AirFryers
Comments
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I am actually suprised that waste disposal units are still allowed. As TDA suggests we now have other official methods of food disposal which won't end up clogging our drains. Funnily enough Margaret's mum had one in her retirement flat.
David
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TTDA is correct. Ours is an Insinkerator , other makes are available, it grinds things quite finely. We have had one in this house for 37 years and never had a problem with the drains. We also had the same type in our previous house. Some of the less powerful models however do not perform so well.
We do seem to have minimal food waste, mainly potato peelings and other vegetable matter, tea bags, and occasionally chicken bones, all of which it can easily deal with. We never put things like cheese or other fats into it.
With all the various materials that are collected for recycling these days, it usually takes us at least 2 weeks to fill our under-sink bin, and 9 weeks to fill the corresponding wheelie bin.
By comparison, we seem to have much more non recyclable refuse to dispose of when in the caravan!
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I think you are possibly the only person I have come across with such a device @KjellNN interesting hearing how good they are, and as you say, still requires a degree of common sense as to what you put down it.
We have next to no food waste, which is good as it isn’t collected in our area. Being veggie might help, uncooked waste such as peelings, any gone soft fruit or veg goes into our compost, and we are both good at fridge rotation, plus we only buy what we know we will eat, don’t get lured into buying stuff simply because it’s 2 for 1 if we can’t eat it. Having to adjust slightly, as our usual disposal unit sadly passed away, he would enjoy things like gravy scrapings, bits of cheese, any bits of cooked veg. Hate throwing any kind of food away though, far too many starving in this World.
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I really am showing my ignorance here. I thought they were an American fad that had died out. I remember my 86 year old uncle fitting one in his bungalow in the mid 1970's.
Are they really environmentally friendly?. I'm not trying to provoke argument, I'm just asking as I'd have thought it "greener" to put peelings, appropriate scraps etc in the food recycle bins as opposed to down the drain.
Colin
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Colin………There are of course pros and cons, you can google to find them.
When we first decided to get one , in 1981, we went to a kitchen place to look at the various ones and the salesman declared they were a waste of money, but we still ordered one. No food waste collections back then of course!
We do now have a food waste collection once a fortnight, and have a kitchen caddy and then a small bin for outside, but we have to buy compostable bags to put the waste into, not allowed to put it in the outside bin unbagged. Not keen on accumulating smelly food waste in the kitchen until it fills a bag, or keeping the so called outside bin inside, but it is so lightweight that it blows over outside if it is windy, which makes a right mess and attracts animals as we live on the edge of open countryside. We are also in very exposed position on a hill, so have to keep even the 4 big heavy wheelie bins permanently tethered to stop them being blown over when it is windy.
Being able to grind up the waste for immediate disposal is very convenient, not that there is that much of it now there are only the 2 of us to cater for, and there is no shortage of water up here! It is not metered, but water and sewerage costs for us are over £1000 annually as it goes by council tax band.
You do get used to the convenience, when our daughter first got her own house in 2012 she chose an Insinkerator as a house warming present.
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Not making a judgment in any way but when we first got our new kitchen in this house back in early 2000 we asked about one and the kitchen designer said they were very expensive, prone to breaking down as people expected them to do too much, expensive to repair, not good for the drainage system and really just for 'lazy people who couldn't be bothered to sort stuff out for the bin'.
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Depends on what you consider expensive I suppose, I seem to remember that a decent powerful one was about the same price as a mid price built in oven, so certainly not cheap. There are less expensive ones, but they are not so long lasting or effective.
These days the one we have, an “Evolution” model would be around £400. We have had the present one for about 9 years. The only “repair” it has needed is a new cover/magnetic operator, the original one wore out.There is not that much to go wrong other than the motor, if that fails then it is time to buy a new machine. In 44 years we are on machine number 4, DD has had her current one for 7 years.
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Been looking at air fryers for some time now but most seem far too big for what space we have in the kitchen. On a recent shopping trip I came across the Ninja 4 in 1 portable air fryer. It seemed to me this could be a good option for a motorhome or for those with limited space at home. Has anyone got any experience of this model, if so what are your views?
peedee
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@peedee most Ninjas are on the larger side, but they are an excellent appliance. I you were just sort of dipping a toe, so to speak, then I would take a look at what Aldi have on offer. We bought a single drawer (big enough to do a chicken in) model for around £50, and used twin silicone inserts to separate food. We got on very well with it, and decided it was a good size for our MH. Most Ninjas would be way to large (and heavy) to consider in MH, but we did get one for kitchen. It gets very well used throughout the week, in a variety of ways. I only put the oven on now if I am doing a complete meal in there, over 3/4 shelves. We haven’t had bought fish and chips since we got the AF, home made is simply much nicer.
