Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not strictly
DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by me to cook my
own dinner :-)

I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the cost
of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air fryer. It
said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a saving of 3p in
costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups of tea!

Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables (cooked
in the microwave).

Many thanks.

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
Here we go it's getting close, now it's just who wants it most.

On Fri, 30 Sep 2022 16:20:23 +0000, Jeff Gaines wrote:

> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by me
> to cook my own dinner :-)
>
> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups
> of tea!
>
> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
> (cooked in the microwave).
>
> Many thanks.

I use one to cook beefburgers or fish in batter, no point putting the oven
on for just myself. I also have one of those Jamie Oliver radiant ovens in
a glass bowl and I cooked a full Christmas dinner in that for four people.

"Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> writes:

> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by
> me to cook my own dinner :-)
>
> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his
> cups of tea!
>
> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
> (cooked in the microwave).

I bought one from Asda for £34 a few weeks ago. I'm very happy with
it. It does chips, heats up pies and pasties, I made a sweet potato
curry last week and it roasted the chunks fine.

Only thing I'd point out, and this is an advantage, is that even from a
cold start it seems to cook things in about 80% to 90% of the quoted
time.

Highly recommended if you are only cooking for one or two.

For jacket potatos I give them about 20 mins in a microwave (10 mins
full, 10 mins half) then another 20 mins in the air fryer, along with
whatever I'm having with them.

--
Alan J. Wylie https://www.wylie.me.uk/

Dance like no-one's watching. / Encrypt like everyone is.
Security is inversely proportional to convenience

On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>
> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by me
> to cook my own dinner :-)
>
> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups
> of tea!
>
> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
> (cooked in the microwave).
>
> Many thanks.
>
we are on our second one you don't have to use that wee spoon for the
oil in fact we don't use oil at all....

On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>
> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by me
> to cook my own dinner :-)
>
> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups
> of tea!
>
> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
> (cooked in the microwave).
>
> Many thanks.
>
Since I have an oil aga permanently on to heat the house, cooking costs
me nothing extra.

Frankly I think they are as much of a con as solar panels and heat pumps

--
There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale
returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.

Mark Twain

Jeff Gaines <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote

> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment,

I love mine and use it for all except steaks/chops/curry etc.

Dont eat eggs much at all anymore for no particular reason.

> I know it's not strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it
> would be used by me to cook my own dinner :-)

> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
> saving of 3p in costs.

Not convinced about that last bit. I now have a roast potato
with most dinners whereas previously I mostly had them
microwaved and even even had rice with steak quite a bit.

> At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups of tea!

But he's a pathetic addict.

> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are?

I love mine. Nothing like as reliable as a big wall oven
or the best microwaves, but very convenient to use and
I love the result food quality wise for the food I do in them.

> I generally have a jacket potato

I used to before the air fryers but now prefer a peeled
potato dipped in olive oil and roasted in the air fryer.

> and chop

I still have a jacket potato done in the microwave
with chops, steak, sausages etc.

> or chicken

I eat lots of that, mostly in filo parcels or breadcrumbed
with garlic inside or stuffed and with proscuitto or
bacon parcels.

> with vegetables (cooked in the microwave).

I still have those, always frozen.

On Sat, 01 Oct 2022 02:55:57 +1000, Jim Stewart ...
<kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
>> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by
>> me to cook my own dinner :-)
>> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
>> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
>> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
>> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups
>> of tea!
>> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
>> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
>> (cooked in the microwave).
>> Many thanks.

> we are on our second one you don't have to use that wee spoon for the
> oil in fact we don't use oil at all....

I get a better result with peeled potatoes when I dip them in olive oil.

On Sat, 01 Oct 2022 03:04:30 +1000, The Natural Philosopher
<tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

> On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
>> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by
>> me to cook my own dinner :-)
>> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
>> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
>> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
>> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups
>> of tea!
>> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
>> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
>> (cooked in the microwave).
>> Many thanks.
>>
> Since I have an oil aga permanently on to heat the house,

Even in summer ?

> cooking costs me nothing extra.

Even in summer ?

