[Growster...]

We've been given an Amazon voucher by a daughter, and are wondering about an air fryer!

Does the team consider they're worth the expense, (the vouchers are worth £100.00) and as I like to get my sleeves rolled up in the kitchen more these days, I was wondering what points there are to look out for!

We're certainly not 'foodies', but like 'normal' dishes, and don't have as much these days, as we're getting on a bit...

Any ideas anyone please?

[Yorkie]

I know some people swear by them.

They do take up quite a lot of worktop space, so if you are pushed for space that might be a consideration.

I've no direct experience so can't add anything about their use though.

[New shoot]

I love mine and use it a lot.  It is one with a pull out basket at around the £60 mark.  The cheap ones that start at around £40 are very small, so it is worth moving up the range a bit.  The basket itself gets hot, so I tend to pull it right out and put it onto a pan stand to add or remove stuff.

£100 with a small amount added would get you a duel basket one, or one with a fold down door with a window in it, like a mini oven.  The duel basket ones are a boon for families, but I’m not sure you would get the benefit of it cooking just for 2.  The oven one would be handy if you want to use it to do stuff like pizza that needs to lay on a baking tray or lots of elements of a meal in one.

You can do a complete meal in a basket air fryer if you want a tray bake style meal.  It is more efficient and faster than the oven.  I do one quite often with chicken portions, that I cook alone for 15 mins or so, remove and add potatoes and/or chunky root veg.  Cook the veg for 10 mins or until done to your liking.  Add any more tender veg I want to use and the chicken back and cook together for 5-10 mins.  I also cook things to add to a meal at least 3-4 times a week, even if it just the protein element, a roasted veg side or some oven chips.

If I am home alone and feeling lazy I raid the freezer for something like a breaded chicken fillet or fish fingers and a pitta bread.  Cook the protein, sling in the pitta for the last 5 minutes and assemble into a sandwich with some salad and mayo.

You can bake, roast, fry or grill all sorts.  My latest invention is ‘baked apples in a hurry’.  I just got some grease proof paper cake liner thingies to contain the apple fluff and turned the heat down a bit 

[Growster...]

I know some people swear by them.

They do take up quite a lot of worktop space, so if you are pushed for space that might be a consideration.

I've no direct experience so can't add anything about their use though.

Good point, Yorkie...

There actually is some space, and a power point for the TV, which we don't ever watch, so you've given me an idea already...

Thank you!

[Growster...]

I love mine and use it a lot.  It is one with a pull out basket at around the £60 mark.  The cheap ones that start at around £40 are very small, so it is worth moving up the range a bit.  The basket itself gets hot, so I tend to pull it right out and put it onto a pan stand to add or remove stuff.

£100 with a small amount added would get you a duel basket one, or one with a fold down door with a window in it, like a mini oven.  The duel basket ones are a boon for families, but I’m not sure you would get the benefit of it cooking just for 2.  The oven one would be handy if you want to use it to do stuff like pizza that needs to lay on a baking tray or lots of elements of a meal in one.

You can do a complete meal in a basket air fryer if you want a tray bake style meal.  It is more efficient and faster than the oven.  I do one quite often with chicken portions, that I cook alone for 15 mins or so, remove and add potatoes and/or chunky root veg.  Cook the veg for 10 mins or until done to your liking.  Add any more tender veg I want to use and the chicken back and cook together for 5-10 mins.  I also cook things to add to a meal at least 3-4 times a week, even if it just the protein element, a roasted veg side or some oven chips.

If I am home alone and feeling lazy I raid the freezer for something like a breaded chicken fillet or fish fingers and a pitta bread.  Cook the protein, sling in the pitta for the last 5 minutes and assemble into a sandwich with some salad and mayo.

You can bake, roast, fry or grill all sorts.  My latest invention is ‘baked apples in a hurry’.  I just got some grease proof paper cake liner thingies to contain the apple fluff and turned the heat down a bit 

Wow - that's some answer, News; thank you!

There's a Ninja one for £99.00 which could fit the bill, but several others...

We have a decent combo-microwave and a desk-top oven already, so I'm thinking of not trying to make these redundant at the moment, but as Mrs Growster eats like a bird, I don't see a big version getting it's full desserts...(pun intended)!

Choices - choices - it's a nice one to have though, despite the fact that we need three new tyres for the car next month...

Thanks for the heads up anyway!

[New shoot]

Aaah - well I don’t have a combi oven-microwave, or a desk-top oven, or even a microwave for that matter 

The Ninja ones are good.  Mine is a Tower, but a few friends have Ninjas and really rate them 

[Yorkie]

If you're looking at the Ninja AF100UK, Growster, Which? likes it too.

The model was Ninja's debut offering, in 2019. It was reviewed in 2020 but last checked this summer.

It says it cooks chips and chicken well, and has a good recipe booklet. But they felt it takes longer to set up than some other air fryers and isn't energy efficient compared to others.

[Hampshire Hog]

I wondered about having one and then saw one on offer for £30.
It wasn’t massive but big enough to cook lunch for our 4 year old grandson.
Better than using the big oven.
Seems ok so far but wouldn’t replace an oven entirely.

[New shoot]

They are ideal for things like that. I only put my oven on now when I can fill it.

[jaydig]

I agree with everything that everyone else has said.  My oven now only goes on when I'm baking bread or batch baking cakes and pies.  Everything else is done in the air fryer. I invested in a Ninja one with two baskets and can easily get a small chicken in one of them to roast and mixed roast veg in the other. It bakes unbaked freezer pies straight from the freezer, fries, potato and sweet potato wedges, in fact the only thing that wasn't a great success was a banana loaf, and that might have been because the mix was a bit wetter than usual.
The one with two drawers means that you can use different cooking methods, times and temperatures and can also set it so that everything finishes at the same time.  Couldn't manage without it now.

[Growster...]

All good advice and comment - thank you!

The issue I have with the desk top oven, is that it's a bit of a beast to clean and never gets really hot, although its top heat is supposed to be 220! For cleaning though, the boiling hot-lemon does make the job much easier, and a sort  of 'life-hack' well worth using from time to time!

You need a degree in rocket science to use the combi section of the microwave, but for normal usage it's pretty good, although once I got it going with nothing inside, and the door seal started to go - which was worrying...

So the space where the TV is now could be better used, as we never watch live TV any more, (too many DVDs and books), and as long as I can get our lunch prepared easily, well, that's what Amazon presents are for isn't it?

[Growster...]

Well! Well! Well!

After about ten months, I've realised how the grill works on the desk-top oven!

I've been using the wrong tray every time, and the heat has just been dissipating everywhere, except where I want it, and just today, I popped in a few rashers, and by golly, they were a treat!

So, can I suggest that I sort of cancel this post, with heavy heart, (although I love new gadgets), and thank everyone for their kind input, but I don't think an air fryer will appear Chez Growster any time soon!

(Also Mrs Growster told me in no uncertain terms, that she thought the whole idea was daft for us, and so, those dear little vouchers are still on the mantelpiece, unused, bereft of love and affection, and aching to go on to something that might spring to mind, like a few new spanners, or maybe a new doorbell...)!

(Just as an aside, any suggestions will be considered seriously, but don't forget, funds are limited to £100.00)!

ps - And they have to pass the Mrs Growster lie-detector machine which hovers daily around the computer...