Just adding to what has gone before ....we've switched to using an air fryer in the last few weeks and we are loving the food as well as seeing on the smart metre that its cheaper than our electric oven. Also batch cooking and freezing. Em
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Hacks to reduce energy costs
- Thread starter Oldvatr
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Oldvatr
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I am considering an Air Fryer, since it would overcome the difficulties in using a microwave for cooking things like sausages, burgers, mackerel, et al. But I am not convinced this path offers me any savings in energy. Certainly when compared to a conventional oven the AF wins. The warm up time is much less (5 mins vs 20 mins) and the wattage used to get there (1.4KW vs 3 KW) But when my oven reaches temperature, it goes into topping up mode where the heat is only on to overcome losses through the insulaton, so my 3KW oven drops to about 1.5KW useage. The AF I have been looking at being in my price range has a top temp of 200C, (i.e less than my oven), so to cook at 200C it will be running flat out thus using much the same amount of electricity. So if it cooks quicker then the AF wins. But I do not use the oven except for XMAS, and I use the grill in the cooker instead. This is a mini oven that has a 2KW element. It too can run above 200C so reduces running consumption again to around 60%. So it will work out slightly cheaper to use than an AF.
But it is the microwave that is saving me money. It is cooking palatable meals (had chicken stirfry tonight) and so long as I use it for steaming and boiling and pre-cooking, it will help. Yesterday I had chicken breasts and steamed veg. I baptised my meat thermometer and proved that 5 minutes in the microwave at 60% was enough to cook it thoroughly and it tasted fine. and I live to tell the tale.
My bacon crisper is still not sorted. If I cover with kitchen roll to catch the spatter, then the bacon sticks to the paper and melds with the fibres. If I use dampened paper it stops it sticking, but the bacon is well done but not crispy. Will try a plate cover tomorrow but may need to increase the time beyond the current 2 minutes. Have not done eggs yet, but may experiment with scrambled egg tomorrow.
I miss my frypan. It provided me with my breakfast in one go, nice and warm, and LCHF, The microwave needs components at different settings, times and pots and pans, so when I do the last item, and serve, the others are cold and lacklustre. I suspect I will need to add in a warmup cycle at the end, then transfer all to the salad plate components and the toast. This is indeed a learning curve
But it is the microwave that is saving me money. It is cooking palatable meals (had chicken stirfry tonight) and so long as I use it for steaming and boiling and pre-cooking, it will help. Yesterday I had chicken breasts and steamed veg. I baptised my meat thermometer and proved that 5 minutes in the microwave at 60% was enough to cook it thoroughly and it tasted fine. and I live to tell the tale.
My bacon crisper is still not sorted. If I cover with kitchen roll to catch the spatter, then the bacon sticks to the paper and melds with the fibres. If I use dampened paper it stops it sticking, but the bacon is well done but not crispy. Will try a plate cover tomorrow but may need to increase the time beyond the current 2 minutes. Have not done eggs yet, but may experiment with scrambled egg tomorrow.
I miss my frypan. It provided me with my breakfast in one go, nice and warm, and LCHF, The microwave needs components at different settings, times and pots and pans, so when I do the last item, and serve, the others are cold and lacklustre. I suspect I will need to add in a warmup cycle at the end, then transfer all to the salad plate components and the toast. This is indeed a learning curve
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Once you have tried the AF, you will be hooked. Bacon, sausages, chicken, salmon, mackerel etc - anything where crispness - skin nor otherwise is a winner. There is zero need to warm the AF. It is at temperature almost immediately. I have never warmed ours.
Your breakfast is simple, as long as you like your eggs microwave strangled, although some do do "boiled" eggs in their AF.
Edited to add that Lidl have an AF coming up on the 11th September: https://www.lidl.co.uk/p/kitchen-essentials/silvercrest-digital-air-fryer/p54388
I'm sure it'd be fine, but this is the sort I would strongly recommend: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Daewoo-Rot...9Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
(Gammon cooked on the rotisserie is to die for.)
