

What about a combo microwave/oven/grill?

Take care when selecting an air drier. I selected dishwasher safe air drier parts as a search term on Which? There weren’t many. We bought a Ninja but it doesn’t have dials
We use it as a mini oven, it’s really good but I haven’t mastered cakes yet. .

Another vote for a tabletop oven ! You could also keep a look out in Aldi and Lidl as they're becoming so popular they'll pop up there too (and you get a 3yr warranty, which is rare now).

Another thing my mum finds useful is her hot water dispenser. She was struggling to lift the kettle and it felt unsafe lifting boiling water... So she has this
breville thing where you pour in cold water, she uses a light jug,and it dispenses one cup at a time of boiling water. Might not be right for Op's mum as she mentions teapot,but is so so useful for my mum. And £40 ish so nothing as expensive as Quooker taps or similar.

Get her somebody to come in twice a week, to cook and clean twice a week.

A halogen oven is what you need , about £35 and you can cook anything in it .

Agreed. Really depends on her cognitive skills and agility.

A small oven - would be safer all round.

I agree, Air Fryers can be great for older people, but if your Mum has started to struggle with e.g. mental arithmetic it could be tricky as air fryers cook faster than normal ovens and you have to subtract 10-30% of the cooking time, depending on the food and your own air fryer. It takes experimentation to get it right!

A mini oven (they call them Toaster Ovens in the US) that a pp suggested sounds ideal as it is front opening, operates more like the oven she's used to and will be around the same price as an air fryer.

I would get her one of the air fryers that’s more like a toaster oven than a pull out one. It would be more familiar to her style of cooking, and can sit nicely on her bench top. Pretty sure you can get some pretty small ones.

Option

These look great

This gets good reviews on Amazon too
Tower T17038 Xpress 5-in-1 Manual Air Fryer Oven with Rapid Air Circulation, 60-Minute Timer, 11L, 2000W, Black
Plenty out there. Would probably go for fewer functions rather than more.

Which recommend the Morphy RichardsKR-F20RL-E1DKH. It also has rotary controls and is much more like a traditional oven than an air fryer

My Ninja double air fryer is a life saver for me with health issues I have, but I wouldn’t recommend that model for an elderly person not used to them. It can be fiddly to remove food using silicon utensils and it’s crazy hot inside, so there’s a burn risk there. Also if you put them in the dishwasher it can damage the surface so not recommended.

Hope this helps if only to eliminate this one.

Another vote for @YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan 's Tower Air Fryer/Oven. DM is 78 with mobility limitations. She has simply never looked back after getting one of these. It's just like a mini table top oven and perfect for meals for one. She does everything in it, from pork chops and potatoes to scones. She was staying with me last week and cooked us a roast. She had forgotten what a ball-ache it is to have to bend down to get stuff in and out of the oven.

I agree that a mini table top oven or an air fryer with a door would be better than a "traditional" drawer based air fryer.

I've lost count of the amount of times I've nearly burned myself trying to get something out of mine.

An air fryer is literally a small oven!

Came back to add, we also use the top of our mini oven to warm the plates!

Maybe a microwave combi oven would be better?

We use the combination microwave most of the time instead of the oven, so haven't seen the need to get an air fryer

I probably wouldn’t recommend the halogen oven unless she’s quite strong. They’re a bit hard to get the lid properly clean too.

A microwave is the best option for people in your mums situation as less likely to be burnt. Air fryers are only mini ovens so they come with all the same risks except bending. If you do go down this route choose one that has pull out shelves rather than picking up from inside (mine is the latter)