If there is one thing that we can all absolutely agree on, it's that air fryers are the new must-have product.
The nifty kitchen gadgets gained a surge in popularity this year due to a number of households looking to switch up their cooking habits in a bid to keep their energy bills down during the cost of living crisis.
One of the main downsides to an air fryer is usually the price-tag, as some of the big name brands can cost the best part of £100 or more.
With that in mind, a reporter from BirminghamLive managed to find a savvy device from John Lewis that costs just £11 and could apparently "turn your oven into an air fryer".
Considering the popularity of air fryers and how cheap the product was, reporter Graham Young decided to give it a go to see if it really could live up to its own claim. Here is how he got on.
What is it?
The NoStick reusable 'Oven Crisper Basket' carries a Teflon label and claims to shorten cooking time, offer 'healthy cooking' and will see 'foods crisp fast and easy' thanks to 'optimum hot air circulation'.
Depending on your view of what's a 'healthy' food, it says the basket is 'ideal for the preparation of oven chips, nuggets, pizzas, onion rings etc without having to use butter or cooking fat'.
The rear label adds: 'The grill openings allow optimum hot air circulation and thanks to the perfect non-stick coating, the food will never stick to the crisper basket'.
Claims
Amongst the listed 'advantages' of using a crisper basket are these claims:
- Perfect non-stick cooking surface
- No more tossing
- Easy to clean in warm soapy water - dishwasher safe - reusable.
Instructions
- Avoid contact with flames, heating elements and sharp objects - preferably use wooden or plastic utensils
- Heat-resistant up to 260°C
- Do not start the self-clean cycle of your oven before removing the Nostik® Crisper Basket
- To keep the oven clean, place the Nostik® liner on the bottom of your oven
Taste Test
To find out if the NoStick Oven Crisper Basket really could live up to its claims, Graham decided to try it with some unknown branded oven chips and coated chicken that were in his freezer. After using it he did claim that: "Yes, it seemed to make everything crispier, quicker than expected."
He explained: Onion rings, pizzas and 'nuggets' never come my way, but especially so at home. So, more than a week later, McCain triple-cooked oven chips went into the basket and I tried again. Once more, the chips were done on time and were crisper than they've been before. They were cooked at 200C for 25 minutes and were not turned.
"And that's despite McCain's online instructions saying 'Preheat the oven to 230°C/220°C Fan/Gas Mark 8. For best results use a DEEP edged baking tray WITHOUT HOLES and preheat the tray for 5 minutes. Spread a single layer of chips onto a baking tray and pop it into the top of the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes, turning them every now and again, until they’re lovely, crisp and light golden'.
"Opening an over door, of course, lets the heat out...
"So if that makes the basket an air fryer that isn't an air fryer, then good luck to nostik.com - especially as the basket would have been the first non-chocolate product I've ever knowingly bought that had Made in Belgium on the label."
The overall verdict
Graham admits that the real test will be to see if the basket is still "undamaged and in use in a year - always assuming of course that we can afford to put our conventional oven on in the first place."
With energy company Utilita suggesting that air fryers run at at £55.91 per year, versus gas cookers at £121.06 per year and electric cookers at £335.57 per year, they can be a cheaper alternative.
However, Graham did admit that he does not know much power his oven consumes and does not have a smart meter to check, so his household helps cut back on energy by "not using the oven much, cutting back on heating, switching off all unnecessary lights and hoping for the best in the months ahead."
Speaking of the NoStck basket, he added: "The usual problem of trying to cook oven chips at 220C is that you can overheat the other foods (typically 180C) you were also trying to cook together in a bid to save you money that way. But another good reason for still using a conventional oven is that it's the perfect place to warm plates up to keep your meal hot once served.
So if the basket works as it appears to do, then it should pay for itself eventually - perhaps if we eat chips more than once a fortnight - without having the bigger outlay of buying a fully-fledged air fryer we might soon get fed up with....
Rather like that seemed-like-a-good-idea toastie maker etc at the back of the cupboard."
You can purchase the NoStik Non-Stick Oven Crisper Basket from the John Lewis website, or by checking your local store.
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