> Frankly I think they are as much of a con as solar panels and heat pumps

More fool you. Not everyone has an oil aga permanently on to heat the
house,

Jeff Gaines <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not strictly
> DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by me to cook my
> own dinner :-)
>
> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the cost
> of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air fryer. It
> said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a saving of 3p in
> costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups of tea!
>
> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables (cooked
> in the microwave).
>
> Many thanks.
>

We’ve had one for over a year.

They are more like a small fan oven than a fryer. You can cook anything
from chips to baked items in them. They do good baked potatoes, better
than in a uWave as you get a crispy skin. Being small, they are quicker
(marginally) than a fan oven and so cheaper. We’ve done roast potatoes in
ours. Not quite as good as the real thing but close. Chips are good. Things
like chicken cook well. I tend to sous vide steak to I’ve not tried that.

Our main one - we bought a small one for the motorhome- has a decent sized
‘drawer’. The small one is a bit small but we were concern about power
consumption on campsites- some have limited current available. I’d
recommend a larger one.

On Fri, 30 Sep 2022 16:32:08 -0000 (UTC)
jon <jon@nospam.cn> wrote:

> I also have one of those Jamie Oliver
> radiant ovens in a glass bowl

A halogen oven, you mean? Also a great power/money saver, 1300/1400
watts rather than the many kilowatts of a typical oven.

> and I cooked a full Christmas dinner in
> that for four people.

OK, I'm impressed. The halogen oven is fine for most meals for two, but
for four we normally use the halogen, the main oven and the microwave
oven (repeatedly). And we warm plates in the top built-in oven, but
without power, as there's enough heat from the main one.

--
Joe

On 30/09/2022 17:55, Jim Stewart ... wrote:
> On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>>
>> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
>> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by
>> me to cook my own dinner :-)
>>
>> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
>> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
>> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
>> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his
>> cups of tea!
>>
>> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
>> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
>> (cooked in the microwave).
>>
>> Many thanks.
>>
> we are on our second one you don't have to use that wee spoon for the
> oil in fact we don't use oil at all....

What happened to the first one?

--
Cheers,
Roger

On 30/09/2022 18:04, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
> On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>>
>> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
>> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by
>> me to cook my own dinner :-)
>>
>> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
>> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
>> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
>> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his
>> cups of tea!
>>
>> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
>> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
>> (cooked in the microwave).
>>
>> Many thanks.
>>
> Since I have an oil aga permanently on to heat the house, cooking costs
> me nothing extra.
>
> Frankly I think they are as much of a con as solar panels and heat pumps
>
>

Do you also hate yoghurt (having never tried it) too ?.

On 30/09/2022 19:11, Brian wrote:

>>
>
> We’ve had one for over a year.
>
> They are more like a small fan oven than a fryer. You can cook anything
> from chips to baked items in them. They do good baked potatoes, better
> than in a uWave as you get a crispy skin. Being small, they are quicker
> (marginally) than a fan oven and so cheaper. We’ve done roast potatoes in
> ours. Not quite as good as the real thing but close. Chips are good. Things
> like chicken cook well. I tend to sous vide steak to I’ve not tried that.
>
> Our main one - we bought a small one for the motorhome- has a decent sized
> ‘drawer’. The small one is a bit small but we were concern about power
> consumption on campsites- some have limited current available. I’d
> recommend a larger one.
>
>
>

About the same time here, it actually does all the cooking for two,
roast chicken included.

I particularly like the fact that ours will toast 6 pieces
simultaneously in 4.5 minutes.

Also because it heats up quickly it uses considerably less electricity
than the fan oven, which is only used for bigger roast meals when all
the family are here.

On 30/09/2022 20:15, Roger Mills wrote:
> On 30/09/2022 17:55, Jim Stewart ... wrote:
>> On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>>>
>>> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
>>> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by
>>> me to cook my own dinner :-)
>>>
>>> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
>>> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
>>> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
>>> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his
>>> cups of tea!
>>>
>>> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
>>> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
>>> (cooked in the microwave).
>>>
>>> Many thanks.
>>>
>> we are on our second one you don't have to use that wee spoon for the
>> oil in fact we don't use oil at all....
>
> What happened to the first one?
>
started making mechanical noises then the handle broke off tefal

On 30/09/2022 in message <xn0nnhc3wl8y0u7017@news.individual.net> Jeff
Gaines wrote:

>Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
>generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables (cooked
>in the microwave).

