I cooked every meal for a week in an air fryer and saved tons on my electricity

IF you think cutting energy is hot air, think again.

There’s a nifty appliance that can keep the bills down: a deep fryer.

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The gadget takes much less time to cook than an oven, does not need to be preheated and uses much less energy.

An average oven burns 3,000 watts per hour and an electric stove 2,000 Wph.

I’m a newbie to using a deep fryer and decided to use my oven and hob for a week with the Tower 4 Liter Air Fryer – available from Iceland for £49.99 – which uses 1,600 Wph, about half of the oven.

I cooked all my meals in the deep fryer (plus a few sides in the microwave), including a Sunday roast and a stir fry, and saved two thirds on my electricity bill.

This is how I did it.

Monday: Chicken wings, chips, corn on the cob

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My first day with the fryer and what surprised me the most was how easy it is to use.

I just put in some frozen chicken wings and chips, turned the top dial to 200C, the bottom dial to 12 minutes and was able to leave it, and it turned itself off when the timer ran out.

I had to shake the box after 12 minutes for the chips, but four minutes later they were ready.

Then another two minutes later the chicken wings were ready too.

Oven cooking time and cost: 30 minutes, 51p Air fryer cooking time and cost: 18 minutes, 16p Savings: 35p

Tuesday: Sausage, mash and peas

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The air fryer is quickly becoming my new favorite way to cook sausages.

I used frozen ones from Iceland, so they would have taken 28 minutes to cook in the oven.

But they only took 15 minutes in the fryer, and fresh sausages would have been even faster.

You don’t use oil either, so it’s much healthier than frying them, and they tasted great.

I did try cooking the mash in the deep fryer but it didn’t work so well, so I had to use the microwave instead and the peas.

Oven cooking time and cost: 28 minutes, 48p Air fryer cooking time and cost: 15 minutes, 14p Savings: 34p

Wednesday: Salmon, potatoes and greens

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This might be the easiest meal ever.

I just put the frozen fries in the air fryer for 15 minutes and halfway through I added the salmon, which I had sprinkled with herbs.

I then opened the box and voila, it was done.

The good thing about this was that the herbs on the salmon seasoned the potatoes as well.

Oven cooking time and cost: 23 minutes, 39p

Air deep fryer cooking time and cost: 15min, 14p

Save: 25p

Thursday: Beef noodles

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Today was a bit of a disaster, but I’ve never used a deep fryer before – and you can learn from my mistakes.

While the beef cooks very easily in the deep fryer, cooking noodles and vegetables there doesn’t really work.

It just made everything a little crispy, and I only saved 2p compared to cooking it normally on my electric stove.

Frying time and cost: 10min, 11p Air fryer cooking time and cost: 10 minutes, 9p Save: 2p

Friday: Nando’s chicken, rice, peas

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I’m a huge fan of the Nando’s Bag & Bake set which you can buy in the supermarket to make your own Nando’s Chicken at home.

You just pour the provided seasoning on the bird, put it in the bag and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes.

And I was very excited when I found out on TikTok that you can do this in the air fryer – and it takes five minutes less to cook.

I tried it and it was delicious.

Definitely my favorite meal of the week.

Oven cooking time and cost: 30 minutes, 51pAir fryer cooking time and cost: 25 minutes, 23p Savings: 28p

Saturday: Full English

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There’s nothing better than a Full English on a weekend, except to make one instead of cooking it yourself.

But the air fryer means you can whip up an entire fry-up in 15 minutes, rather than around 25 minutes (and that’s only if you have everything cooked at once).

Whereas a regular fry-up would involve popping the hash browns into the oven while frying the sausages, eggs and bacon at the same time, making sure nothing burns, the air fryer means you can put everything in at once – including the egg in a ramekin – and it’s done .

Light!

Oven cooking time and cost (hash browns): 22 minutes, 37p Frying time and cost (for everything else): 12min, 14p Total normal cost: 51p Air fryer cooking time and cost: 15 minutes, 14p Save: 37p

Sunday: Fried

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Steak is one of the longest meals to cook in the oven, but the deep fryer cuts the time in half and will cost you a lot less.

I could put a whole turkey blanket in the air fryer for 30 minutes, pop in the fries halfway through, and that was it.

The flavors from the turkey joint wrapped in bacon mixed with the potatoes were so delicious.

But the best thing about this meal was how little time it took and how much less money it cost than if it were cooked in the oven.

Oven cooking time and cost: 55 minutes, 94p Air fryer cooking time and cost: 30 minutes, 27p Savings: 67