Cost of living crisis 2022 - what have you cut back on?

[hardtailstar]

Went to the main Tesco in my town at the start of September to buy food, bought a lot food with long best before dates and go to local tesco to buy bits like bread, milk etc every week. I seem to have saved about £20 so far just by doing that!

 

I've also stopped buying takeaways and that obviously is saving more money.

 

Also carry a 1 litre water bottle about to fill up instead of buying drinks.

[LeMarchand]

Anyone know what would be cheaper to run for water heating for a couple of hours in the morning and again the evening:

 

A gas boiler?

An electric immersion heater?

 

We currently have the ability to use the latter (came in handy when the boiler died!) and I'm wondering whether in would be worth putting into use.

[supportman]

Anyone know what would be cheaper to run for water heating for a couple of hours in the morning and again the evening:

 

A gas boiler?

An electric immersion heater?

 

We currently have the ability to use the latter (came in handy when the boiler died!) and I'm wondering whether in would be worth putting into use.

Gas is generally more effecient when heating water, but who knows with the recent price increases.

[mavhc]

A properly configured modern condensing gas boiler should be 90% efficient (if the return flow temp is low enough that condensing works), although you've also wasted energy in the pipes.

 

Electricity is 100% efficient. Approx

 

So it depends what you pay for gas and electricity

[Dos_Box]

I've been enjoying the benfits of a newly purchased air fryer this past week. Farm foods had (has?) a Daewoo one on offer for £39.99 (Amazon price £50). @ZeroHour had been extolling the virtues of these to me for some time now and I'd always been a little relcutant due to my feeling that I didn't want another kitchen gadget.

And how wrong I was. Not only does it use less than 50% of the energy I'd use if I was cooking in the oven, but it cooks a lot quicker and you don't have to wait for the oven to warm either, which takes about a third of the cooking time the air fryer does.

Not to mention the health benefits of not having to fry things either.

Very glad I grabbed one and now have to experiment beyond chips, chicken nuggets and sausages (all cooked wonderfully) which is all I have managed so far

Edited September 14, 2022 by Dos_Box

[Andrew_C]

benfits of a newly purchased air fryer this past week.

We too got one; during lockdown. Oven seldom on at all now.

[enjay]

I've been enjoying the benfits of a newly purchased air fryer this past week.

 

Which one have you got? I'm looking at getting one too. I had one before, but it was really noisy and often dried the food out so I binned it.

[Dos_Box]

Which one have you got? I'm looking at getting one too. I had one before, but it was really noisy and often dried the food out so I binned it.

 

This one - https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/36l-darell-air-fryer-ps3999-at-farmfoods-3990208

Reviews here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Daewoo-SDA1553-Circulation-Protection-Low-Cooking-Black/dp/B07L12M9YW/ref=sr_1_1?crid=PS8F4GDZVW3I&keywords=daewoo+3.6l+air+fryer&qid=1663149112&sprefix=daewoo+3.6l+air+fryer%2Caps%2C99&sr=8-1

Some complain it's noisy, but I don't find it too loud, not once you are cooking a meal with lots of things on the go at once anyway and it doesn't dry food out as far as I've seen so far.

[enjay]

Is there a difference between halogen ovens and air fryers? I thought they were different things, but looking at them just now, many of them call themselves "halogen air fryers".

 

Do they roast things okay? My wife is a big fan of roast parsnips but we can rarely be bothered with the wait involved in cooking them!

[Dos_Box]

Is there a difference between halogen ovens and air fryers? I thought they were different things, but looking at them just now, many of them call themselves "halogen air fryers".

 

Do they roast things okay? My wife is a big fan of roast parsnips but we can rarely be bothered with the wait involved in cooking them!

 

Not sure about roasts yet, but I'm a big fan of roast veg (peppers, onion etc.) and will be giving that a go at some point in the near future.

[Andrew_C]

Ninja - not the all singing foodie. Much quieter than the ice-cream maker.

[Ditto]

Any particular Ninja? I'm vaguely considering, but as I have a combi-microwave, I could probably use that with more variety.

 

Interestingly, all these the cooking types were discussed on a radio programme recently by an 'energy expert', including time for get your return on investment. Going from electric oven to a £40-50 air fryer could pay for itself in under 1 year. MW ovens were the most cost effective, but much longer payback. Air fryers running costs were not far behind.

 

Electric fan ovens were most costly to run, but if doing a bulk cook, become better value. One thing that I did like as an idea with air fryers, was the ability to dry fruit. My kids love the semi-dried mango from Waitrose, but it is very expensive. If I can buy a mango and achieve something similar, it could be winner.

[Andrew_C]

Any particular Ninja?

A brown one... I'll look!

