With energy prices soaring, many of us are keen to find cheaper ways of cooking, heating and washing.
One woman discussed the topic with a friend of hers, who revealed her smart meter sends daily graphs to her phone informing her of how much energy she is using, and how much she is spending throughout the day. The friend, Ellie, said she believes her most expensive time of day to be mealtimes.
On hearing this, Kate McAuliffe set out to discover the most cost effective way of cooking her food. She decided to compare the energy usage and costs of an air fryer and an oven, the Manchester Evening News reports.
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She enlisted Ellie's help so she could use her smart meter to review just how much she would be using. To make sure things were fair and accurate, Kate cooked the same meal, at the same time of 12.30pm over the span of two days. She also made sure no additional energy was being used at that time.
The original recipe called for 30 minutes in the oven, but it only took 15 minutes in the air fryer at 200 degrees. It was a success, as the wings were "delicious".
The smart meter graph later revealed that cost of running the air fryer to cook the cauliflower at 200 degrees for 15 minutes had been just 20p. Day two saw the routine repeated, only this time the women used the oven.
Set at 200 degrees, it took 11 minutes to preheat the oven, with a further 30 to cook the wings. The graph revealed that the cost of using the oven for 41 minutes at 200C was a staggering 42p, over double the price it cost to use the air fryer.
Kate said: "Using an air fryer saved 26 minutes in time and cost 22p less than using the oven. If I used the oven for this length of time every day over the span of a month, I would end up spending approximately £6.60 more than if I used an air fryer.
"Over a year, I would save £79.20 on switching appliances when cook just one meal a day. Whilst the oven gave marginally better results on the taste test, I consider it to be a small price to pay for savings of over half the cost."
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