Many thanks for all the replies :-)

It looks as if it would do what I need. Whether or not it will save enough
to pay for itself I don't know. It would save having to clean the blooming
oven!

--
Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil but by those who
watch them without doing anything. (Albert Einstein)

What about safety, ie how hot outside does it get, and cleaning, how mucky
do they get?
Brian

--

--:
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"Jeff Gaines" <jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:xn0nnhc3wl8y0u7017@news.individual.net...
>
> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not strictly
> DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by me to cook my
> own dinner :-)
>
> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the cost
> of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air fryer. It
> said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a saving of 3p in
> costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups of tea!
>
> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables (cooked
> in the microwave).
>
> Many thanks.
>
> --
> Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
> Here we go it's getting close, now it's just who wants it most.

On Sat, 01 Oct 2022 17:44:29 +1000, Jeff Gaines
<jgaines_newsid@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> On 30/09/2022 in message <xn0nnhc3wl8y0u7017@news.individual.net> Jeff
> Gaines wrote:
>
>> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
>> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
>> (cooked in the microwave).
>
> Many thanks for all the replies :-)
>
> It looks as if it would do what I need. Whether or not it will save
> enough to pay for itself I don't know. It would save having to clean the
> blooming oven!

Yeah, I just put the air fryer drawer in the dishwasher.

Brian Gaff <brian1gaff@gmail.com> wrote

> What about safety, ie how hot outside does it get,

It doesnt get hot enough to matter.

> and cleaning, how mucky do they get?

Nothing special and I put the drawer in the dishwasher.

It comes apart into two pieces with a button releasing the inner from the
outer.

On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>
> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by me
> to cook my own dinner :-)
>
> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups
> of tea!
>
> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
> (cooked in the microwave).
>
> Many thanks.
>
There seems to be two types. The original(?) Tefal Actifry and the
rest. The Actifry has a non-stick circular flat based bowl with a
slowly rotating stirrer/tumbler which ensures the food gets evenly
coated and cooked, whereas as far as I can see, the others just have a
drawer with no tumbler.

The Actifry works very well and gives good results. However, it is
bulky, and IME unreliable. I was given one and was impressed - when it
broke down I bought a replacement hoping that I'd just been unlucky.
Unfortunately, I was unlucky again, albeit with a different fault.

--
Cheers
Clive

On Sat, 1 Oct 2022 09:32:24 +0100
"Brian Gaff" <brian1gaff@gmail.com> wrote:

> What about safety, ie how hot outside does it get, and cleaning, how
> mucky do they get?
>

I don't have one, but I believe the halogen oven is easier to clean, as
it is, well, just a big glass bowl. It also doesn't have to get any
hotter than the thermostat is set to, as the fan is very powerful
relative to the volume, whereas the sides of a conventional oven tend to
need to be quite a bit hotter than the air temperature inside. So
there's no burnt-on fat to clean off. Most of the cleaning of a halogen
oven is mopping up the condensed water on the bottom of it, as that
generally is quite cool. Yes, the glass does get fairly warm in use.

Actually, I wonder about the element really being a halogen lamp, as it
gets spattered a bit over the long term, and the quartz of a QH lamp
must be kept extremely clean to avoid spot overheating. A QH lamp is
also more efficient than a standard incandescent, and in this
application, the more heat and less light the better. I don't have the
means of measuring the colour temperature.

--
Joe

On 30 Sep 2022 at 17:20:23 BST, "Jeff Gaines" wrote:

>
> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not strictly
> DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by me to cook my
> own dinner :-)
>

I've got a basic Philips

https://www.philips.co.uk/c-p/HD9218_51/daily-collection-airfryer-with-rapid-air-technology

You'd struggle to get 2 decent portions.

> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the cost
> of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air fryer. It
> said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a saving of 3p in
> costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups of tea!
>

It takes on average between 1/2 and 2/3 of the time, and maybe a third of the
electricity (assuming it cycles the same as a regular oven).

> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables (cooked
> in the microwave).
>

Quite impressed - convenient, and food tastes pretty good. It took me some
getting used to, but basically anything that would go in an oven or under a
grill. Oven chips a standout - the very cheapest (£1 for 1.5kg) come out very
well IMO. Easy to keep clean - dishwasher safe. Easy to use - if I was to buy
again I'd get the same basic mechanical timer type.

Downsides - it's another large thing to home, mine at least is quite noisy,
and quite strong smells depending on what's cooking. I bought mine as an end
of line at Lidl for £40 - they seem to be more than £100 - quite expensive for
what they are.

Not sure about the health claims - mainly centre around fat, but I don't deep
fry anyway so probably doesn't make much difference to me.

--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

On 30 Sep 2022 at 18:45:18 BST, "Rod Speed" wrote:

> On Sat, 01 Oct 2022 02:55:57 +1000, Jim Stewart ...
> <kinvig.netta@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
>> On 30/09/2022 17:20, Jeff Gaines wrote:
>>> Air Fryers seem to be all the rage at the moment, I know it's not
>>> strictly DIY but I am thinking of getting one and it would be used by
>>> me to cook my own dinner :-)
>>> I read through an article this morning that compared the food and the
>>> cost of cooking a meal using an oven and the same meal using an air
>>> fryer. It said the food tasted pretty much the same and there was a
>>> saving of 3p in costs. At least that's more than Bill saves on his cups
>>> of tea!
>>> Anybody here use one and willing to comment on how good they are? I
>>> generally have a jacket potato and chop or chicken with vegetables
>>> (cooked in the microwave).
>>> Many thanks.
>
>> we are on our second one you don't have to use that wee spoon for the
>> oil in fact we don't use oil at all....
>
> I get a better result with peeled potatoes when I dip them in olive oil.

Yep - parboiled and roughed up a bit.
--
Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK

Brian Gaff <brian1gaff@gmail.com> wrote:
> What about safety, ie how hot outside does it get, and cleaning, how mucky
> do they get?
> Brian
>

Not hot enough to be of concern, even after 25 mins on max temp.

Cleaning is usually easily. The inner drawer has a non stick lining and
can be washed on ours. You use naff all oil / fat which is what tends to
make a mess.

On Sat, 01 Oct 2022 20:06:43 +1000, Joe <joe@jretrading.com> wrote:

> On Sat, 1 Oct 2022 09:32:24 +0100
> "Brian Gaff" <brian1gaff@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> What about safety, ie how hot outside does it get, and cleaning, how
>> mucky do they get?

> I don't have one, but I believe the halogen oven is easier to clean, as
> it is, well, just a big glass bowl.

The problem is what sits on the top of the big glass bowl.

That can't go in the dishwasher and is a bugger to clean.

> It also doesn't have to get any
> hotter than the thermostat is set to, as the fan is very powerful
> relative to the volume, whereas the sides of a conventional oven tend to
> need to be quite a bit hotter than the air temperature inside.

Can't see that.

> So
> there's no burnt-on fat to clean off.

Yes there is.

> Most of the cleaning of a halogen
> oven is mopping up the condensed water on the bottom of it,

Never get that, but I do the veg in the microwave.

> as that
> generally is quite cool. Yes, the glass does get fairly warm in use.

> Actually, I wonder about the element really being a halogen lamp, as it
> gets spattered a bit over the long term, and the quartz of a QH lamp
> must be kept extremely clean to avoid spot overheating. A QH lamp is
> also more efficient than a standard incandescent, and in this
> application, the more heat and less light the better. I don't have the
> means of measuring the colour temperature.

On 01/10/2022 08:44, Jeff Gaines wrote:
> It looks as if it would do what I need. Whether or not it will save
> enough to pay for itself I don't know. It would save having to clean the
> blooming oven!

Which might be easier than the air fryer, at least in my case. I found
olive oil baked onto the tray and impossible to get off. I now use alloy
foil in the bottom, to avoid it.