Why do you use an airfryer?

It’s versatile, less time consuming, cheaper, easy to clean and cooks the food really well. We rarely have fried food.

ElinJons

We use it for things like fish fingers, heating bread rolls, and my husband likes chips with everything. The airfryer is good for that. I hate cleaning the baskets.

I would hate to clean the AF too, so I never put food directly into the drawers. I use a silicone liner the same size and shape as the drawer, plus a baking parchment one. Just throw away the paper one and the rest is usually still clean. Made meals are cooked within a baking dish, so again the AF stays clean.

To avoid burning myself I’ve cut a long strip of non stick oven tray liner which goes under any container (tin foil, Pyrex etc), with the ends to hold out they come easily. Tongs deal with small items like sausages. I often burn myself on the main oven, haven’t managed it yet with the air fryer.

The why of an air fryer for us is two fold, cost and speed. Some things are cooked before the main oven would have reached the correct temperature.

For smaller households it's really practical. I don't want to heat a whole oven just to cook a couple of sausages or some chips. The air fryer feels much more proportionate.

Just thinking. People in Sardinia, Sicily or even Marbella drink olive oil like it’s going out of fashion. They tend to die later than British people.

M0nica

Boz

it annoys me that you are still getting cooking instructions for conventional ovens when they should be giving AF times and temps.also.
Has anyone mentioned the awfulness of having to wrestle hot food from an enormous gaping hot hole of an oven, when removing food from an AF is easy because of the drawers?
Plus food is nicer and not so dry.

My airfryer is more like a saucepan than oven. It is actually uite difficult to get some things out of it and I have burnt myself on the airfryer more often than I have on the cooker oven.

Mine is like that type too - and I've yet to burn myself on it at all, unlike my conventional oven.

Norah

kittylester

Following on from the aurfryer recipes thread, I started to wonder why people choose to use one.

Some people seem to only us their airfryer - never, or rarely, the main oven. I wonder why?

Is it to save money, time, a dislike of cooking?

We have an aurfryer but it would not be my main source of cooking. My range cooker has a tall fan oven wuth a small capacity. That is the one I use the most - which suppose it not too different from using the airfryer all the time.

How, and why, do you use yours?

We don't use one as we don't usually fry.

They don't actually 'fry' - they are really just a small oven which uses hot air to heat the food.

Boz

it annoys me that you are still getting cooking instructions for conventional ovens when they should be giving AF times and temps.also.
Has anyone mentioned the awfulness of having to wrestle hot food from an enormous gaping hot hole of an oven, when removing food from an AF is easy because of the drawers?
Plus food is nicer and not so dry.

My airfryer is more like a saucepan than oven. It is actually uite difficult to get some things out of it and I have burnt myself on the airfryer more often than I have on the cooker oven.

it annoys me that you are still getting cooking instructions for conventional ovens when they should be giving AF times and temps.also.
Has anyone mentioned the awfulness of having to wrestle hot food from an enormous gaping hot hole of an oven, when removing food from an AF is easy because of the drawers?
Plus food is nicer and not so dry.

Mollygo

Norah
We don't use one as we don't usually fry.

My Sister-in-law used the same reason as you for not getting an airfryer, until she visited and ate the things I hadn’t fried using the airfryer.
Now she just says she doesn’t like all these new technical things. She’s a good enough cook without them. That’s true.

I've many excuses - lack of worktop space and no interest in new things top the list. Your SIL words 'good enough cook without' resonate with me.

Norah
We don't use one as we don't usually fry.

My Sister-in-law used the same reason as you for not getting an airfryer, until she visited and ate the things I hadn’t fried using the airfryer.
Now she just says she doesn’t like all these new technical things. She’s a good enough cook without them. That’s true.

We don't usually fry either. The "air fryer" is actually a small, fan oven...

kittylester

Following on from the aurfryer recipes thread, I started to wonder why people choose to use one.

Some people seem to only us their airfryer - never, or rarely, the main oven. I wonder why?

Is it to save money, time, a dislike of cooking?

We have an aurfryer but it would not be my main source of cooking. My range cooker has a tall fan oven wuth a small capacity. That is the one I use the most - which suppose it not too different from using the airfryer all the time.

How, and why, do you use yours?

We don't use one as we don't usually fry.

See pic for the tray I have (widely available). I use it all the time in my AF and it goes in the dishwasher.