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Oldvatr
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Too many bells and whistles, and at 1800 watts is not going to save me any money. My current energy annual consumption has gone up from£1680 pa to £3850, and the incoming cap will take it to over £7000 pa. Crispy skin is the last of my worries at the moment. I am a pensioner now, and tax cuts will do little to help me. I do not pay Nationsl Insurance and I no longer drive so those cost of living plans do nothing for me. I am about to be well and truly Trussed. But I do have a working grill that I can use on occasions where I need to crisp my skin (errrr? The fish skin!)
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It was more the style than specific model.
Any AF should do fab skin and crackling. The chambers are just way more flexible.
Oldvatr
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As I pointed out, my cooker grill will do that and works out cheaper than an 1800 watt AF, no matter how crispy the result. This thread is about reducing my energy bill. The current UK State Pension is around £7400 a year, my energy bill is estimated at being over £7000. I will not be able to afford to buy the food to cook anything. I have a garage full of firewood in readiness.
I think I have to consider a halogen airfryer since that adds infra red energy to the cooking equation, and is lower wattage than the standard AF units I have seen. A 17L one takes a medium chicken or roasting joint. but apparently eveness of cooking may be a drawback. Hot collars are a risk I believe.
Riva_Roxaban
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You should check again, it's £185.15 x 52 weeks equals £9627.80 if you're single.
https://www.gov.uk/new-state-pension/what-youll-get
Edit: Poking around that link also bought up details of other benifits you are / may be entirled to as well
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit
https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/what-youll-get
To keep on topic I turn off at the wall anything that goes into stand by mode, incliding the microwave oven. it all helps.
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jape
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Good heavens that's expensive: my hydro (electricity) cost is about $600 pa, and my gas cost is about $800 pa, that is about $1400 pa (or about GBP 900 pa at the current exchange rate). And Toronto has a warmer climate in the summer and a colder climate in the winter than the UK.
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That very much depends when the person retired.
UK State Pensions have had a few reshuffles in the last couple of decades. Women's retirement age rose from 60 to those retiring today going at 66. It will be older in coming years.
When I recently looked at my forecast, my OH was horrified to find I would receive (quotes in today's terms) more than he currently does, but that is due to changed methods of calculation and a few other seemingly invisible factors.
UK State Pensions are transparent in a non-transparent manner. Hey ho.
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Crikey! That’s a lot what are you using? My bill is at the moment £1800, it will be £3000 P.A in October, I don’t know what it will be after that but I’m all electric 3 adults,1 with special needs, 3 showers a day, washer and dryer on at least once a day, fans on in all rooms, cooker on twice a day, oven once a day, all of us running devices, hubby works from home running PC printer etc.. Some lights on all night. 1 TV on all night (son) Garden lights and water features in the garden. Immersion heater on 1 hour a day. Do you have a smart meter? - it seems a lot to be paying if you are making the sacrifices you are
lucylocket61
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There are different state pension rates, depending on several variables.
lucylocket61
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Smart Meters don't help when one is already using the minimum to function.
Comments about the high cost assume high consumption. This is incorrect. It's about the steep rises, in several steps, over the next 12 months for the cost of the SAME amount of usage as last year. It's about the big difference in costs in different areas of the UK. It's about the huge hike in standing charges. It's about some of us not having a reduced rate electricity time in a day.
It's not about consumption of energy mainly. The discussion about using less than before is due to the above, where even comfortable usage is no longer possible and cooking etc becomes harder due to our safe minimum usage being taken away.
A prospective bill of £3000 per year in October will be £7000 in January. Look at the 12 month forecasts. Unless you have fixed your energy costs with your supplier for 12 months, the forecast given this October is meaningless. It will continue to rise steeply and the forecast will keep changing.
It's a catastrophe for many of us.
