Martin Lewis issues money warning to anyone using air fryers instead of ovens

Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis has issued a crucial warning to anyone thinking of swapping their conventional ovens for air fryers. Following countless queries about making the switch to makes, such as Ninja and Tower, he's decided to set the record straight.

Often marketed as a less expensive alternative to traditional ovens, these nifty kitchen gadgets have convinced some to even think about roasting their Sunday dinner in one. Yet the financial guru expressed doubts over these so-called environmentally friendly claims during a recent guest appearance on ITV's This Morning.

He said: "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."

READ MORE: Get 20% off all food at TGI Fridays for one week only – claim it here

READ MORE: Primark confirms major change to all stores after 'successful trial'

Martin added: "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."

Martin Lewis examined the money-saving implications of meal preparation, commenting: "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.

He proposed a simple method for consumers, involving identifying the wattage of an appliance, then calculating "work out how many kilowatts or what fraction of a kilowatt it's using, then multiply that by 34p per hour of use."

Martin maintains this same technique ought to be applied when assessing the cost-effectiveness of air fryers and halogen cookers, explaining further: "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."

Llewellyn Kinch from MakeMyHouseGreen.com, an energy specialist, also had some advice for those already plotting large meals, remarking: "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."