Martin Lewis issues air fryer warning to UK households and says 'you're better off'

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has sounded the alarm for those considering swapping their ovens for air fryers. Amidst a surge of interest in brands like Ninja and Tower, he addressed the issue on ITV's This Morning after receiving numerous queries about the switch.

Air fryers are often touted as a more economical choice compared to traditional ovens, leading some to contemplate cooking their Sunday roasts in these devices. However, Lewis expressed doubts over the energy-saving benefits during his TV segment.

He challenged the idea, saying: "I heard you on the show mentioning someone was gonna cook dinner in an air fryer. Is that right? If that's being done for energy reasons, I would be somewhat sceptical whether that is a good idea."

Lewis further commented: "If it's being done for taste, I don't want to get involved. I mean, the benefit of an oven is when you're cooking a lot for a lot of people, and you can fill all the racks and have it on consistently. Air fryers are good for small things that cook quickly. If you're gonna have to use your air fryer 15 different times for different items generally on energy usage, you'd be better off to use an oven. So it's an interesting thought."

In a recent discussion focused on the cost implications of meal preparation, Martin emphasised: "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.", reports Bristol Live.

Martin advised working out the wattage of your appliances as a general rule to determine costs: "work out how many kilowatts or what fraction of a kilowatt it's using, then multiply that by 34p per hour of use."

This principle can also apply to other forms of cooking, like air frying or halogen cookers. He explained: "If you had a 1000W microwave and you put it on for 10 minutes, one KWH for a sixth of an hour, a sixth of 34p is about 6p, shall we say? So it's 6p turning the microwave on for that amount of time. So yes it's a very useful equation."

Moreover, for those gearing up for big meals, Llewellyn Kinch, an energy specialist from MakeMyHouseGreen.com shared some advice: "If you cook a turkey in the oven for several hours, it'll use up lots of electricity."

"The savvy way is to use a slow cooker, which costs a fraction to run compared to a traditional oven. Crispy skin lovers can always finish the turkey in the oven for a short period of time."

"For side dishes, opt for energy-efficient cooking methods, such as the microwave or convection oven. Roast potatoes come out well in energy-efficient air fryers. A final tip is to always match saucepan sizes to hot plates or burners, and keep lids on pots to reduce cooking time and energy waste."