to consider an airfryer for teenage snacks

[babystep]

We're a family of five with a not-massive kitchen (it's not poky but surface and storage space pretty full). Have sometimes been tempted by an airfryer but felt that one big enough to feed us all would be too big for the kitchen.

Eldest is nearly 13, always after a snack especially after school and after sports on weekends (random timings so not always near a meal when he gets nack from a match). Middle is not far behind in age and a massive grazer anyway. Currently they resort to toast and cereal, plus toasties and somtimes yogurt but too often sweets too so am trying to give them healthier options (as well as stopping having too many sweet bits in house)

I've heard people talking positively about air fryers to quickly cook single chicken fillets, reheat leftovers, other quick but interesting snack options. I'm often WFH in this snacking time of day so I can be there to half supervise or to point them towards stuff, but ideally want them to be getting it on their own without me.

People with airfyers and teenagers, do you find they are useful for this sort of thing? I'm thinking we wouldn't need something massive if it was just for one or two snacks? Or should I just stop being swayed by trends and make them use the oven/microwave?

(secret sub question, should I actually just get a big airfryer cos if I'm gonna have one I may as well have one we could use for a bigger meal option?)

Get a double drawer one. If nothing else, they mean nobody is going to forget to switch the oven off - or that they've got some nuggets in there and burn them to a crisp & setting the smoke alarm off at silly o'clock.

I think a small one is perfect for the kids. Saves so much mess.
With 5 I wouldn't bother. Just turn the oven on.

Mines been amazing. As they got older they often aren't all at home at the same time so heating leftovers or a quick dive into a frozen item without heating the whole oven has been a godsend. It's brought our electric bill down as I rarely use the oven. Large family meals are still best cooked in oven as doing things of larger amounts can actually use quite a lot of electric as they aren't as efficient for very large portions.

I have a Tefal duo. 8l I think for four adults.
It's brilliant.We bought it on an amazon deal day at Easter.
I'm disabled so it's great for not having to bend down.
Quick to clean and cheap to run.

Just go straight for the Ninja Dual if you can afford it.

We had a cheap one first but it was too annoying to clean and it killed itself - probably from getting grease up in the heating element or something because of inadequate cleaning. I was going to send it back to the manufacturer because they said they would look at it, but DH insisted it wasn't worth the postage.

The Dual one works even if one basket is in the dishwasher, and two people can use it at once to cook different things, so it's perfect. It doesn't do much in the way of a full family meal - you could do a side dish in it, or something like the filling for fajitas, or roast some veg for a pasta sauce, that kind of thing. I have heard of people roasting chickens in them but I am sceptical so we tend to do that in the oven still. But it makes lovely roast chicken legs and potatoes!

Yes, totally agree with this. It's much cheaper compared to heating up the entire oven for six nuggets and a handful of frozen chips!

I'd get a big I if I was you. They are great - we use our all the time now - more than the oven. It is quick to heat up, cooks quickly and gets things nice and crispy.

Fab for hot snacks. Beige freezer food, slices cut off off a larger pizza, toasties, even poached eggs in ramekins, bacon, sausages, warming a pie. I buy paper liners as ours isn't dishwasher-friendly.

We only have a small cheap circular one but my friend swears by her 2 drawer ninja.

Dh bought a big one; we used it once, beyond useless for a family of 5 and we passed it on to a family of 3 (who also don’t really use it 😂), such a huge waste of money for us.
i think you’d be better off either cooking a load of chicken breasts in the oven (is a chicken breast a snack or would the plan be to do something with it?!) or just let them continue cracking on with some toast or something.
When I wfh I tend to make a snack plate for ds when he gets home, it’s a nice pause for me too before cracking on for the last bit of work time and I can make them nice and healthy.
I really don’t get their purpose at all if you have an oven already, just an extra thing to clutter up the sides imo!

Bloody love ours (ninja dual drawer job) for snacks - the latest favourite is roasted veg with fajita seasoning, then stuffed in a wrap. Takes 12 minutes plus a few minutes to chop the veg small enough.

We use it so much we ditched the oven when the kitchen was done, and got another air fryer (the instant pot duo thing, has the pressure cooker lid as well as the airfryer lid), and between the two we can make meals for two, (as there is only two of us) with enough left over for the next day, or batch cook and freeze.