Liz I cut the chips as usual, preheat the AF at 180° (mine automatically sets at 4 mins to preheat). I put the cut chips on a piece of foil on a tray that I bought at Poundland, put that on the AF tray, spray them with olive oil. Stir to make sure all are coated. AF at 180 for 10 minutes, pull basket out, stir or turn the chips, back in at 180 for a further 10 mins or so, I check them.

That's the other bonus about the AF, it can be opened and food turned or stirred really easily.

We have used an Actifry for chips but they are discontinued now. Our Actifry is on its last legs so do you have any advice please for making chips in an airfryer?

We use it for things like fish fingers, heating bread rolls, and my husband likes chips with everything. The airfryer is good for that. I hate cleaning the baskets.

I have a double built in Neff, stopped using it 2022 due to soaring electric costs! Love my slow cooker, it does most things (as does a cast iron casserole on top of the multi fuel stove!) Have 3 airfryers, 10 year old actifryer, used for chips only, usually once, twice a month if we're lucky (it sits on top of other stuff when not in use and then gets plonked on a barrel with the dog flap cover to steady it when in use!

The 2nd, a drawer type, 3 year old I think, chops, belly pork, chicken legs, cauliflower cheese in a dish, basically anything that might spackle and you would do under a grill.

The 3rd, bought it last year (In my defence I waited over a year for it to come down in price as it is the one I wanted. It's Instant, shelf type, and the door opens at the side like a microwave. Paid £70.) That's used for dry food only, waffles, fish, fish fingers, tray cakes, potato experiments (yesterday's was nice!)

All the Christmas Cakes I made in 2022 are coming to the end so I need to replace, current experiment has so far lasted 2 days, we'll finish it today! Can't believe how nice it is! Fruit cake, in lined tin, on trivet, in cast iron, inch of water, on MF stove, slowly steaming. Hasn't a pudding texture either and isn't heavy. Need to retry with butter and sherry (and eat that version too) and if that works...... get making more.

Oh the things I do for cake!

That is something to be aware of with an air fryer - at first I had many complaints about the food being 'dried out' ot 'too crispy' so I now wrap e.g. crumbed fish, in foil and take it out for a minute or so towards the end of cooking time.

I also tend to use my air fryer as an additional cooking aid, but I'm certainly using my oven less often.

I've noticed that quite often now items include Air Fryer cooking instructions on the labels.

We do not have one. I have a double oven, so the grill oven heats quickly.
When I use my oven, I use all of it putting veg in a covered dish with the meat for example, part cooking my jacket for the following day, and using the residual heat for a rice pudding perhaps.
I have a microwave and a sandwich maker for snacks.

I'm a 72 year old male who does all the shopping and cooking for myself and my wife. I use the air fryer as a supplement. If there's just a couple of pieces of fish or chicken etc to cook I use the air fryer. If I'm roasting a chicken I use the oven. I still use the deep fat fryer for chips and spring rolls as I find the air fryer dries them out too much.

I use my air fryer throughout the year for all sorts of meals but when the warm weather comes and the aga gets switched off it really comes into it's own. I still use my electric combi oven but for just the two of us, my really basic air fryer is cheaper to run, greatly reduces the amount of fat in my recipes and is so easy to clean. I wouldn't be without it.

mine makes lush chips from scratch without having the mess of deep- fat frying (so much nicer than the best of the oven chips)

I use it for allsorts, but that's why I have it.

It also keeps the kitchen cooler in the summer not having to warm up the big oven.

Ditto to most of the above. I also live alone. My oven wasn’t used much and the door wouldn’t close properly so bought a dual drawer Ninja AirFryer. I use it for everything. Then bought another Ninja Foodi cheaply in their sale. For the last 2 Christmases I have cooked a complete Christmas dinner, with all accompaniments, using the 2 Airfryers , hob and microwave. We used to sit for hours waiting for the Turkey to cook in the Oven! Now I have my Christmas meals prepared in around an hour. Obviously it won’t take a full Turkey, but it will take a small chicken for other occasions. I love my Air fryer… no waiting for hours for something to cook … quick, easy, healthy. Also much cheaper for this poor Pensioner of 80 this year. Air Fryers for all … unless you love cooking and even then you can do baking, and all in the Foodi! Just a case of quantity really.