Martin Lewis' air fryer warning and it could be useful to anyone missing out on £300 winter fuel payment

Martin Lewis has issued a warning to anyone who uses an air fryer instead of an oven - and it could be especially useful for state pensioners who are struggling without a £300 Winter Fuel Payment this winter

Money-saving guru Martin Lewis has issued a warning to those using air fryers as an alternative to ovens, which could be particularly beneficial for state pensioners missing out on their £300 Winter Fuel Payment this season. The popular kitchen gadget has soared in popularity as households seek more cost-effective methods to cook meals rather than operating a larger traditional oven.

However, Martin Lewis has highlighted that it's not always the most economical choice to opt for an air fryer or microwave instead of a conventional oven. On his BBC and Spotify The Martin Lewis Podcast, the financial whizz provided clear guidance on when to use an air fryer with his 'rule of thumb'.

Martin Lewis explained: "Let me give you my simple rule of thumb. First of all, find the wattage of the appliance you're using. If you've got a heated gilet, it might be 50 watts. When I talk about 'heating the home' it is a lot cheaper to have a heated gilet or something that just heats you rather than heating the whole room."

"Then remember 1,000 watts is a Kilowatt. And you pay roughly 34p per Kw per hour. So if you had a heated gilet on for an hour, it's around a 20th of 34p which is around 1.7p per hour.

"Now an oven is typically 1-2000w so you're paying around 34p or 68p an hour. An oven isn't always using all the wattage as it's heating up and then topping up."

"A microwave is also 1,000W per minute it's the same cost as an oven, but things done in the microwave when you're cooking a one-off, a one-off jacket potato, for example, is far more efficient because it's 10 minutes in the microwave, it might be an hour and a half in the oven."

"So if you've got a turkey in there that may well be effective if you're cooking lots of stuff in there and it's on for a couple of hours. That may well be effective if you're cooking lots of stuff.

"But if you've got something small and simple in there, it's probably cheaper, and that's where the microwave and air fryers tend to come into their own because they're better at cooking single objects."

He also mentioned a technique for cooking poultry known as 'spatchcocking', or 'butterfly'. This involves breaking the bird's bones and flattening it out before cooking, rather than leaving it whole.

By doing this, you can cut down the cooking time for chicken, thus saving more money on energy costs, whether you're using an oven or an air fryer.