An expert-led guide to energy-efficient kitchen appliances
These cooking gadgets offer an alternative to using an electric oven
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Your support makes all the difference.As the cost-of-living crisis continues, energy bills are set to be 13 per cent more expensive than last winter, according to National Energy Action (NEA) – meaning we’re all looking for ways to reduce our consumption.
Joanna O’Loan, knowledge manager at Energy Saving Trust, a non-profit dedicated to energy efficiency and low-carbon solutions, told The Independent: “Around 4 per cent of an energy bill is spent on powering kitchen appliances.” Putting that into perspective, research by energy provider Utilita noted you could save £604 per year by switching to more energy-efficient appliances, such as an air fryer. With costs continuing to go up across the board, that amount of saving is certainly no small sum.
But what is an energy-efficient appliance? Essentially, it’s one that uses the “least amount of energy during each use, compared with similar appliances”, says O’Loan. For example, an “electric oven is the most energy-intensive way of cooking”, while microwaves “are relatively cheap cooking appliances, as they only heat your food, rather than the air around it”.
It’s actually pretty easy to work out which appliances will aid your energy-saving efforts. Energy labels, which are on most, but not all, appliances, “will tell you how much energy that appliance uses”, O’Loan shared. The labels rate appliances from A to G, with A being the most efficient.
To calculate exactly how much power your appliance consumes, “multiply the appliance’s power rating in kW by the time you leave the appliance on”. For example, a “microwave may have a power rating of 700W and you may run it for three minutes”, so you’d multiply 0.7 by three, then divide by 60 to find out its consumption, in this case, a 700W microwave uses 0.035kWh.
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When it comes to choosing the most energy-efficient kitchen appliances, O’Loan recommends you “consider the size of appliance you need with the highest energy rating and this will help you find the most cost-effective appliance for you”.
So, with O’Loan’s advice in mind, as well as research from Utilita, we’ve rounded up the energy-saving appliances you should use in your kitchen instead of an electric oven.
Microwave
Compared with an electric oven, which is “the most energy-intensive way of cooking” small meals, “microwaves are relatively cheap cooking appliances”. Research from Utilita identifies that it costs just 8p per day to run a microwave.
If you’re looking for a recommendation, the Russell Hobbs RHMM713 Scandi compact white manual microwave (£89.99, Amazon.co.uk) was named best budget buy in our best microwave guide.
“If simplicity and style top your wish list, this Russell Hobbs microwave is a winner,” shared our tester. Adding, “for straightforward cooking, reheating and defrosting, this has everything you will need at a great price”. And with a power of just 700W, it’s one of the lowest-powered models to run.
For something that does it all, opt for Sage’s combi wave three-in-one (£349.95 sageappliances), which is a “convection oven, powerful microwave and air fryer in one”.
Using “inverter technology to automatically adjust power intensity for more-even cooking results, particularly noticeable on delicate and reheated foods”, this is a high-performing appliance and our tester founder it a “dream to use straight from the box”.
Owing to the fact it has a power of 1,100W, it will use 0.055kWh, which is obviously slightly more energy than your average model, but it’s a great alternative to an oven.
Air fryer
Quite possibly one of the most talked-about kitchen appliances recently, the humble air fryer is a nifty device that can pretty much do it all, making anything from crispy chips and casseroles to rotisserie chicken and even baked goods. Better still, an air fryer will use far less energy than an oven, with O’Loan noting an air fryer with a power rating of 1,700W will use just 0.425kWh of energy when run for 15 minutes.
Unsure which one to choose? The Salter EK4548 dual air fryer (£147.99, Amazon.co.uk) took the top spot in our review of the best air fryers.
“This Salter style covers all bases with its relatively large baskets, countless cooking options and incredibly easy-to-use design,” shared our tester, who whipped up everything from steaks and fajitas to bread and cakes in this model.
For meat-eaters, turn to the Tower xpress pro combo 10-in-1 air fryer (£109.99, Towerhousewares.co.uk), which our tester found to be “most similar to your everyday oven, with a box-like shape and a large front window, making it best for meats rather than stews or one-pot wonders”.
The best feature has to be the rotisserie function, which is able to cook a 1kg roast chicken in 40 minutes, while a handy drip tray sits underneath, for easy cleaning. Our tester found steaks were just as delicious as sausages, kebabs and burgers too, and there was often enough room to slip some veg onto the shelf to cook a full meal as well.
Slow cooker
Finally, a slow cooker has been found to use a little more energy than a traditional light bulb, with an average model being five times cheaper to run than an electric oven – costing on average of £1.05 per day.
Taking the top spot in our best slow cooker guide, the Russell Hobbs good to go multi-cooker (£84, Argos.co.uk) wowed our tester with its large proportions and its boil, rice, steam and roast programs.
Our writer said: “The cooking pot’s generous proportions meant we could brown half a dozen chunky short ribs at once using the sear function, then cover them in red wine and stock, select the slow cooker low program and gently cook them to tender perfection in eight hours. We then used the boil setting to reduce the cooking liquid to a sauce.”
For those on a tighter budget, the Wahl ZX929 James Martin digital slow cooker (£50.49, Amazon.co.uk) was crowned our best budget buy.
“This entry-level, celebrity-chef-endorsed slow cooker couldn’t be easier to use,” shared our tester. “We found the digital timer particularly useful. We could adjust the default cooking times of eight hours for high and four hours for low in increments of 30 minutes from anything from 30 minutes to 20 hours to suit a particular recipe”.
Hopefully, this guide has provided you with some inspiration for how and what to cook for your next meal and ease your mind about how to save some much-needed pennies, too.
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