 

On microwaves - someone (I've not checked yet) stated that the clock costs £16 / year. Ours now gets turned off at the wall.

[ZeroHour]

Is there a difference between halogen ovens and air fryers? I thought they were different things, but looking at them just now, many of them call themselves "halogen air fryers".

 

Do they roast things okay? My wife is a big fan of roast parsnips but we can rarely be bothered with the wait involved in cooking them!

 

 

I have a: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ninja-AF400UK-Drawers-Cooking-Functions/dp/B09BZR9JFG (DO NOT PAY THAT PRICE!! IT SHOULD BE £200, I got it for £160)

 

It cooks things like potato wedges and chips far far far better than the oven, I dont actually like potato wedges much as they always end up a bit too soggy for me even when in a takeaway but the Ninja does such a better job that I love them now, they are crispy and fluffy inside.

 

I have cooked tons of things in it, baking/pastry slices etc all come out brilliantly.

 

If you are starting out I always go with the 20/20 rule, take the fan over temp and take 20C off it and reduce the time by 20% to see how it goes.

[Ditto]

You did well at that price. Seems to be £230 lots of places but no stock. ebay selling new and letting bids go well over that. This is just the trouble I had with replacing my microwave. It's like GPUs all over again!

[mikeprice]

We had 2 air fryers

 

Had to get rid of them after a while because Mrs mikeprice started to complain about a smell of rancid fat

 

It did get properly cleaned after each use - but there were areas in the air stream that I couldn't get to and I presume some fat condensed in these bit and, over time, became rancid

She is especially sensitive to that smell but it does mean we can;t use one unless it can ALL be cleaned - and I haven't found one like that yet

 

and recommendations would be welcome!

[Dos_Box]

We had 2 air fryers

 

Had to get rid of them after a while because Mrs mikeprice started to complain about a smell of rancid fat

 

It did get properly cleaned after each use - but there were areas in the air stream that I couldn't get to and I presume some fat condensed in these bit and, over time, became rancid

She is especially sensitive to that smell but it does mean we can;t use one unless it can ALL be cleaned - and I haven't found one like that yet

 

and recommendations would be welcome!

 

How long ago was that Mike? It may well be that they have improved airflow in newer designs.

[Andrew_C]

Any particular Ninja?

AF100UK

[Ditto]

AF100UK

 

Ah, a smaller version of what @ZeroHour has. However, also very little stock around, should be around £90 to £100 yet amazon offering at around £200 - I guess the energy costs have led to a run on them!

[mikeprice]

How long ago was that Mike? It may well be that they have improved airflow in newer designs.

 

First one was a basket type about 4-5 years ago- good make but started smelling (apparently) after a year or so - by year 2 I had to only use it outside on an extension lead

(i.e. We can;t have chips because it is raining - became a thing)

 

 

replaces it with a Tefal air fryer - with the siring paddle thing - on sister-in-law's recommendation

 

it started smelling (again apparently) after a year or so - but then one of the fans broke and it didn;t seem worth trying to get a replacement fan when it might have to be chucked out soon anyway

 

gone back to using the oven now

 

it does seem to be the exhaust ducts for the air after it passes over the food

I suspect that if I just used oven chips and the like then it would be OK

it is probably cooking rare stuff witha drizzle or oil that does it - even though I was miserly with the oil as I could be

[nicholab]

How have you discussed the cost of living with the other half. The other half does most of the purchasing due to working less an any discussion is seen as a personal attack? I just find it hard when £200 gets spent on a supermarket shop.

 

Also we got heating oil and the tanks been filled so that a massive expense in one go. I would rather fill it as needed but the cost is like to go up.

[mavhc]

Save on buying bin bags by using the charity bags people are always putting through your door

[LeMarchand]

How have you discussed the cost of living with the other half. The other half does most of the purchasing due to working less an any discussion is seen as a personal attack? I just find it hard when £200 gets spent on a supermarket shop.

 

Not had to as most of the expenses come out of my account (on more than Mme LeMarchand) and neither of us are big spenders.

 

Is the spend from a joint account or their "own" money? If the latter, is it worth broaching? If the former, is that/week and for how many?

[LeMarchand]

Save on buying bin bags by using the charity bags people are always putting through your door

 

Annoyingly, they often have ventilation holes (but we do find uses for them where holes don't matter).

 

I've taken to doing some of the weekly shop at Iceland. We don't have a big freezer, so no space for loads, but some of their food is surprisingly decent as well as being fairly low priced.

[ITGuyNW]

I bought this air fryer when it came back into stock recently. It is ace.

 

Gourmia 6.7L Digital Air Fryer - £57.99 Delivered (Members Only) @ Costco | hotukdeals