I would go for a two drawer if you can as it will be much more versatile. My teens use ours most days.

We are a family of 5 and have a double drawer air fryer and use it a lot. Tonight I cooked sausages in it (a lot less mess than a frying pan or grill).
Yesterday I cooked breaded salmon (saved putting the oven on).

The kids tend to use it for lunches rather than snacks. It great for heating up things like sausage rolls, steak bakes, leftover pizza, samosas, chicken drumsticks, mini sausages, frozen jacket potatoes. I feel happy letting the kids cook in it as I know they can’t leave it on and forget and burn things.

DD also uses the panini maker a lot as well though for toasted sandwiches and wraps.

@babystep £159.99 Amazon prime

great price Ninja dual, pretty copper

I held off buying one, thinking it would be one more "thing" to clutter kitchen. I then won Ninja dual drawer in a raffle. Flippin amazing!! Use it several times a day, oven hardly on now. Much less faff & no grill smell. 👏🏻👏🏻

We had a new kitchen fitted in April with a fancy new pyrolytic oven. We’ve switched it on four times because we do everything in the airfryer.

DP has recently discovered that you can roast a chicken in there, and that it comes out BETTER than if you did it in the oven.

I don’t see the point in having a dual drawer ninja if you aren’t cooking whole meals in it.
i held off buying one thought I’d never use it but we use it almost every day oven is hardly ever on now. It is so easy to cook the bulk on a meal in it. It does take a while to get over the only using it for freezer food thing but once you do there is so much you can put in it. Dd says she prefers a chicken in the ninja over one in the oven.

Sorry to hijack slightly but can I ask an airfryer question? Do they get hot at all and is it possible to burn yourself using one? Got a relative who’s developed some anxiety issues around cooking and a fear of hurting themselves. I’ve been wondering if an airfryer might be a good solution for them, but I’be never used one.

Small airfryer is great for one person doing snacks. You can buy second hand on Facebook marketplace for about £10-15

I didn't think we would use it much but we use ours all the time. And yes, we have roasted a whole chicken and yes, it was amazing. It's so easy for cooking the kids foods but we use it for roasting veg and cooking sausages. All sorts. We have the ninja dual and like others have said, our oven is barely on.
And the question asked if it's hot to use, the baskets can get hot but the handle is super sturdy so you'd have to carrying it pretty cack handed to touch the hot bit.

I got one in Covid times for 3 teens not expecting to really use it much. My stipulation at the time was basket had to be dishwasher proof & big enough to cook a full portion of 'something' for a family meal - so a portion of potatoes/veggies/yorkshire puds for 5. It's now by far and away the most used thing in our kitchen. So much quicker than oven/grill. Teens constantly use it for snacks. I use it for one element of a family meal with the hob. One of the teens is veggie in our house so airfryer only cooks veggie stuff. If this one dies I'd defo immediately replace with a 2 drawerer - one veggie tray one regular one. I think it would really work for you.

I have 3 airfryers. Nah e the ninja 11 in 1 which I'm I use to cook whole chickens and pressure cook food.

I have the health frill which is used every day and I have the flex drawer which is at the caravan.

The flex drawer can be used as two separate drawers or you can take the divider out and use it as one big drawer. If you think you might want to use it for family meals as well as single portions, this would be ideal.

What's there to be sceptical about - you put the chicken in, cook it, it's done quicker, is crispy and moist, automatically synced to finish at the same time as the roast veg/potatoes/whatever and no bending down to lift a tray out of an oven?

Air fryer is a good idea!
My teens also like an easy egg wrap that they make. Whisky up two eggs and season.Melt a bit of butter on a pancake pan and when it's melted pour the egg on so it covers the base. Immediately lay a wrap/fajita on the egg. After a few minutes flip it over so the egg is on the inside. Fill with grated cheese and ham and a few fresh herbs and flip half over so it looks like a folded pancake with the filling inside. Cook for a few mins on lowish then flip to do the other side. Our gardener loves this too, I always make one for him when he comes!

Buy a Crimpet if you get an air fryer. They're perfect for snacks if they like toasters. They do wrap versions as well.