Martin Lewis issues warning over cost to run air fryers

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past year or so, you'll know someone who cannot stop singing the praises of their trusty little air fryer.

I don't know whether the popularity of the air fryer is down to its efficiency, speed or ability to have frozen chips ready in a matter of minutes but, regardless, people are clearly obsessed with the must-have appliance.

However, air fryers might not always be cost-effective, with Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis issuing a warning over the price it takes to run them.

Now, in case the whole air fryer hype has passed you by, the appliances work by circulating hot air around the food to cook it in a similar way to a fan oven.

They're great for delivering that highly sought-after 'fried' finish on a whole load of food; from chicken and chips all the way through to entire roast Christmas dinners.

However, given the cost of living crisis, rising heating bills and all the added Crimbo outgoings, it's almost inevitable we're going to become fairly strapped for cash in the next couple months.

So, it makes sense why Brits will be after not only a time-saving addition to their home but also a money-saving one.

ITV

With that said, however, Lewis highlighted the additional hidden costs attached to air fryers and microwaves when compared to ovens, explaining on his podcast: "The problem with the equation for heating equipment is an oven is going to be about 2000W.

"A microwave I believe gives you consistent heat whereas an oven is warming up to full temperature and then topping it up so it isn’t running at full power the whole time."

The financial guru went on: "If you’re doing a jacket potato for 10 minutes in the microwave it is going to be cheaper than doing a single jacket potato in an oven for an hour and a half.

Getty stock photo

"However, if you were doing a full roast dinner and you were cooking many of them, that is where its probably cheaper than putting five or six jacket potatoes in a microwave because each additional object you put in a microwave, you need to keep it on longer because a microwave just heats the individual object.

"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."

Well, there you have it.