We slashed our energy bills in half by ditching the oven and using an air fryer – we even cooked Christmas dinner in it
FROM cooking roasts to baking cakes, Martin and Sharon Butler use their air fryer for everything – and it’s helped halve their energy bills.
The couple ditched their gas-guzzling oven last year, and have seen a “dramatic” reduction in their energy usage ever since.
Martin, 59, and Sharon, 57, who are both self-employed and live in Lincolnshire, started looking at ways to slash their energy usage in April last year.
This is when bills were hiked by £693 more, taking yearly costs to £1,971 a year.
Martin said their supplier, Ovo Energy, told them that their direct debit would increase by hundreds of pounds.
They don’t pay a fixed direct debit, so payments vary month by month.
Just before the April price hikes, they paid £315 on their March energy bill.
But Ovo Energy told them their payments would need go up to £700 a month following the energy bill price increases.
“We couldn’t afford that, so I wanted to reduce our usage,” Martin said.
“I was worried that costs would run away otherwise.”
They went on a mission to lower their bills.
Turning off the heating and using electric blankets instead, putting more clothes on and switching the boiler off when they weren’t using it helped them save.
But they were blown away by how much they could save by swapping to alternative methods of cooking.
They have a giant oven, which includes eight gas burners and three separate ovens.
But these are costly to run compared to more cost-effective gadgets like air fryers and slow cookers.
They used to use the oven every day, until they bought a £250 9.5litre Ninja air fryer.
It was so successful that they bought another Cosori 5.5litre air fryer for £122, so they could use it alongside their Ninja model to cook bigger meals like a roast dinner.
Although there are cheaper models you could get – for example, you can get one for £39 on Amazon or Asda – they were prepared to pay a price for an energy-efficient model.
They also use a slow cooker for some meals.
“We don’t use the main oven at all – it’s like a piece of furniture in the kitchen. We use an air fryer instead,” Martin said.
“We cook all our meals using the air fryer, even down to a Sunday roast.
“It used to take an hour and 30 minutes cooking a large chicken in the oven. Now it takes 55 minutes in the air fryer.
“Not only did the chicken cook quicker, the skin was crispy and the meat was succulent and moist.”
They even used the air fryer to cook the Christmas dinner in, and used the slow cooker for the turkey.
“We cooked a Christmas cake in the air fryer too – it was the best cake we ever had,” Martin said.
The savings they made last year were drastic – some months, they would pay as little as £119 for energy bills.
That means they have halved their energy bill since April last year.
They have uploaded videos onto their YouTube page, @butlersempire, to tell others about the savings made.
“Our gas usage went down by 70%, and our electricity went down 15% on average a month since we started using alternative cooking appliances,” Martin said.
“I would definitely recommend an air fryer – it definitely has worked for us, and we’ll continue to use it.”
How much could you save by ditching the oven?
How much you could save by swapping your oven for an air fryer will depend on a number of factors, including the wattage of the appliances and your energy tariff.
A 2kW oven costs around 34p to run for half an hour, or 38p for an hour’s use.
You could run a 1,000W air fryer for an hour for 4p less.
And 3.5kW own costs around 60p to run for half an hour and £1.19 for an hour.
This makes an air fryer the cheapest option.
How else can you cut your energy bills?
Draught-proofing your chimney could save you a whopping £90 on your energy bills.
Invest in a chimney draught excluder to help you plug the chill – they cost around £20.
You might not think it, but your floorboards could be costing you a small fortune when it comes to your energy bills.
Shell Energy estimates that insulating them properly – such as putting a big rug down – could save you up to £180 a year.
It’s easy to forget about your loft if you only use it to store your old junk.
But as heat rises, it can escape through small gaps around your loft hatch.
According to Energy Saving Trust, insulating your loft properly will save you at least £330 on your bills.
British Gas estimates you can save £55 a year on average by switching to LED lighting.
The supplier also estimates you can save roughly £200 a year by turning your thermostat down by two degrees.