Review of Philips Airfryer...My Mum's New Best Friend!!

My whole family is in love….with the Philips Airfryer!….It all started with an article in an online newspaper about healthier chips. My mum read the article and decided she would love to ‘review’ one of the Philips Airfryers that they were talking about. I set about contacting the right people and lo and behold she got her Airfyer to review and keep. To say she was ecstatic would be an understatement. She just couldn’t wait to try cooking with it!

The reason my mum had been apprehensive about just going out and buying one was the cost of the machine. At prices ranging between £140 and £215 it is not a cheap bit of kit. This is why we all love being My Mummy Reviewers. We get a chance to test out products and equipment without having to risk our cash.

The Airfyer came very well packaged and this meant it was successfully protected during transit. The inside protection was provided by recycled cardboard and paper and my mum was very grateful that there was no horrible, unrecyclable styrofoam to be seen. I was also very impressed to see that the instruction booklet was printed on recycled paper….you don’t see that very often.

There is a little recipe book in the box that lists lots of tasty recipes to cook in your airfryer but there is no need to be limited to just those recipes as you can use your imagination (like my mum has) or take a look online for lots of inspiration. The Philips Facebook page is packed with recipes and if you do a google search you are bound to find lots of Airfyer recipes on other people’s blogs and on cookery websites.

The Philips Airfyer weighs 7 kilos so it is a sturdy piece of equipment that will not going moving all over the worktop when you are trying to remove the frying basket to shake up your meal during the cooking process. The electrical cord measures 1m and there is cord storage if you do not need to use the full length of the lead.

If you would like to see lots of videos and photos of the Airfyer then take a look at the Philips website as they even have a short video showing the cord storage that I mentioned. I think it is very impressive that they have taken the time to upload all these photos and videos so potential customers can get to see exactly what it is they are buying.

You will see from the Philips site that you can either buy the Airfyer with or without the Baking Accessory. My mum received the version without the baking accessory but you can either use any ordinary baking tin which is under 16cm in diameter or buy the accessory separately from Philips. I have given my mum a deep cake tin which she is going to try using but I think in the future she will look at buying the special baking accessory as it would be a perfect fit. The baking accessory can be used so that you can bake cakes, bread and gratin in the airfyer. That would be fantastic!

There are many websites I could send you to so you can buy a Philips Airfyer, Amazon being one of the cheapest…but today I recommend you visit Argos as they currently have the Philips Airfryer for sale at £129.99. What I love about Argos is that you can reserve an item to collect in store;so if you are thinking of buying an Philips Airfyer as a Christmas present for someone then I would say collecting from your local Argos store (as long as it is in stock) is a good bet as you don’t have to worry about waiting in for a delivery that may or may not arrive in time for the big day.

My mum would highly recommend this Airfryer. She has used it every single day without fail since she received it on the 17th November. Sometimes when there are people eating different things at different times it has even been used 2 or 3 times in a day. Philips do say you should let it heat up for a while but my family have tended to only give it a couple of minutes and then they start the cooking.

I couldn’t actually begin to mention all the things she has made in it as there are too many. Her and my dad’s favourite meal, without a shadow of a doubt, has to be the Fray Bentos pies that she has cooked in it. She just removes the metal lid, pops the tin in the frying basket and then lets the airfyer do it’s job. They can’t believe how well the pie cooks in the machine…they say that it is cooked better in the airfryer than any other normal oven they have tried. My parents have always been into caravanning and thus explains their love of Fray Bentos pies! They have always had a stock of them in the caravan for last minute holidays as all you have to do is remove the lid with a tin opener and pop them in the oven for a tasty meal. Now that they have the Philips Airfyer that too will be going on caravanning holidays in the summer as it is just such a convenient way to cook your food. I know it is advertised as an alternative to a deep-fat fryer and my mum agrees;but my mum considers it more of an alternative to her oven! Just before we received the Airfryer my mum’s main oven packed up on her cooker so she only has the top small oven that works. However since she has received this airfyer she has hardly ever had to use the top oven anyway as she has found she can cook nearly everything she likes in the machine. The only time she has to use the oven now is when she has more than 2 or 3 people to cook for as she can’t fit enough food for everyone in the Airfyer. It would be wonderful if Philips made a much bigger family sized one as then the whole family could eat an airfried meal together.

