Why I own 3 air fryers

The idea of buying and using an air fryer is to circumvent the traditional ways of cooking with a gas or electric oven, as well as to save hard-earned readies on the ever-increasing energy consumption bills, but I have my own reasons for owning three air fryers. They are all in everyday use (although not at the same time) and they complement both the microwave oven and the CleverChef cookpot that I also use for cooking meals.

But, why three? Quite simply, I found that when I bought our first air fryer, a single drawer jobbie, it was painfully obvious that you can only cook a small amount of food at a time in it. So, if I need to cook two separate meals at the same time (Jack Spratt and his missus have nothing on the eating habits in our house!), it can't be done. It's fine for cooking burgers or sausages or even fish and chips — surprisingly, oven chips turn out great when cooked in an air fryer, provided you ignore the instructions on the packet they come in — or anything that two people will eat at the same time.

That led me to purchase a two-drawer air fryer. Now I was cooking — literally. A two-drawer fryer allows me to cook two separate meals, one in each drawer, at the same time. If one meal needs longer to cook than the other, the air fryer controls can be set so that one meal will start to cook before the other but they will both finish at the same time.

Yes, there are handling problems with the regular style drawer air fryers, most notably when you try to remove piping hot food from them. As a for instance, when I tried to cook baked potatoes in both the single and two-drawer air fryers, it was very cumbersome trying to get the buggers out without me burning myself on the very hot drawer or on the food itself. That's when I purchased air fryer number three.

Although it is an air fryer, number three is actually an air fryer oven. The door opens from the top downwards and there are a couple of shelves inside, just like on a normal oven. This allows for some food to be cooked on the shelves and then can be lifted out more easily and onto the waiting plates. Baked potatoes, to follow the above example, are now a breeze to cook and remove from the air fryer oven. However, the air fryer oven is not just limited to baked spuds. Anything that is awkward to remove from an air fryer with drawers will be a lot easier to extract from an air fryer oven.

Do we save money on energy bills by using air fryers? I would definitely say we do. I have not used our gas oven or hob for nearly two years; if I need to use a hob, to boil things like frozen veg, I have a single portable induction hob that uses just pennies. The only time we really use the gas is for the central heating in the winter and for the hot water for our washing up and for washing ourselves in the bathroom. Our shower is electric driven. So we save a lot on the gas bill and pay less than the average household for electric.

Is food cooked in an air fryer healthier to eat? Absolutely, yes. And, you can see all the fat that has drained out of things like steak, burgers or sausages during the cooking process. The food is a lot more moist and even tastier. The air fryer can also be used for cooking vegetarian and vegan meals but I would strongly advise that, if used for those, you keep it separate from carnivore cooking.

People are often put off by the name. These machines do not fry the food. They are like a small convection oven that uses a powerful internal fan which circulates hot air the moment the Start button is pressed. Even frozen food can be cooked in an air fryer. The only potential bugbear of an air fryer is having to remember to flip the food over or give it a shake about halfway through the cooking stage.

My advice, should you wish to buy an air fryer, is to keep away from the big name makes that are always advertising on the TV. You will know which ones I mean when you see them. You are really only paying over the odds for the branded name. Equally, do not skimp on price; there's nothing quite like a kitchen fire to ram home this fact, and cheaper end air fryers have been known to start such a calamity. Most makes are as safe as they can be but don't be tempted to buy ultra low-cost ones to cut corners. Alternatively, if you're happy to continue paying a King's ransom on electricity and gas bills by using conventional ovens then go with the flow.

While this is not meant to be an advertorial, I have added links to some air fryers similar to the models that we own. Just click on the links if you want to know more. Please be advised that the links you click on are affiliate links, which means if you click on one and make a purchase through that link, I will be credited with a very small token payment at no extra cost to you.

Trevor Mulligan