- Christmas is an expensive day of the year – and energy bills are no exception
- Experts have discovered that many Brits are planning to use fewer ovens this Christmas
- Instead, the use of air fryers and slow cookers is increasing to save money
Households are increasingly planning to turn their backs on ovens and cook Christmas dinner in air fryers and slow cookers to reduce their holiday energy bills.
The average home pays an energy bill of £1,834 a year, rising to £1,928 in January, and for those entertaining family or friends, Christmas is likely to be the most expensive day of the year.
With many homes housing multiple loved ones, the heating bill alone is significant, even before cooking Christmas dinner is taken into account.
Size matters: Air fryers can handle a roast chicken, but turkeys are too big for the gadgets
With that in mind, energy experts from Uswitch surveyed British households on how they plan to cook on Christmas Day this year.
Uswitch found that a fifth of households (19 percent) will use an air fryer this Christmas, almost double the proportion last year, while the use of slow cookers will increase by two-fifths (41 percent).
Air fryers are gadgets that use small amounts of oil, but use relatively little energy because they heat food faster than ovens. Slow cookers, also called crockpots, are normally used to simmer food at low temperatures – also with very little energy consumption.
However, Uswitch discovered that the Brits aren’t ruling out ovens entirely for Christmas, with many planning to use a combination of cooking methods to flavor their festive spread.
Ovens still remain the most popular way to prepare roasts; 83 percent of households still plan to use one on Christmas Day.
The number of households planning to use the microwave has fallen by 6 percent, despite the fact that it is also an energy-efficient cooking appliance.
How much does it cost to cook a Christmas dinner?
The cost of cooking a 5kg turkey at 160°C in a fan oven for three and a half hours is approximately €1.89.
The bird cannot be cooked in any other appliance, such as an air fryer, because it is simply too large. Last Christmas, cooking the same turkey would have cost an average of £3.60 due to higher energy prices.
Cooking baked potatoes in an oven costs about 68 cents on average, compared to 32 cents in an air fryer. Both methods also require pre-cooking on a stove for best results, which adds another 9p.
Likewise, roasted parsnips cost 27 cents to cook in an oven at today’s energy prices, or 9 cents in an air fryer.
Pigs in blankets are remarkably cheap to cook in an air fryer, at just 5 cents, compared to 27 cents in an oven.
In total, an average household of four people would have to spend around €2.82 on energy to cook Christmas dinner this year.
Meanwhile, almost one in ten people (9 percent) will invite themselves to stay with friends or family over the holiday period to save money on heating, according to Uswitch.
Ben Gallizzi, energy expert at Uswitch, said: ‘Appliances such as air fryers, slow cookers and microwaves tend to be the most energy efficient kitchen appliances to cook with, especially if you’re not making enough food to fill the entire oven.
‘Christmas is one of the few times of year when households use the whole oven, meaning it can be more cost-effective on the big day.’