The first time my mum cooked me chips in the airfyer I was not convinced that they were as good as proper deep-fried ones. However and I mean a big HOWEVER…I have well and truly changed my mind. Every other time my mum has cooked frozen oven or frying chips in it they have been even better than normal deep-friend ones. You still get a slight ‘chip’ smell when they are cooking and the chips still taste a little bit oily…which is just how I like them. To me it is important that you get the ‘eau de chip’ smell as that has to be the best bit about eating chips…fried or airfried.

The airfryer uses patented Rapid Air technology which enables you to fry the tasty chips that contain up to 80% less fat than conventional fried chips. The chips still come out crispy like when you use a deep-fat fryer and they are much healthier for you because of the minimum amount of oil used. If you cook frozen chips you don’t need to add any oil at all as they have probably been pre-cooked in some oil.

The frying basket comes with a divider so you can fry two different foods at the same time. For example scampi in one side, chips in the other.

The machine has a temperature control dial that goes up to 200 degrees and a 30 minute timer. When the time is up there is ‘ding’ noise and the airfyer automatically stops cooking. My mum loves the fact it turns itself off as if you don’t hear the noise you don’t want the food to just carry on cooking until it burns.

The removable drawer and the frying basket can both be washed in the dishwasher if required. So far my mum has found that there is no need to dishwash them as a quick wipe with a damp cloth and a wash in the sink get them both perfectly clean.

Here is a list of the favourite meals that my mum has cooked in the airfyer:-

Fray Bentos pie
Scampi
Chicken dippers
Bacon and Sausages…(Philips do say that they don’t recommend you cook really fatty foods in the Airfyer – such as sausages and bacon. I don’t know if my mum had realised this or not as my mum has been happily cooking Bacon and sausages in the airfyer and says they are delicious. Even my brother looks forward to an airfried bacon sandwich when he goes round.)
Baked Potatoes
Chicken Lattice
Scampi and chips
Hash Browns …actually stay in one piece whereas they break up with every other cooking method.
Apple Strudel
Fried Bread…Sprayed it with oil
Onion rings
Potato croquettes…don’t burst like unlike every other cooking method
Popcorn chicken
Chicken kiev
Fish fngers
Chicken fingers
Individual meat pies
Mushrooms…sprayed with a little oil.

The only improvement my mum would like to see is more advertising of the fact that if you are making chips from scratch that you need to pre-soak them for 30 minutes in cold water. It doesn’t mention this on the Philips website description of the product and she only realised she would need to do it when she read through the accompanying leaflet for the first time. She has tried cooking them without pre-soaking but they are not as good as when you do soak them.

Philips has recently won the Which? Best Small Home Appliance Brand 2011 so my mum expected fine things from their Airfyer and as you have seen from this review, she has not been disappointed in the slightest! We all know and love the Philips brand and it is definitely one of the brands we feel you can trust for quality.

If the worst thing happens and this packs up in a few years…my mum will be straight out to go and buy another one! Like I have said before here on My Mummy Reviews, it is such a privilege to be able to test things out without having to risk our own hard earned cash. I think the biggest reason people, including us, don’t buy these new gadgets is because we worry that we are wasting our money on a product that doesn’t live up to our expectations. Now that my mum has seen just how useful and time-saving the Philips Airfryer is she would definitely not hesitate at buying another one again. My mum really does love the Airfyer so much! She can’t believe how easy, quick and convenient it is to use. It has exceeded all her expectations and for that reason she has classed it as her BEST PRODUCT OF 2011!!!

I hope this review has helped you with your decision to buy or not to buy a Philips Airfyer either this Christmas or in 2012.

To visit the Philips website please click here. Don’t forget to stop by Argos where it is currently on offer (at the time of writing).

* Photos courtesy of Philips.

My Mummy Reviews

Review of Philips Airfryer…My Mum’s New Best Friend!!

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