Around 3% of the average home’s energy use comes from cooking. And with energy bills still high, it’s worth thinking about what appliances you use when you cook your meals.
Depending on what you’re cooking, some appliances are more energy efficient than others. This helps lower your energy costs as well as your carbon footprint.
To help you save energy and money in your kitchen, our energy experts have looked at how much it costs to use some common cooking appliances.*
Air fryer: best for one to two people
Typical cost to cook a 600g chicken breast: £0.14 (£0.21 in NI)
An air fryer works like a small conventional fan oven. Because they’re small, air fryers are often cheaper to run than an oven for the same meal.
In this example, it would cost £0.20 (£0.29 in NI) to cook the same portion of chicken in an electric oven. This makes the air fryer an ideal choice for preparing smaller amounts of food for one or two people.
Top tip: Try not to open the compartment any more than necessary to avoid letting out heat and wasting energy.
Microwave: best for reheating and quick cooking
Typical cost to cook a 400g ready-made lasagne: £0.04
Instead of heating the air around it, your microwave directly heats the food. This means your microwave will cook and reheat food quickly, so its cost per use is likely to be lower than many other cooking appliances. For example, cooking the same lasagne in an electric oven would cost 16p.
Top tip: Batch cooking in a full oven and then reheating portions as you need them in the microwave can help keep your energy bills down.
Electric ovens: best for batch cooking
Typical cost to cook a 600g chicken breast: £0.20
Ovens are generally bigger than other cooking appliances, so they use more energy to heat up. This means a typical electric oven can be the most expensive cooking appliance to run for individual portions of food.
However, their larger size means you can fit a lot of food in at once, so they’re better for batch cooking or cooking for a large group. Using your oven in these situations could be the best value for money.
Top tip: Avoid opening the oven door any more than necessary while the oven is on to keep hot air inside and reduce wasted energy.
Gas or electric hob: best for quick meals
Typical cost per use: £0.11 – £0.26
Using the hob is typically quite cheap. Generally, you won’t need to have a hob on for long to prepare meals such as pasta or an omelette.
Using a gas hob does produce more direct carbon emissions than an electric hob, though. So if you’re just using it to reheat food, consider using a microwave instead to reduce your carbon footprint.
Top tip: Cover your pots and pans with a lid when you’re cooking to keep heat in and reduce wasted energy.
Slow cooker: best for busy schedules
Typical cost to cook 3.6kg home-made beef stew: £0.34
Slow cookers are designed to cook food gradually over a long period of time. Slow cookers can be a convenient way to cook if you have a busy schedule. In this example, cooking the same amount of stew in an electric oven would cost 50p.
Top tip: To save energy, avoid leaving them on longer than necessary, and use the ‘low’ setting if you’re going to be out for longer.
Quick energy-saving tips when cooking
Boil potatoes on the hob before roasting them to reduce the time they need to cook in the oven.
Fully defrost frozen leftovers in the fridge before reheating in the microwave. This uses less energy compared to cooking from frozen.
Heat water in a kettle then transfer it to a pan rather than boiling it directly on the hob
If you’re able, switch off your air fryer, slow cooker, microwave and electric oven at the plug.
If you want to heat food quickly, consider using a pressure cooker to cut down on cooking times.
