The cost of living crisis is hitting families across the country as soaring inflation rates, absurdly priced petrol and crippling energy prices leave many incredibly anxious for the winter months. Energy prices have soared throughout 2022, meaning some households will have to make the impossible choice between a hot meal and heating their homes if costs continue to surge.
White goods are the most costly appliances to run in your home, as anything that is turning something from hot to cold or vice versa is guzzling energy. That means that ovens, fridges, freezers and dishwashers are the main culprits - and people are looking at creative cooking hacks to avoid heating up the oven each night.
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Recent research by energy supplier Utilita and supermarket Iceland has revealed that running an air fryer is significantly cheaper than an oven, as it takes far less time to cook meals, doesn't involve pre-heating and has a smaller surface area to heat up.
The cost breakdown shows that an electric cooker costs up to £316.54 a year to run, while an air fryer costs £52.74 over the same period - setting you back just 14p a day. A gas oven costs £120.83 a year to run, making the air fryer the cheapest of the lot.
The humble appliance has skyrocketed in popularity thanks to being so simple and speedy to use, as people are rustling up everything from a full roast dinner to cakes and pasta bakes.
As someone living alone who has lost inspiration in the kitchen recently, I invested in a 4.3-litre air fryer to try and reignite my creativity in the kitchen - as well as save money on my energy bills.
Going cold turkey on my trusty oven, I committed to cooking everything in my air fryer for a full week in order to see if it genuinely is a worthy alternative.
As the appliance is renowned for cooking food at speed, I judged its success on how quick my meals were to make compared with the oven, as well as considering taste and how easy it was to use. I factored in a pre-heating cooking time of 15 minutes on the oven times listed below.
According to MoneySavingExpert.com, an 2,000W oven currently costs £1.04 an hour to run while an air fryer costs 59p. Using these costs, I've made rough estimates on how much it would cost to make each meal in air fryer compared to the oven.
Monday - Honey garlic chicken with garlic green beans and salad
Oven cooking time and cost: 40 minutes, 69p
Air fryer cooking time and cost: 20 minutes, 21p
The heatwave may have subsided but I still fancied something light and fresh to kick off my air fryer experiment, so plumped for this honey garlic recipe I found on TikTok.
I started off by scoring my chicken breast to help the flavours really penetrate through the meat. I seasoned liberally with garlic granules, onion granules and smoked paprika along with a pinch of salt and pepper, before adding small slithers of butter in between the scores to make it extra juicy.
I then chucked this in the air fryer for 20 minutes, but since becoming more confident with judging cooking times in the appliance, I now know I could have gone for 15 minutes for a small chicken breast.
While the chicken cooked, I prepped my hot honey sauce which simply included melted butter, garlic, hot sauce and a dash of honey - ready to baste the chicken breast when cooked.
I chopped my green beans and seasoned those with garlic, a dash of oil and salt and pepper - I like my green beans with a crunch so frying them in the air fryer without all the extra oil had serious appeal.
The chicken came out of the air fryer beautifully, with a golden colouring and a juicy inside. It's very easy to overcook a chicken breast in the oven as it tends to go dry, so I'd definitely opt for this cooking method in future. I basted the chicken with the sauce, added a sprinkle of parsley and served with the garlic green beans (garnished with a sprinkle of parmesan for good measure) and salad.
The week was already off to a great start as the meal felt healthy and rather fancy with minimal effort.
Tuesday - Homemade stuffed crust pizza with chorizo
Oven cooking time and cost : 25 minutes, 43p
Air fryer cooking time and cost: 10 minutes, 10p
This was one of my most daring air fryer cooks, and while it didn't come out perfectly, I was seriously impressed with how simple it was to whip up a pizza dough out of just two ingredients.
As someone with little confidence in the kitchen, the thought of making a stuffed crust pizza myself was mind-boggling - but the recipe steps were so easy that I'd definitely re-create it.
I simply mixed 80 grams of flour with 90 grams of Greek yoghurt to form a dough, rolled it out and tucked in small pieces of Babybel cheese around the rim of the dough, folding over the corners to create a crust.
The tricky part was ensuring my pizza was small enough to fit into my air fryer dish, and I would say that the benefit of having more space in the oven is that you can cook up a pizza that serves more people.
However, this recipe is great for those living alone - plus you can also buy larger air fryers that have two trays or drawers for more cooking space.
I topped my dough with tomato sauce seasoned with oregano and salt and pepper, before adding mozzarella and chorizo slices. In 10 minutes, it crisped up wonderfully - I added a touch of oil to the crust to help it crisp up too.
One of my top tips for using an air fryer is spraying the bottom of the tray with oil to avoid your food sticking. This definitely helped me remove my pizza with ease - but it was quite tricky to move it into the air fryer when raw.
I faced my first air fryer difficultly here as the chorizo burnt slightly on top of the pizza, so next time I'd cook it on a lower heat. It still tasted great nonetheless.
Wednesday - Tuna jacket potato with salad
Oven cooking time and cost: 1 hour, £1.04
Air fryer cooking time and cost: 27 minutes, 26p
Hump day calls for a simple dinner, and my mid-week go-to is a jacket potato as you simply can't go wrong. My only bugbear with this simple dish is that it can take a long while to cook, especially the frozen jacket potatoes that I happened to have to hand.
This seemingly simple meal was the ultimate time test when comparing the oven to the air fryer, as shaving minutes off the cook time would prove to be a real game-changer for my energy bill as well as my rumbling stomach.
Cooking these frozen jackets in the oven tends to take about 45 minutes, or even longer if you like a seriously crispy skin. Add that to a 15 minute pre-heat time and you're waiting for over an hour, but the air fryer cut this time down by more than half.
