Dear LPG, 

I recently learned that thousands of Air Fryers have been distributed to pensioners in Lincolnshire, which prompted me to write this message. I have been retired for a few years now, and when I was working, I was much more willing to try what I call all those ‘new things that keep appearing’ than I am nowadays.  

I believe that in recent years, with all these new inventions, the focus has been on speed. I agree that when I was a ‘nine-to-fiver’, I was also obsessed with speed and efficiency, but then I retired. If nothing else, we pensioners at least begin our retirement with plenty of time on our hands.   

With my slightly slower pace of life, I have learned to observe many of the new-fangled things that appear on the market, compare them to how I am used to achieving tasks more quickly, and then decide that my old-fashioned methods are sufficient for my lifestyle, often ignoring these innovations, especially when it comes to kitchen appliances.    

I resisted the urge to buy a bread maker or a slow cooker when they were very popular, but my children pushed me into modern times last Christmas when they gifted me one of the trends that had been around for a few years.

I unwrapped it and pretended to be excited, then, for a few months, I made sure it was visible whenever they came to visit. However, it was more of an ornament during its first six months in my house. They pooled their money and bought me an air fryer, which became a bit of a talking point when my friends visited, with some praising it and others, like me, remaining sceptical. That was its main use until my daughter visited one day. She had her children with her, and I was surprised at how quickly, with her help, she prepared a quick meal for us all.

That was the day I finally stopped ignoring it. I began looking for instant meals with air fryer instructions on the back whenever I went shopping, and nowadays there are more and more of them included. I have experienced a few mishaps, burning a few potential meals, even though I followed the instructions, but I'm making progress gradually.  

It does have its good points, and now that I have started using it, I agree that it is much easier to keep clean than the other oven, especially if you usually cook for just one. I also have to admit that now I don’t use my other oven so much, my utility bills have decreased a bit, and I realise that it is quick. However, my real big problem comes when I try to cook an authentic meal rather than something pre-packed with specific air fryer instructions. I found that, despite their advantages, there are so many different types of air fryers that you have to adjust even the most detailed instructions on the back of the packet a little before you perfect what comes out when you open the drawer.

I have got myself a few books and followed their recipes. Still, when you have been cooking for as long as most pensioners, I think that there are flavours that you get used to and I can’t help it, with the best will in the world, I want to recreate those flavours and I don’t want to have to go to a cookbook every time I want to rustle up a quick meal.

It was then that I learned what I call my 80/80 rule.  Although my maths is not that good, I have worked out that if you put your food in for 80% of the time and at 80% of the temperature you would use in your ordinary oven, there are fewer cooking disasters.  I know that mathematics is not everyone’s strongest attribute but, before I get the thing going, it is now one of the few questions that I have learned to ask the Alexa; something else which was bought by my children in their efforts to bring me up to date, and which has until now been truly underused by me. 

I have also found a few online ways to convert the ‘oven to air fryer’ settings, and a few rules worth checking out, just in case there are any other readers with a similar ornament sitting on the kitchen counter, and I recently found a couple more scientific ways to get it right…  

Regardless of how you calculate it, I have become a convert…

LF, Croydon. 

LF offers a few conversion hints and an online ‘oven to air fryer’ calculator…

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… and a few other hints that might help…

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