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Our new one bought before Christmas is a Phillips and very pleased with it and did the piece of Turkey breast and it cooked great and very moist inside and did roast veggies in our old one which is a cheap one we got from a store over here called Action (Dutch owned) and that did the veggies very well for what we wanted, so an easy Christmas for us this year, agree with home made chips now got some sweet potatoes to try as chips in new one.
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peedee, we went for the most basic single drawer unit by a known maker that we could find. I did not want something technical, but a simple and easy to use unit. It has no led displays, just a rotary temperature dial and another for the timer. This is a single drawer Tefal and we bought it new for less than £50. Air fryer Tefal Easy Fry & Grill EY501815 In the UK we tend to take this 1400 watt unit with us, but the 400 watt Remoska goes to France. It does an excellent job and .we are very pleased with it. As the footprint is about 250 x 250mm space is not a problem.
Colin
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We do a regular mix of potato and sweet potato chips, and we sometimes mix things up by chipping Parsnips, and my favourite, celeriac. Tiny bit of oil, then either herbs or seasoning……delicious. Butternut Squash is good for chips as well👍
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Last night we watched an interesting programme on Air Fryers on Channel Five which we had recorded
I think it was the twin drawer Tefal which JL are selling for £99, it looks quite nice but is quite large.
David
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I got the 11 litre version in the Amazon Black Friday sale for £130 - very impressed with it but far too big for a caravan / MH. It is also 2.7 kW - so you would be restricted in where you could use it when away.
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I bought one of these to use in the MH - it's 1.7L in capacity and only 1000w, so ideal for use where the power supply is limited as it only draws just over 4 amps.
I've only owned it for a couple of weeks but have tried it out at home and it seems to perform very well.
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@Freddy55 Its the Jamie Oliver branded Tefal which I think is the one used in the programme?
David
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Hiya @DavidKlyne . TBH, I didn’t watch the programme, I just looked on the John Lewis website. I concluded that ours was the same visually, without the Jamie Oliver logo. On investigation, it transpires that the one you posted has less capacity than our 11 litre model, hence the price difference. Ours comfortably sits on the worktop, underneath the wall cabinet with around 6” to spare. Both drawers can be independently programmed (time/temp) to finish at the same time automatically, if you so wish, although I’ve never done it myself. I did wonder if it was going to be one of those appliances that gets used once or twice and then forgotten about, but we use it most days. None of that waiting around for the main oven to heat up, more economical and so easy to clean. I sometimes tend to use more oil than recommended (not much) as I think some things can tend to be a bit dry? Personal taste, of course. Like any appliance , it does take a little time to get used to, regarding times and temperatures, what you’re cooking. For instance, 160c for pastry as opposed to 180c in the main oven.
It’s just so convenient, I wouldn’t be without it.1 -
@Freddy55 The price is not a King's ransom but I think Margaret is not yet(!) convinced. I think I would give it a try. She has not yet deleted the recording of the programme so perhaps she is still thinking about it😉
David
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We have the twin drawer Salter, frequently on offer in various places, including Aldi and Lidl. DD has the twin drawer Lakeland which is in their sale at the moment. We also bought a larger single drawer from either Aldi or Lidl for £30, 3 year warranty, for the caravan, it has also been very good.
If not sure, I would buy an inexpensive one to try first.
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@DavidKlyne , as someone has already mentioned, air fryers should be considered as a small fan oven, imo. They don’t do anything magical. To me, it’s their convenience of use that sets them apart. Like you, there’s only the two of us and generally very rarely now does the main oven gets used. It was very handy for Christmas dinner too, being able to keep things hot (in foil) when the main oven was in use. As it has a fan, there is some noise, which may/may not be an issue for you, it doesn’t bother us. A word about the non-stick coating, we’ve had it for around a year (?) and is used almost daily. To date, the coating is still like new, very good, as yet nothing has stuck to it. Of course, the choice is yours, I’m not trying to persuade you, I just speak as I find 👍
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@Freddy55 I may have noticed a small crack in her resistance if I am willing to move some of my essential stuff (😀) out of the utility I think she could be coming around to the idea. Just hope it doesn't end up like th Vax upholstery cleaner we got months ago, before my stroke, which has been sitting in a cupboard unopened since it arrived!!!!
David
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Hiya @DavidKlyne . Well, if you do go ahead, I would suggest the most important issue is the size/layout. Large, small, single or double drawer, there’s plenty of options. For me, I wanted 2 drawers, one larger than the other, so this one suited.
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We went ahead a bought one of these mainly because of its portability.
We have been trying it out, so far so good. We did a roast dinner in it today, just the potatoes and a gamon joint, the two vegies were cooked on the hob. We have also cooked, sauages, chicken, sweet potato chips and toasted cheese sandwiches with it, all cooked very well.
It draws a max of 7 amps from the supply. Its economical and quick.
peedee
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