Air fryer lovers, beware: It could be costing you more than you think
More households across the country probably have an air fryer now, with the gadget often used as the the perfect alternative to using an oven.
Food takes less time in the air fryer, and you can cook pretty much whatever you want in one. Money expect Martin Lewis has weighed in on the huge craze of using air fryers, highlighting when it is the better option over an oven. Pic: ITV
Money expect Martin Lewis has weighed in on the huge craze of using air fryers, highlighting when it is the better option over an oven.
Speaking on his podcast, The Martin Lewis Podcast, the expert said: '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.'
In terms of doing a number of jacket potatoes, Lewis explained that each additional item put into a microwave required additional time. Air fryer owners are being warned of the differences between using the counter-top gadget compared to an oven when it comes to cooking food. Pic: Shutterstock
He added that in the case of cooking a single jacket potato the microwave or air fryer would be the better, 'cheaper' option.
The 53-year-old noted that in order to figure out which of the three appliances was the best to cook things you needed to know the wattage and how much you are using, then multiply it by 34p per hour of use.
'The problem with the equation for heating equipment is an oven is going to be 2,000W,' Martin said, 'If you had a 1,000W microwave and you put it on for 10 minutes, one KWH for a sixth of an hour, a sixth of 34p is about 6p.'
Martin's website, The Money Edit, added that it costs 21p to use an average oven and 13.6p to use an average 800W air fryer.
The biggest factor, they pointed out, was the quantity of the food being cooked with smaller and simpler dishes likely cheapest in the microwave or air fryer.
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