Martin Lewis has given some important advice to anyone who uses an airfryer to try and cut down on their electricity bills. Airfryers have seen a huge boost in popularity during the cost of living crisis due to their relatively cheap cost to run.
But the money-saving expert has warned that people need to think carefully before using their airfryer or microwave instead of their oven, reports the MEN. That is because, in some cases, using your oven can be cheaper.
Speaking on his latest podcast, Martin said: "The problem with the equation for heating equipment is an oven is going to be about 2000W. A microwave I believe, from memory, a best guess explanation, a microwave gives you consistent heat whereas an oven is warming up to full temperature and then topping it up so it isn't running at full power the whole time."
"But if you're doing a jacket potato for 10 minutes it's going to be far cheaper [in the microwave] than doing a single jacket potato in an oven and keeping it on for an hour and a half. However, if you were doing a full roast dinner and you were cooking many of them, that is where it's probably cheaper than putting five or six jacket potatoes in a microwave because each additional object you put in a microwave, you need to keep it on longer because a microwave just heats the individual object."
He added: "General equation is, find the wattage of an item, then work out how many kilowatts or what fraction of a kilowatt it's using, then multiply that by 34p per hour of use."
So the general advice is to use an oven for bigger meals with multiple items, as you will need to keep your microwave on for longer to do the same job. The same advice can be applied to airfryers and halogen cookers.
However, in most instances, airfryers are still the cheapest way to cook your food, according to recent guidance from Which?.
Emily Seymour, Which? Energy Editor, said: "There has been a surge of interest in air fryers and smaller cooking appliances in recent months, and our research shows that the hype could be justified in some cases, as we’ve found these products cost less to cook certain foods than conventional ovens."
However, the energy expert agreed with Martin's point on larger meals. She said: "The cost savings will soon be lost if you have to cook more than one batch though, so it’s still better to use your oven if you’re cooking large quantities."