I chucked my frozen tattie in the air fryer for 20 minutes initially, but this was far too optimistic as it was still half cold when I checked on it. I then put it back in for another 7 minutes and it was perfectly crispy on the outside while being wonderfully fluffy on the inside - all in under half an hour.
I topped my spud with tuna and served it with a salad and can't imagine using the oven over the air fryer for this meal ever again.
Do you use an air fryer? Let us know in the comments...
Thursday - Chicken Caesar salad with parmesan fries
Oven cooking time and cost: 40 minutes, 69p
Air fryer cooking time and cost: 30 minutes, 30p
I had leftover chicken breasts to use up alongside plenty of salad and some frozen chips that needed a bit of dressing up. I'd seen how amazing chips looked from the air fryer in plenty of recipes and videos online, so couldn't wait to try them myself.
Still holding on to summer cooking, I made a simple chicken Caesar salad - cooking my chicken breast for 15 minutes this time to ensure it was juicy and delicious. I love how evenly the air fryer cooks food as this takes out the worry of anything being under-cooked.
Once the chicken was done, I chucked in a few pieces of bacon into the air fryer to crumble onto the top of my salad. This took 10 minutes to crisp up to perfection. Then, after seasoning my fries with a bit of oil, garlic and salt and pepper, I chucked those in for 5 minutes on a high heat, before grating parmesan cheese on top and cooking for a couple more minutes.
The only issue with this meal was that it involved a few cooking stages as my air fryer basket is quite small.. In hindsight I could have added my bacon and chicken into the air fryer at the same time to cut cooking time, but those cooking for larger families should opt for a large air fryer.
Friday - Buffalo cauliflower tortillas
Oven cooking time and cost: 45 minutes, 78p
Air fryer cooking time and cost: 27 minutes, 26p
This was my favourite meal of the week as researching air fryer recipes helped me push myself out of my cooking comfort zone and try methods I would never usually have the patience for. Thankfully this was very simple and would definitely be a real crowd pleaser.
A great veggie option, I swapped chicken for cauliflower to make buffalo cauliflower 'wings', dressed with avocado, sweetcorn, radish, a drizzle of ranch dressing and a squeeze of lime. The result was a tangy, slightly spicy tortilla with perfectly crispy cauliflower.
To start, I seasoned some flour with garlic powder, paprika, onion powder and salt and pepper, before adding some water and stirring until the batter was smooth.
I then added half a head of cauliflower, chopped into small pieces, and mixed, ensuring each floret was completely covered.
As this was quite a messy recipe, I lined my air fryer basket with tin foil before putting my cauliflower on top to stop the batter spilling into the bottom of the appliance. You can also buy parchment liners designed for air fryers - something I'll definitely be investing in.
While that cooked for about 15 minutes, I mixed hot sauce, melted butter and honey to create the buffalo sauce, coating the cauliflower evenly in the mix before frying them for another 10 minutes to crisp up - shaking them every so often too.
The result was golden, crispy cauliflower bites with a tangy spicy flavour. I chucked my tortilla wraps in the air fryer for one minute each to crisp up slightly and then served them with the cauliflower and dressings.
Saturday - Hassleback halloumi with green beans and chips
Oven cooking time and cost: 1 hour, £1.04
Air fryer cooking time and cost: 25 minutes, 24p
I'd seen this recipe floating around on TikTok and couldn't wait to try it in the air fryer. It's another simple meal that worked well for two people, but might not be the best option for larger families.
I hasslebacked the halloumi by cutting incisions into the cheese without fully slicing it apart, and then stuffed slices of chorizo into each nook before dressing the halloumi with a touch of harissa paste and seasoning well with garlic and paprika.
I popped the halloumi in the air fryer for 15 minutes, alongside the trusty garlic green beans that I'd come to love throughout the week. Once the halloumi was cooked, I threw in some frozen chips which soaked up all the flavours of the halloumi. I served the halloumi with chips, green beans and coleslaw, and the flavours reminded me of eating at Nandos.
The halloumi crisped up wonderfully on top, but could have done with a bit longer in the air fryer as the bottom half was still a bit squeaky. Next time, I would baste it more liberally with harissa paste to help it crisp up all over.
Similar recipes using an oven called for a whopping 45 minute cooking time, so I definitely saved time and energy with this meal.
Sunday - Honey salmon with tenderstem broccoli and potato salad
Oven cooking time and cost : 30 minutes, 52p
Air fryer cooking time : 12 minutes, 12p
I rounded off the week with a classic air fryer dish: honey-glazed salmon. Fans of the appliance boast that their salmon comes out perfectly juicy and flaky thanks to the way the air fryer distributes heat all round the basket rather than just from the back like an oven.
I smothered my salmon fillet in soy, garlic, ginger and honey before cooking it for 12 minutes - depending on the size of your fillet, you may want to up that to 15.
It's very easy to overcook salmon in the oven or frying pan, so I couldn't believe how fool-proof this method was. My salmon came out perfectly - with a glossy glaze and a moist middle.
This final recipe did involve boiling my new potatoes and tenderstem broccoli for the sides, but still saved me time and stress compared with other cooking methods.
The air fryer vs oven verdict
I knew that I'd appreciate just how easy air fryers were to cook with, but I was even more impressed by how fast mine was - often slashing cooking time by more than half.
With no preheating involved, it was as simple as chucking my food into the basket without any hassle and most of my meals came out perfectly - particularly when cooking meat and fish.
Cooking solely with an air fryer does involve a bit more planning than usual, but the cooking itself is miles easier. My only bugbear is having a smaller surface area to cook with means I often had to cook different elements of my meal separately, but anyone with a larger air fryer won't have this problem.
Do you have a story to share? Email us at ellie.fry@reachplc.com
