Ooops, I missed seeing this thread hit, sorry for the delay in replying!
First of all thank you so much for the opportunity to try this - I honestly never in a million years would have spent £270 on one of these before but now I've had one I'd get one without hesitation, it's genuinely boggled my mind how much I've been able to do with it.
- What were your initial thoughts on the product (design, size, quality, documental guidance)?
Initially I was just agog at how massive it was. It looked shiny and very swish, although I found the help guide a bit sparse in terms of advice and info - more pictures would have been welcome and some of the recipes didn't make sense. Also, the first time I made chips I didn't know to put the paddle in (although I appreciate that might be user error at my end, maybe it was blindingly obvious to everyone else but I'd never used anything like this before and it didn't occur to me I'd need it).
- Did you use the recipe book or app and if so which recipes were your favourite?
We tried a lot of different things from the recipe book and the app. First up (and repeated regularly since) was fried chicken and chips which was a massive hit with everyone in the family (I was thrilled how much the DC loved the chips - no rubbish in them, virtually no oil, and they turned out brilliantly fluffy and delicious). The only thing that was a bit weird was the fact to make chicken and chips for a family of four we had to batch cook - so chicken first and then keep that warm in the oven while the chips cooked. We tried salt and pepper chicken (delicious), the chicken nuggets (big hit), aubergine with feta (which made my DH eat aubergine happily for the first time ever - no slimy veg here!) and the roast potatoes and roasted carrots which have completely changed our roast routine. No more parboiling now! I haven't tried anything sweet yet (we're on a bit of a health kick, another reason we were so happy to get this to try) but I've got my eye on a churros recipe I found on the Actifry Facebook group. I also found a recipe for roasted chickpeas on there - I'd been making them in the oven as a healthier snack to crisps and the faff of doing that had really put me off even though they were delicious. Now we're having paprika and honey roasted chickpeas a lot in the Actifry!
- Did you face any issues using the product or do you think anything could be improved?
I think the booklet could be better written - as well as some of the recipes being unclear I'd love a bit more info on the different settings and how to use them. The quick settings are fine but when you branch out into your own thing it's a bit trial and error - I'm hazy about whether the different settings are different temperatures etc and how to manually set it.
For me the main barrier to using it initially was feeling like everythnig took AAAGES because of having to batch cook it. Once I started doing one pot things I was happier but then I found out about the Actifry snack basket accessory and that cemented my love for it. We ordered one on Amazon for about £20 and suddenly we could cook chips/veg in the bottom and nuggets/chicken thighs/protein etc in the top. Not only was the food healthy but it was being cooked in less time than it would have normally. Total gamechanger for how I felt about it and, for me, the thing that moved the ActiFry from being a 'nice to have' gadget to something that's fast becoming a kitchen essential.
- What type of meals did you cook in your Actifry?
What surprised me was that while the roast potatoes, nuggets, chips and chicken were all solid family favourites, we're actually using it more as a midweek way of cooking for DH and I once the kids are in bed. Tonight I chucked cubed potatoes in the bottom of it for 20 minutes and have now put the snack basket with fresh chicken thighs sprinkled with a bit of paprika on the top and turned it on for 25 minutes while I sort bedtime. Dinner sorted with no fuss and virtually no intervention at all. Last night I chucked frozen mediterranean veg into the bottom and then put sliced lemon on the bottom of the snack basket and two salmon fillets in the top. Twenty minutes later DH and I both had crispy skinned salmon with veg. Virtually no washing up because everything goes into the dishwasher and I can chuck it in and leave it. It's meaning we're eating a lot more 'real' food during the week with minimal fuss and faff. I did get a bit obsessed with trying loads of different bits in it though. The only fail was broccoli. It went a bit acrid when deep fried. But at least I tried!
- Where did you store the product when you weren’t using it?
In our utility room. It's so massive it wouldn't fit on a worktop in our kitchen as a permanent home and we'd have to give up a cupboard for it virtually which just seemed impractical. Initially we thought we'd keep it in a plastic box in the garage, but it hasn't made it that far as we've used it at least every other night since it's arrived. It'd take up way too much room on the kitchen counter though!
- Would you recommend the product to your family and/or friends?
I have already (we've done fried chicken and chips a couple of time for family friends when they've visited, one of whom went straight out and got one when she saw her DC's reaction to the chips) and MIL has bought one after tasting the roasted veg - she regularly cooks massive roasts and is thrilled to be freeing up her oven space!