Comments about the high cost assume high consumption. This is incorrect. It's about the steep rises, in several steps, over the next 12 months for the cost of the SAME amount of usage as last year. It's about the big difference in costs in different areas of the UK. It's about the huge hike in standing charges. It's about some of us not having a reduced rate electricity time in a day.
It's not about consumption of energy mainly. The discussion about using less than before is due to the above, where even comfortable usage is no longer possible and cooking etc becomes harder due to our safe minimum usage being taken away.
A prospective bill of £3000 per year in October will be £7000 in January. Look at the 12 month forecasts. Unless you have fixed your energy costs with your supplier for 12 months, the forecast given this October is meaningless. It will continue to rise steeply and the forecast will keep changing.
It's a catastrophe for many of us.
Oldvatr
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It is that if you were fully paid up on National Insurance Stamps, but I lived abroad and was also self employed for a while. Also you are quoting the New State Pension, which I am not entitled to. I am on the old SERPS system, which pays less. Also my pension is paid 4-weekly, so it is x13 payments per year. I do not qualify for Pension Credit as my assets are over the limit. I live in my main asset. But even £9500 would be stretching things a bit.
I am intending to put my mobility scooter charger onto a timeswitch but the timeswitch uses as much as the charger on trickle charge so it only saves money if I have a dual tariff supply (as is being considered by my current supplier via my Smart Meter). But yes, in principle turning it all off at the wall is good advice, but most of my power sockets are at floor level and mostly obstructed by furniture, The microwave itself is hiding the power switch, so not so convenient. I do unplug my laptop when not in use, but apart from my phone charger I have very little that is not essential 24/7 (such as the ISP modem, the TV and media box, and my alarm clock),
lucylocket61
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Your estimate will go up again in January, and again in April. The £3000 estimate is only based on October figures, which the companies have already said will change twice more over this next 12 month period.
Oldvatr
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I live in a large Victorian 4 bed house that has stone walls, wooden floorboards and high ceilings, no cavity walls, old fashioned sash windows etc. I am actually quoting figures from 2 years ago when my wife was alive, and my kids were at home and we had a lodger. So, yes I have made savings and investments since to reduce the bills, but they are still eyewatering. I am currently paying £3000 a year, and so far the summer months have been building credit for the winter, but the power supplier is advising a much higher tariff based on histoic use figures that they have. I intend to be less than that, but it will still be over £5000.
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My point was more of what I’m using at the moment, It’s costing me the same as @Oldvatr at this precise time and they are being very frugal whilst I’m powering Blackpool illuminations lol, I was curious as to how that can be. I know it’s going up and up and up. I’m scared and worried for people who aren’t as fortunate as myself, believe me I will be cutting down on stuff, we get an electric car in December so that’s to figure in too!
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@Oldvatr, ok I live in a 4 bed detached bungalow, built in the 80s, thinner walls etc, my house before this was exactly as yours apart from double glazing, they can be expensive I agree, I had gas in there too which is cheaper than electric. I hope you don’t think I was doubting you I was just curious as to why and if anyone had any ideas for you.
Oldvatr
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I am reducing my energy bill because I do not want some Oligarch somewhere benefitting from my pension. It is an insult. I am wanting to help the climate too. Lots of valid reasons for this thread.
What I have to decide, is what is worth investing my savings into now that will protect me later on, in a manner that is not too inconvenient or uncomfortable. So far migrating to the microwave from the kettle and the cooker is feasible and does not interrupt my LCHF lifestyle. I prefer my old WOE, but hopefully i can adjust. I still retain the ability to reinstate my old WOE any time I wish, but at least I will have an idea of what that will cost.
What I have to decide, is what is worth investing my savings into now that will protect me later on, in a manner that is not too inconvenient or uncomfortable. So far migrating to the microwave from the kettle and the cooker is feasible and does not interrupt my LCHF lifestyle. I prefer my old WOE, but hopefully i can adjust. I still retain the ability to reinstate my old WOE any time I wish, but at least I will have an idea of what that will cost.
