Skip to main content

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Finance expert says air fryers may not be the money savers you think they are

Before you turn on those air fryers, experts say it might be cheaper to cook with another kitchen appliance

We all fell for it during the start of the pandemic. Air fryers became the coolest thing, with everyone home all of the time and no place open to get food anyway. We could not get enough of the kitchen appliance, trying every recipe under the sun.

Seeing what else we could cook in there became all you could see on any social media feed you checked. Now that the dust has settled on the initial craze, experts say that air fryers may not be the top appliance we thought.

A person in the kitchen prepping dinner.
NA

Why we should unplug the fryer

  • We aren’t reading the directions.
  • We aren’t doing the math.

It looks like the experts want us to know that maybe we put our faith in air fryers a little too quickly. According to Martin Lewis, a finance expert in the UK, we’ve been neglecting other appliances that save energy and money over the fryer in certain circumstances.

On his podcast, Lewis stated, “General equation is, find the wattage of an item, then work out how many kilowatts or what fraction of a kilowatt it’s using, then multiply that by 34p per hour of use.” While microwaves and slow cookers are generally the most energy-effective, according to Hometree, a home services company, it all depends on what you want to eat. As Lewis noted, if you’re cooking something small, like a single potato, a microwave or air fryer is the most efficient appliance. But if you’re cooking a large meal for six guests, you’re going to expend a lot more energy.

For the American equivalent, CNET crunched the numbers

  • The cost of using a microwave is about $0.20 an hour.
  • The cost of using an air fryer is about $0.25 an hour.

Cooking vegetables in the microwave takes minutes. Cooking vegetables in the oven takes the time to preheat the oven, plus the time to cook, which is considerably longer. The air fryer would be faster than the oven, but the microwave beats the fryer this round.

Cooking a small roast in the air fryer takes less time than in the oven, but cooking it in the microwave would take way longer and use more energy. The air fryer wins this round.

You have to give it a think before you cook your food, but there are times when the oven, slow cooker, or microwave will be the better option. Look at the instructions on the package before you turn anything on. Do the cooking math. You get used to it and develop better judgment as you go.

A person using an air fryer to cook dinner.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The initial upside

  • We ate healthier.
  • We saved money.
  • It cut down on energy use.

Air fryers aren’t straight bad guys, though. Once things started opening up again in 2020 and into 2021, making meals at home still proved to be the cost-effective thing to do. We were also eating better since we weren’t frying everything in oil on the stove, and we saved energy from not spending all that time preheating the oven.

But we got a little too excited about the air fryer, and solely used it, forgetting about other items in the kitchen that had been keeping us fed well before the pandemic. Those other appliances have their moments to shine, and we need to remember that.

Editors' Recommendations

Dannielle Beardsley
Dannielle has written for various websites, online magazines, and blogs. She loves everything celebrity and her favorite…
This one simple healthy food trick may get you to eat better more often
Make eating healthy easier
Three meals in glass containers

Struggling to consistently eat healthy food? Meal prepping, a tried-and-true method, can significantly elevate your commitment to healthy eating. It not only allows you to eat better but also aids in saving money and precious time.

What is meal prepping?
Meal prep is the art of preparing your meals in advance, which is great for eating healthy. The process of washing, chopping, cooking, and storing your favorite nutritious dishes requires a certain amount of planning. Preparing your meals ahead of time simplifies your daily routine, allowing you to make wholesome food choices consistently.

Read more
Everything you need to know to make a delicious deep-fried turkey
Read this guide and live to tell about your deep-fried turkey
A deep fried turkey

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Your pint glass is full of pumpkin beer or a warm, hot chocolate cocktail. You toss on your apron, rub your hands together, and smile. It's turkey time. Let's assume this isn't your first rodeo. By now you can brine a turkey like a pro. Smoked turkey is yesterday's news. And you've tried all the roasted turkey alternatives the world has to offer. You're ready for something different. Something next-level: Deep-fried turkey.

Looking for a turkey-cooking technique that’s tastier, faster, and more dangerous? Then you might want to consider learning how to deep fry a turkey for your Thanksgiving feast.

Read more
These tools from Home Depot will help you kill it in the kitchen
Who needs fancy kitchen stores when everything you need to cook like a rockstar chef can be found at The Home Depot?
Rows of joint pliers

For those of us who love to cook, a trip to a pretentious kitchen store like Williams-Sonoma can be a fun way to spend an afternoon — and an expensive one. There's something indulgent about silly little cooking gadgets like strawberry hullers or asparagus steamers. But at the end of the day, if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, you realize that these things for the most part are just a waste of money and kitchen space.

More often than not, these gimmicky gadgets are cheaply made or serve one very obscure purpose, and then we can't find the damned thing when it comes time to actually use it. This shouldn't be how we cook. It's frustrating, cluttered, and expensive.

Read more