Which kitchen cooking appliance is cheapest to use? Save money by switching (2024)

With the government’s energy rebate set to end this month and bills such as council tax and water set to rise from April 1, cash-strapped Brits are desperately trying to keep costs down.

Cooking food in the kitchen can rack up energy costs, with some appliances costing a lot more to run that others.

Energy experts claim you could save up to £200 a year by switching to the most energy efficient cooking appliance.

So which means of heating up food is the cheapest? And how much do they all cost to run?

Let’s take a look.

Slow cooker

Energy experts found that a slow cooker is the cheapest cooking appliance to use, only costing 5p per hour to run.

Most slow cookers are also quite large, meaning that you can cook large quantities of food at one – unlike air fryers or microwaves.

The experts, from Quotezone, said: ‘Slow cookers have low wattage, so even though it takes a few hours to cook a meal, you’ll still be saving money.

‘Slow cookers are great for making low-cost casseroles, stews, pasta dishes, soups, pulled meats and curries.’

Pressure cooker

A pressure cooker is the second cheapest cooking appliance to use, costing 28p an hour.

Pressure cookers use water and high pressure steam to cook things.

Because there is minimal steam escaping, pressure cookers consume 70% less energy than normal saucepans.

Quotezone said: ‘Their benefit over slow cookers is that it takes much less time to cook meals.

‘Pressure cookers are great for making slow-cooked dishes, but with a fraction of the time that it would take with a slow cooker.’

Microwave

Microwaves are next on the list, and cost 32p per hour to run.

Microwaves aren’t as versatile as other cooking appliances however, as they are mostly used for reheating or defrosting things.

Despite this, you should still use them to cook some things – cooking a jacket potato in the microwave only takes about 10 minutes, whereas it would take around an hour in the oven.

Airfryer

Airfryers have become increasingly popular recently, because they cook food much faster, and use much less energy than ovens.

They are also quite a healthy method of cooking, as they use hot air instead of oil.

However, they are still much more expensive to run than slow cookers, pressure cookers and microwaves, and cost 42p an hour to run.

Airfryers are good if you just want to cook a small amount of food, as you don’t have to heat up the whole oven.

However, if you are cooking for the whole family, you may need to do multiple batches.

Ovens

Ovens are the least energy efficient means of cooking, and cost around 60p an hour to run.

Because they are quite large, it takes a lot of time and energy to heat them up.

However, they are the most effective appliance to use when cooking a large batch of food.

Greg Wilson, Founder atQuotezone.co.uk, said: ‘People are increasingly choosing to use cooking gadgets that use less energy rather than conventional methods to cook their meals.

‘Keeping costs down in the kitchen can make a big difference for households trying to amp up their energy savings amid the cost-of-living crisis.